Solectron

Solectron Corporation was an electronics manufacturing company for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). It was the first electronics manufacturing services (EMS) industry in 1977. Solectron's first customer designed and distributed an electronic controller for solar energy equipment. The name "Solectron" was a portmanteau of the words "solar" and "electronics".[2] Solectron had sales of around $12 billion a year, and employed 70,000 people in 23 countries.[3] The company was acquired by Flex on October 15, 2007.[4]

Solectron Corporation
IndustryElectronics Manufacturing Services, product design and after sales services
FatePurchased by Flextronics
SuccessorFlex
Founded1977
Defunct2007
HeadquartersMilpitas, California
United States
ProductsConsumer Electronics, Routers, Switches, TVs
Revenue$ 10.56 billion USD (2006)[1]
WebsiteOfficial website
Solectron headquarters in Milpitas

History

Solectron was established in 1977 to provide outsourced manufacturing services to third parties. It was a major manufacturer, but you would have not found its name on any products. Solectron founders Roy Kusumoto and Prabhat Jain saw a growing number of electronics companies in California's Silicon Valley. There was a need to provide printed circuit board assembly (PCBA) services, handling the manufacturing overflow from OEMs. Solectron aimed to provide high-tech companies the ability for their products to be produced and delivered more quickly and efficiently than their competition, and believed that their customers needed a greater level of service for assembly and manufacture of printed circuit boards, cellular phones, along the entire product supply chain.[5]

In 1998, Solectron acquired the computer hardware manufacturing assets of NCR Corporation.

Management succession

Winston H. Chen, Ph.D. (Harvard) purchased Solectron in 1978, a year after he had left IBM to train his younger family members to run his family construction company in Taiwan after his father's passing. His operational strategy, philosophy, and culture allowed it to grow into the largest U.S. and international Electronic Manufacturing Services (EMS) company. He was CEO and Chairman of the Board until Koichi (Ko) Nishimura, Ph.D., (also from IBM) became Chairman of the board, president and CEO from 1988 until January 2003, during which time Solectron grew from a regional entity into one of the world's largest EMS companies. Solectron won the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in 1997 and in 1991, after Nishimura worked to instill the certification criteria into the company's corporate culture and strategy. Solectron was the first company to win the Baldrige Award in the manufacturing category twice in the program's history.

Michael R. Cannon was named president and chief executive officer in January 2003.[6] Formerly, Cannon was president, CEO and a director of Maxtor Corporation, a supplier of hard disk drive storage products and solutions. Solectron implemented Lean Six Sigma operating principles, aiming to execute with greater precision and provide integrated supply chain services.

From a single manufacturing location in the early days to eventual global manufacturing presence in Asia, Europe and the Americas (approximately 50 sites worldwide), Solectron offered manufacturing, supply chain management and product life cycle services for technology companies.

In 2007, Cannon announced his departure from Solectron to join Dell as their President of Global Operations. Solectron's Chief Financial Officer, Paul Tufano, was named interim CEO while the company searched for a replacement.

On June 5, 2007, Flextronics International, Ltd., the Singapore-based contract electronic assembly firm in the U.S., announced its intention to buy Solectron. On October 15, 2007, the eve of the company's 30th anniversary, Solectron was acquired by Flextronics. The deal was concluded at a cost of US$3.6 billion in cash and bonds. Solectron shareholders were offered their choice of either the June 1, 2007 price of the stock or one share of Flextronics stock for every three shares of Solectron stock.

Core businesses

Solectron core businesses consisted of designing, manufacturing products and providing after-sales services for OEMs.

  • Computing and Storage — Mainframe computers, PCs and notebooks, point-of-sale systems, servers, storage systems and workstations.
  • Networking — Core and edge routers, core and edge Ethernet switches, DSL and cable broadband equipment, NICs and optical interconnect.
  • Telecommunications — Cellular infrastructure equipment, Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) equipment, IP PBX, wireless and wireline Broadband infrastructure, optical networking equipment and DSLAMS.
  • Markets Automotive — ABS and airbag control modules, car audio and navigation systems, engine and ignition control modules, telematics, HVAC units and body electronics.
  • Consumer — Hand-held devices (MP3 players, mobile handsets, GPS), video game systems, PDAs, personal video recorders and digital set-top boxes.
  • Industrial — Process automation equipment, test and measurement instruments, security systems, semiconductor fabrication equipment controls and handheld instruments.
  • Medical — X-ray equipment, ultrasound equipment, foetal monitors, MRI scanners, blood analysers and surgical robotic systems.
  • Field Services — Solectron also held direct contracts with companies, providing an end user defect exchange service for electronic units in the field.
  • Aftermarket services — warranty management, parts management and logistics, forward and reverse logistics, repair and return, asset recovery and remarketing.

References
  1. SLR - Solitario Resources Corporation - Google Finance
  2. Industrial Automation
  3. "Solectron - The invisible multinational".
  4. Reuters (2007-06-04). "Flextronics Buys Solectron for $3.6 Billion". CNBC. Retrieved 2017-06-01.
  5. http://www.transparentc.com
  6. Michael R. Cannon
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