Manufacturers across China are preparing their factories to operate as highly isolated “bubbles” that can continue to run for weeks even during tough government-ordered coronavirus lockdowns.
The moves follow the success of some plants in maintaining output during the past two months despite the country’s biggest Covid-19 outbreak since the disease raged through the city of Wuhan in early 2020.
Recent lockdowns in the southern Chinese manufacturing and technology hubs of Shenzhen and Dongguan shut down many factories and disrupted already overstretched global supply chains.
Despite the strict restrictions, some plants in southern Guangdong province were able to get official permission to continue operating as long as workers did not leave their premises, essentially requiring them to work as socially isolated bubbles.
Bosch Unipoint, one of the world’s biggest car part manufacturers, was able to maintain production at its factory in Longgang District in Shenzhen because about 200 workers agreed to live at dormitories on site during a week-long lockdown this month.