Flextronics International Ltd. provides design and electronics manufacturing services (EMS) to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). The company offers its services in various markets Computing, which includes products such as desktop, handheld and notebook computers, electronic games and servers; Mobile communication devices, which includes handsets operating on a number of different platforms such as GSM, CDMA, TDMA and WCDMA; Consumer digital devices, which includes products such as set top boxes, home entertainment equipment, printers, copiers and cameras; Industrial, Semiconductor and White Goods, which includes products such as home appliances, industrial meters, bar code readers and test equipment; Automotive, Marine and Aerospace, which includes products such as navigation instruments, radar components, and instrument panel and radio components; Telecommunications infrastructure, which includes products such as cable modems, cellular base stations, hubs and switches; and Medical devices, which includes products such as drug delivery, diagnostic and telemedicine devices.
The company provides vertically-integrated global supply chain services through which it designs, builds, and ships a packaged product for its OEM customers. The company's OEM customers leverage its services to meet their requirements throughout their products’ entire product life cycle. The company's services include: Printed Circuit Board and Flexible Circuit Fabrication; Systems Assembly and Manufacturing; Logistics; After-Sales Services; Design and Engineering Services; Original Design Manufacturing (ODM) Services; and Components Design and Manufacturing.
Service Offerings
Printed Circuit Board and Flexible Circuit Fabrication: Printed circuit boards are platforms composed of laminated materials that provide the interconnection for integrated circuits and other electronic components. Semiconductor designs are so complex that they often require printed circuit boards with multiple layers of narrow, densely spaced wiring or flexible circuits. The manufacture of these complex multilayer interconnect and flexible circuit products often requires the use of circuit interconnections between layers, referred to as vias, and adherence to strict electrical characteristics to maintain consistent circuit transmission speeds. The company has printed circuit board and flexible circuit fabrication service capabilities on four continents: North America, South America, Europe and Asia.
Systems Assembly and Manufacturing: The company's assembly and manufacturing operations, which generate the majority of its revenues, include printed circuit board assembly and assembly of systems and subsystems that incorporate printed circuit boards and complex electromechanical components. The company often assembles electronics products with its proprietary printed circuit boards and custom electronic enclosures on either a build-to-order or configure-to-order basis.
Enclosures: The company's services include the design, manufacture and integration of electronics packaging systems, including custom enclosure systems, power and thermal subsystems, interconnect subsystems, cabling and cases. In addition to standard sheet metal and plastic fabrication services, the company assists in the design of electronic packaging systems that protect sensitive electronics and improves functionality. The company's enclosure design services focus on functionality, manufacturability and testing.
Testing Services: The company also offers computer-aided testing services for assembled printed circuit boards, systems and subsystems. The company's test services include management defect analysis, in-circuit testing and functional testing. In addition, the company also provides environmental stress tests of board and system assemblies.
Materials Procurement and Inventory Management: The company's manufacturing and assembly operations capitalize on its materials inventory management expertise and volume procurement capabilities.
Logistics: The company provides global logistics services and supply chain solutions to its customers. The company's worldwide logistics services include freight forwarding, warehousing/inventory management and outbound/ e-commerce solutions through its global supply chain network. The company new technologies such as XML links to factories, extranet-based management, vendor managed inventory and build-to-order programs, to simultaneously connect suppliers, manufacturing operations and OEM customers. In addition, the company's SimFlex simulation software tool allows its customers to simulate, analyze and evaluate complex supply chain scenarios, critical operating characteristics and performance metrics, and supply chain trade-offs to ensure supply chain excellence. The company offers customers just-in-time delivery programs allowing product shipments to be closely coordinated with its customers’ inventory requirements.
After-Sales Services: The company provides a range of after-sales services, including product repair, re-manufacturing and maintenance at repair depots, logistics and parts management, returns processing, warehousing, and engineering change management. These services are provided through a global network of operations, hubs and centers.
Design and Engineering Services: The company offers a range of value-added design and engineering market-specific services for its customers. These services range from contract design services (CDS), where the customer purchases services on a time and materials basis, to original product design and manufacturing services, where the customer purchases a product that the company designs, develops and manufactures.
User Interface and Industrial Design: The company designs and develops products that address the needs of the user and the market. The company's front-end creative capabilities offer its OEM customers assistance with the product creation process. These services include preliminary product exploration, market research, 2-D sketch level drawings, 3-D mock-ups and proofs of concept, interaction and interface models, detailed hard models and product packaging.
Mechanical Engineering and Tooling Design: The company offers detailed product and enclosure design for static and dynamic solutions in both plastic and metal for low-to high-volume applications. Additionally, the company provides design and development services for prototype and production tooling equipment used in manufacturing.
Electronic System Design: The company provides electrical design for products ranging in size from small handheld consumer devices to large high-speed, carrier-grade, telecommunications equipment, which includes embedded system and DSP design, high speed digital interfaces, analog circuit design, power management solutions, wired and wireless communication protocols, display and storage solutions, imaging and audio/video applications, and RF system and antenna design.
PCB Design: The company provides PCB design services, incorporating high layer counts, advanced materials, component miniaturization technologies, signal integrity and rigid-flex requirements.
Components Design and Manufacturing: The company's components group is a product-driven organization focused on developing products for its OEM customers. These sub-components include camera modules, power supplies, antennas, radio frequency (RF) modules, passive color super-twisted nematic (CSTN) and active thin film transistor (TFT) small and medium form factor display modules for mobile phones, MP3 players, industrial and commercial products and digital cameras.
Customers
The company's major customers include Casio Computer Co., Ltd.; Dell Computer Corporation; Ericsson Telecom AB; Hewlett-Packard Company; Kyocera Wireless Corporation; Microsoft Corporation; Motorola, Inc.; Nortel Networks Limited; Sony-Ericsson; and Xerox Corporation.
History
Flextronics International Ltd. was founded in 1990.
