As Apple's packaging often so modestly touts, the company's products are usually designed at its U.S. headquarters in California. But like many companies, Apple's products are primarily built by a variety of manufacturers, most of which are located in Taiwan, China, and Singapore. Over the years, stories from these factories of , , and a Chinese employee have from both Apple and Chinese authorities. A from 36 environmental groups in China just last month revived the topic again.

The discussion of social responsibility in these factories--and Apple's role in facilitating it--has increased in recent years, roughly in proportion to Apple's escalating popularity. To tackle the subject more directly, Apple began auditing its supplier's facilities in 2007 to verify that they meet, or are aspiring to meet, various criteria of its , a series of guidelines that is modeled after (but, according to Apple, are more stringent than) the . Apple also created its aforelinked Supplier Responsibility site and has been .

For its progress report this year, Apple says it audited 97 new facilities in 2010 and repeated audits at 30--that's 14 more new audits than in 2009 and nearly double the number of repeat audits. The company investigated 127 facilities in all last year, bringing the total number of audits since 2007 to 288. The report organizes key findings, decisions, and facility improvements by a handful of topics, including employee and management training, protecting worker rights, and acquiring conflict-free materials.

Apple introduced the Train-the-Trainer program in 2008, which educates workers, supervisors, and managers in facilities that make Apple products on things like the code of conduct, occupational health and safety, and workers' rights. In 2010, Apple expanded the program to 29 more facilities (which were chosen based on their lower audit scores) and doubled the number of participants in 2009, reaching a total of 300,000 workers since the program's introduction. More than 6000 supervisors and managers have also been trained on their responsibilities to their workers's rights.