Over 25 Years as a Contract Manufacturing Visionary

Solectron pioneered the electronics manufacturing services (EMS) category in 1977 and continues to lead the industry with ongoing innovation and expansion of services to meet the growing business complexities of our partners, original equipment manufacturer's (OEMs). Solectron's first customer designed and distributed an electronic controller for solar energy equipment ("Solectron" is derived from combining the words "solar" and "electronics"). However, under the leadership of Solectron founder, Roy Kusomoto, we saw a larger opportunity emerging from the 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. We recognized, early on, that when high-tech companies created innovative products, they had to produce and deliver those products much more quickly and efficiently than the competition. We saw that our customers - OEMs - needed more than an extra pair of hands to assemble and manufacture printed circuit boards. They needed support along the entire product supply chain, from start to finish.

During the 1990s, as leading OEMs began to outsource more of their manufacturing functions to stay competitive with the rapidly changing market environment, our business grew quickly. We focused on improving assembly capabilities and investing in automation and state-of-the-art process technologies, building a strong foundation for future growth.

Koichi Nishimura, Ph.D., who served the company as chairman of the board, president and CEO from 1988 until January 2003, played a key role in transforming Solectron from a regional entity into one of the world's largest EMS companies. Solectron won the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award twice - in 1997 and in 1991 - after Nishimura instilled the rigorous certification criteria into the company's corporate culture and strategy. From the beginning, a focus on quality has pervaded every aspect of our business - in part due to the pioneering efforts of Winston Chen, Ph.D., an early Solectron innovator, and a recognized crusader for manufacturing excellence. Solectron is the first company to win the Baldrige Award for manufacturing twice in the program's history.

Under the guidance of Michael R. Cannon, who became president and Chief Executive Officer in January 2003, Solectron maintained its position as an industry leader. With Cannon’s leadership, Solectron continued to set high quality standards in the EMS industry by implementing Lean Six Sigma operating principles, executing with greater precision and providing integrated supply chain services that deliver the best value to our customers.

From a single manufacturing location in the early days to today's global manufacturing presence in Asia, Europe and the Americas (approximately 50 sites worldwide), we now offer global manufacturing, supply chain management and product life cycle services to the world's leading technology companies.