Solectron Corporation was an American electronics manufacturing company for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). Solectron's first customer designed and distributed an electronic controller for

solar energy Solar energy is the radiant energy from the Sun's sunlight, light and heat, which can be harnessed using a range of technologies such as solar electricity, solar thermal energy (including solar water heating) and solar architecture. It is a ...

equipment. The name "Solectron" was a

portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

of the words "solar" and "electronics".Industrial Automation
/ref> Solectron had sales of around $12 billion a year, and employed 70,000 people in 23 countries. The company was acquired by Flex on October 15, 2007.

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 Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that is a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical area of the Santa Clara Valley ...

. There was a need to provide

printed circuit board A printed circuit board (PCB), also called printed wiring board (PWB), is a Lamination, laminated sandwich structure of electrical conduction, conductive and Insulator (electricity), insulating layers, each with a pattern of traces, planes ...

assembly (PCBA) services, handling the manufacturing overflow from OEMs. Solectron aimed to provide

high-tech High technology (high tech or high-tech), also known as advanced technology (advanced tech) or exotechnology, is technology that is at the cutting edge: the highest form of technology available. It can be defined as either the most complex or ...

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 A supply chain is a complex logistics system that consists of facilities that convert raw materials into finished products and distribute them to end consumers or end customers, while supply chain management deals with the flow of goods in distri ...

. In 2007, Flextronics announced they would buy Solectron for 3.6 billion dollars.

References

{{authority control 1977 establishments in California 2007 disestablishments in California 2007 mergers and acquisitions Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange Computer companies disestablished in 2007 Computer companies established in 1977 Defunct companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area Defunct computer companies of the United States Defunct computer hardware companies Electronics companies disestablished in 2007 Electronics companies established in 1977 Defunct electronics companies of the United States NCR Corporation Technology companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area Technology companies disestablished in 2007 Technology companies established in 1977