Jabil the EMS Perfomer

Jabil Circuit already changed its name and logo to Jabil together with Jabil Global Service (JGS) to have a common corporate identity and resemblance of actual business it runs currently. The words “Circuit” is not used anymore to better represent the actual business that Jabil runs not just a normal electronics but also the complex electronic manufacturing services company. Jabil is one of the top tier EMS company in the world and in term of the revenue, it ranks third after Fox Conn and Flextronics. From a humble beginning by William E. Morean and James Golden, Jabil grows to international EMS giant with revenue of more than USD 12 billion in 2007. The word Jabil actually comes from the name of the two founders, James and Bill Morean. Jabil is a provider of electronic manufacturing services which it design, manufactures electronic circuit boards, assemble complete electronic devices, direct fulfillment to end customer and other services to world major electronics makers in computing, networking and storage, medical, automotive, aerospace, consumer products such as display panel, telecommunication and etc. Its major customer includes Nokia, Philips, IBM, Agilent, Tellabs, Intel, HP, Cisco, LTX, Infinera, Verigy and Motorola.

Jabil is headquartered in St. Petersburg, Florida and has manufacturing facilities across the globe in countries such as China, Malaysia, Japan, India, Ukraine, Poland, Brazil, UK, Vietnam, Singapore and Mexico. World major OEM are looking for better cost control and managing of supply chain management, so they are looking for solutions and long-term partnership from the electronic manufacturing services company such as Jabil. The global business prospect for this type of business is growing rapidly because a lot of company are outsourcing their manufacturing and distribution function to EMS to focus on core activities such as design, research and development and servicing their customers. Jabil operation can be divided into 3 main categories that are Consumer Electronics, Electronic Manufacturing Services (EMS) and After Market Services. The Consumer Electronics division offers cell phones and mobile products, televisions, set-top boxes, as well as peripheral products, such as printers. The EMS division produces networking, computing, storage, and telecommunications products, as well as serves the automotive, medical, industrial, instrumentation, defense, and aerospace sectors. The After-Market Services division provides warranty and repair services to various manufacturing customers, and to other customers. It was formerly known as Jabil Global Services (JGS).

Jabil has more than 61000 employees around the world and recently has been expanding aggressively in Asia such as new manufacturing plant in China and Vietnam and acquisition of Indian EMS Celetronics in Mumbai. Its competitors include Flextronics, Sanmina SCI, FoxCon, Plexus, and Celestica. The company stock is traded in New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) with “JBL” tickers.

Jabil offers comprehensive manufacturing services to world class OEM such as Nokia, Philips, Cisco, IBM, HP, Intel, Motorola, Agilent and Tellabs. Actual services by Jabil can be divided into 3 main stages as mention in detail below.

Technology and Design
During this product development stage, Jabil design, test development and prototype will support creation, validation and testing of the product. Advanced technology development and global reach allows Jabil to be responsive to customers' product design needs, building in solutions that lower costs throughout the product's life cycle. Jabil design capabilities range from subsystem and full turnkey product designs to cost reductions for existing designs. Jabil perform as a seamless extension of its customers' internal design capabilities. Getting involved early in the product development process and working closely with their own engineers, Jabil work aggressively to exceed customers' goals and time-to-market expectations. Jabil provides PCB design, design assurance, industrial design, mechanical engineering and design, tooling engineering and software development for the customers with its set of experienced and multi function workforce. In test development, Jabil owns capabilities in 5DX, Automated Optical Inspection, Burn In, Environmental Stress Screening (ESS), X-Ray, Functional Verification Test (FVT), In circuit test (ICT), customer network verification and Mac address management. Agility is key during the fast pace prototype phase of product development. Using highly reconfigurable prototype lines, Jabil assembles and tests complex design prototypes with the flexibility to manage a constantly changing bill of materials, evolving PCB designs, and shifting project schedules. Tight integration with customer and Jabil engineering teams enables us to provide valuable Design for Manufacturability (DFM) feedback. This feedback saves time and reduces costs through design debug and validation, software development and channel testing. Leveraging Jabil standard equipment, tooling, and processes ensures a smooth transition from prototype stages to high-volume production.


Manufacturing Services
During manufacturing stage, Jabil make, assemble, and deliver through its backplane and PCB assembly, enclosure, system integration and fulfillment operation. Jabil's roots lie in the assembly and testing of printed circuit boards. Today, from worldwide locations, we support high and low-mix PCB and backplane assembly for volumes that range from just a few units for prototypes, to modest quantities for pre-production, to hundreds of thousands in volume production. Jabil assembly services are complemented by front-end product development capabilities including strong CAD layout and design experience. Jabil provides the integration services that support today's innovative and unique business models focused on customer service. Among the experience Jabil has is in switches, mobile phones, digital LCD display, printers, network storage product, optical networking, semiconductor testing equipment etc.
Jabil's international direct order fulfillment and distribution operations accelerate customers' product time-to-market. In many cases, our direct customers never touch the product before it is delivered to their customers. Dedicated process development teams ensure the quick transition of products throughout more than 90 countries. By managing orders electronically and balancing regional demands, by using local and global logistics partners, and by using key operational metrics to ensure a high level of performance, Jabil works to dramatically reduce delivery times to our customers' end-users.


Sustaining Services
The returns management and warranty repair services complete Jabil end-to-end set of services, providing end customer with troubleshooting, repair and expedited returns of the products. Jabil provides a closed-loop support model where our OEM customers gain the greatest return for their investment. Repair and logistics functions are integrated to optimize the model most efficiently. With integration, the need for transactions and the associated costs between a traditional logistics provider and a traditional repair services provider is eliminated and economies to scale become evident. Jabil play a crucial role in helping our customers manage their spare parts pipeline. From retail channel returns management and processing to single warranty exchanges, Jabil provides an efficient environment to handle all aspects of Returns Management.