Lenovo moves data center hardware manufacturing to Europe and Flex

With the move, EMEA customers and partners will benefit from faster delivery times and greater flexibility to meet their needs when manufacturing partner, Flex – formerly Flextronics – begins production of Lenovo’s x86 server products in Hungary, the company states in a press release. Production will begin in Summer 2016 and will complement the existing Flex production of the ThinkServer product line as well as a number of other products. A Flex facility in Hungary, dedicated to Lenovo, will produce the full x86 range, including system assembly, the complete range of storage and networking options, and fully integrated racks in order-to-configure custom-build systems. Flex and Lenovo have been partners for six years and the EMS provider is already involved in the production of a range of products, including PCs, phones, ThinkServers and tablet repairs. In fact the Sarvar site in Hungary has just manufactured and shipped its 5th million PC for Lenovo in EMEA. The decision to move manufacturing to Europe is said to be based on the benefits arising from establishing production closer to the company's core customer and partner base. Manufacturing in the European Union will enable an improvement of up to five days on delivery times to customers (depending on the country) and lower operation costs (reduced freight costs) that can be passed on to customers and partners. Production of x86 servers for EMEA customers will still continue in China allowing channel partners to enjoy further cost benefits by using ocean freight, the company states in the release.