Western Digital reopens HD facility and begins production

Following the devastating floods in Thailand which began in October, Western Digital (WD) has reopened one of its hard disk (HD) manufacturing facilities ahead of schedule and restart production.

Although recovery is progressing faster than expected, the company's other factories remain under water and are not expected to start production this side of Christmas.

The pain of high prices for manufacturers and consumes is not expected to ease soon. WD said despite progress, HD production will continue to be seriously constrained and would not recover until well after March next year.

WD also said its output this quarter is only expected to be around 120m units, when it is usually around 180m units. This will have a serious impact on the company's profits, where losses could be as much as $200m to $275m.

John Coyne, president and chief executive officer of WD said: "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.

"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."

WD said it had re-started production of hard disks this week in one of its buildings in Bang Pa-in, Thailand, one week ahead of internal schedules.

This facility had been submerged in some six feet of water since 15 October. The estate was pumped dry on 17 November, mains power was restored on 26 November and production restarted 30 November.

The company's other hard disk facilities in the country, based at Navanakorn, remain under approximately two feet of water. The industrial estate is expected to be pumped dry within ten days at which point the work of decontamination and refurbishment can begin.

The company has removed all submerged manufacturing equipment from the Bang Pa-in facilities for assessment, decontamination and refurbishment and has commenced decontamination and restoration of its remaining buildings in the area.

WD said it expects to recommence production in Bang Pa-in during the March 2012 quarter and also begin production in a new facility in Penang, Malaysia, in the same time frame.