Flextronics eyes Malaysia as alternative to China

Reuters Recommends News Article | Reuters.com

Another article on the theme of chasing cheap. If your production strategy is based on being based in a cheap location, that seems like a losing strategy to me. You’ll constantly be moving and building new facilities, adding cost and losing capabilities from changing people.

Why not considering using lean as the core business strategy? I thought Flextronics was winning awards and recognition for lean efforts. Why not locate close to your customers and rely on your people to drive costs down with lean improvements? That seems to work well for Toyota. You don’t read about them wanting to move their Kentucky factory to Alabama because it’s cheaper.

About LeanBlog.org: Mark Graban is a consultant, author, and speaker in the “lean healthcare” methodology, focused on improving quality and patient safety, improving access, reducing costs, and fully engaging healthcare professionals. He is also the Chief Improvement Officer for KaiNexus.