Western Digital has recommenced production of hard drives at its facility in Bang Pa-in, six weeks after the floods that hit supplies to the pay-TV sector.
One building has been brought online in Bang Pa-in, which only on October 15 had been submerged in six feet of water.
“The passion, perseverance, ingenuity and execution exhibited by the WD team has been extraordinary and enabled us to make substantial progress in partially restoring our operations in Thailand, well in advance of our earliest expectations when the floods hit,” said John Coyne, president and chief executive officer, Western Digital. “Much work remains to be done but we couldn’t be more pleased with the effort and results thus far, including tremendous support from our supply partners and strategic customers.”
However, the 120 million hard drive units expected to be produced will fall short of the 180 million demanded in the December quarter by the market as a whole, and Western Digital says that shortages are likely to persist through to at least March.
The estate was pumped dry on November 17, main power was restored on November 26 and production restarted November 30. All the submerged slider manufacturing equipment from the Bang Pa-in facilities have now been removed for assessment, decontamination and refurbishment and has commenced decontamination and restoration of its remaining buildings.
