Local company, Flextronics SA, has continued to flourish despite the downturn in the international telecommunications industry from which the majority of its customers are drawn.
Headquartered in Johannesburg, with offices in Cape Town and Pretoria, 80% of Flextronics SA`s turnover is from international customers. Company management believes that flexibility has been the keystone on which Flextronics SA`s success has been built in a constantly changing technology-driven environment.
Chairman and technical director, Francois Geldenhuys comments: "As a technology services company designing and developing software products for suppliers to the international telecommunications, networking and related value-added service sectors, we have always faced the challenge of establishing our credibility as a South African company. However, the major obstacle to growth over the past year has been the current market conditions."
Undaunted by turmoil in the global hi-tech sector, Flextronics SA took advantage of the converging market to extend its service offering. By combining two core areas of knowledge - expertise in telecommunications technologies and the ability to supply business systems - Flextronics SA has been able to switch focus from telecommunications infrastructure projects to telecommunications consuming projects such as value-added services for carriers and service providers.
Geldenhuys continues: "We also altered the way we package our services by adjusting our business model. Moving from pure services outsourcing to a more proactive approach involving the development of technology building blocks enhances our core service offering. It enables us to supply customers with ready-made proven foundations around which to build their products, which adds significant value to our design services by reducing customers` development costs and time to market."
As a South African company competing in international markets, Flextronics SA`s management believes that exploiting the advantages of its SA location is the foundation on which the company`s success is built. These advantages include: lower cost to customers; quality of life for employees; the ability to recruit promising local graduates; and the virtual day advantage offered by the time zone.
Geldenhuys comments: "We opted for the approach of offering remote research and development services to international companies based on a very simple principle: SA has a large pool of good engineers who have a wealth of experience and the sophistication to meet world-class standards. We employ these engineers, and give them the opportunity to work on the latest technologies right here in SA."
Established as Azisa in 1994, Flextronics SA grew significantly using this model. The company caught the attention of Flextronics, the leading global electronics manufacturing services (EMS) organisation and the company is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Flextronics Design.
Flextronics` investment in Flextronics SA significantly enhances the company`s ability to work on world-class projects with leading-edge technical content. The collaboration is expected to stimulate the local economy in the medium- to long-term by providing additional high-level employment opportunities. In addition, the full suite of Flextronics services will eventually become available in the local market through Flextronics SA.
Share
Flextronics South African design centre was established after Azisa (Pty) Ltd was acquired by Flextronics Design in October 2002. Azisa has been designing, developing and sustaining quality software products for leading suppliers in the international telecommunications, networking and related value-added service sectors for the past 10 years. During this time the company has developed an outstanding reputation in the professional services field and its impressive customer list includes top suppliers to the global telecommunications industry. Operating from three sites in SA, Flextronics SA offers all Flextronics` services to local and international markets. Flextronics SA has capabilities spanning the complete spectrum of information and communication technologies. This covers systems, software, hardware, industrial and mechanical design services as well as manufacturing, sustaining and logistics. The company`s processes successfully meet internationally recognised quality management systems` requirements and have been certified compliant with ISO 9001:2000.
Flextronics Design
Flextronics Design, a business unit of Flextronics, is a global provider of engineering design services that creates innovative, market-leading products. With more than 1 500 design engineers worldwide, Flextronics Design delivers complete system-level solutions and partners with customers at any stage of the product development lifecycle, from concept to production launch. By integrating design engineering services with a global manufacturing infrastructure, Flextronics lowers product costs and reduces time to market.
Flextronics
Flextronics is the leading electronics manufacturing services (EMS) provider headquartered in Singapore. The global group is focused on delivering operational services to technology companies. With fiscal year 2002 revenues of $13.1 billion and approximately 95 000 employees, Flextronics is a major operating company with design, engineering, manufacturing and logistics operations in 29 countries on five continents.