Name: Solectron Corporation  

        Address: 847 Gilbraltar Dr.                   

City: Milpitas, Calif 

President:  Mike Cannon

Product: Electronics Phone: 408-957-8500    

Year Founded: 1977    

     Solectron Corporation recently announced expansion of its capabilities in Guadalajara, Jal. The Guadalajara facility is Solectron’s largest plant in the Americas with the addition of new capabilities and the creation of an Enclosure Center and a Technology Excellence Center. The facility will focus on providing printed circuit board assembly manufacturing and enclosures, system integration and state-of-the-art design and engineering services to Solectron’s customers worldwide.

      The expansion represents one of the most significant investments Solectron has made in the region and underscores Solectron’s commitment to Mexico by bringing more business and jobs to the local economy. Solectron’s Lean Six Sigma methodology, the Solectron Production System, coupled with a complete integrated solution, delivers lower total landed costs for customers.

      “This is a big step in our ambitious roadmap to position Jalisco as a high-tech manufacturing leader,” said Jalisco Gov. Francisco Ramírez Acuña, “Solectron has been a key player in creating the Mexican Silicon Valley and this expansion demonstrates the company’s commitment. I’m confident we’ll continue to work together to grow this important industry and attract new investment projects.”

      “Guadalajara will continue to play a critical role in our strategic global expansion plans,” said Marc Onetto, executive vice president of worldwide operations. “The combination of the power of SPS, vertically integrated enclosure capabilities, engineering excellence and the geographic position of Guadalajara bordering the largest electronics market in the world creates a compelling supply chain solution for our customers.”

      “The new Technology Excellence Center will offer advanced design and engineering services to meet our increasing customer demand for these services around the globe. Mexico allows us access to an extremely high level of expertise, education and a talented pool of local engineers. The time zone and proximity to our American customers are also advantages over Asian operations,” said Dave Purvis, Solectron’s executive vice president and chief technical officer. “We look forward to continuing to provide high quality service solutions to our customers.”

      Roberto Hernández, Solectron’s Guadalajara general manager, holds a Ph.D. in industrial engineering. For more than 10 years, Hernández has taught courses at ITESM, a leading technical university. His education and expertise will play a critical role in helping Solectron meet customer needs.

      “Due to significant customer demand at this site and the excellent performance of the plant through Lean manufacturing capabilities, Solectron decided to make a very important investment to expand the capabilities in the Guadalajara facility. In the near term, we anticipate a need to increase our hiring,” said Hernández. “We are committed to making this plant one of the best in the region, with dedicated focus on customer satisfaction and superior product quality.”

RoHS status

      Solectron also announced recently that global sites representing 85 percent of Solectron manufacturing capacity have successfully completed a qualification program for Lead-Free, Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) compliant manufacturing — inline with the requirements outlined in the European Union’s RoHS directive. Solectron established an Environmental Compliance Leadership Team in January 2004 to develop and implement a lead-free and RoHS-compliant transition program across the company’s manufacturing sites worldwide.

      “We recognized early the challenges that environmental compliance regulations such as RoHS would pose to our customers,” said David Bassett, director of Solectron’s Environmental Compliance Leadership Team. “Our lead-free RoHS process, equipment and materials certification program includes an in-depth training, assembly, testing and evaluation process. This level of due diligence provides our OEM customers with the confidence that we can support them on meeting the RoHS, lead-free transition without disrupting their businesses.”

      As part of the RoHS initiative, Solectron’s Environmental Compliance Leadership Team provided direction and support in the development of many corporate specifications for lead-free and RoHS policies, procedures and specifications, including:

      •Quality standards

      •Process development and deployment

      •Management system policies

      •Equipment evaluation, selection, set-up and operating procedures

      •Procurement, material handling and segregation procedures

      •Solectron lead-free/RoHS qualification procedure

      •Laboratory and failure analysis testing

      •Material identification specification

      •Training programs (using IPC 610D standards)

      Specifically, to receive Solectron Corporate endorsement for RoHS certification, each site:

      •Validated the capability of its lead-free soldering and rework capabilities by completing Solectron lead-free/ROHS designed Surface Mount Technology (SMT) and Plated Through Hole (PTH) test vehicle builds and associated laboratory mechanical and failure analysis tests.

      •Demonstrated its knowledge and ability to manage lead-free/RoHS, end-to-end, through warehouse and logistics management processes.

      •Established a competency level based on training and a structured self-assessment program.

      •Successfully demonstrated its competency through a Solectron Corporate on-site audit, which evaluated each sites’ preparations, controls, technical understanding and compliance readiness.

      Additionally, Solectron worked closely with its suppliers and customers in the early lead-free/RoHS transition stages. This helped ensure a smooth transition for all supply chain partners.

      “We understood the importance of RoHS and determined that we would leverage our key contract manufacturers wherever possible,” said Danny Salinas, corporate program manager of the environmental directives, Nortel. “Solectron provided our design teams with on-site support, as well as project and escalation management with our suppliers to close in on technical issues. As a result, we are now positioned to utilize RoHS-compliant manufacturing processes that are deployed at several Solectron sites worldwide, ready to help us ensure we deliver compliant and quality products by the RoHS deadline.”