Flex
What I Knew Before
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I had never heard of Flex before this class, however before the visit I learned that they produced a lot of the technology that we interact with on a daily basis
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Introduction/ Expectations
Knowing that it was a technology lab, I expected to see many PhDs doing product testing in an extremely modern lab. Because of my lack of knowledge on Flex, I went in with an open mind on everything that Flex had to offer.
Within the electronics manufacturing industry, Flex is the third largest manufacturer with over 200,000 employees in over 40 countries. Average revenues exceed $26 billion.
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Visit Summary
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During the Flex visit, we met with Ksenia Zvyagintseva who gave us a presentation and showed us around their facility. The lecture began with a video on their history, and a display of their screen complex. This very impressive interactive, interconnected management touch screen showed us technologies that we have never seen before. On this screen, we saw the technologies that Flex gave its employees to make them as effective as possible. Included in these technologies was their supply chain response application which helped employees manage issues within their supply chain. An example of when this technology would be used is during a natural disaster; during Hurricane Irma, Flex most likely had suppliers who were unable to deliver materials or products on schedule; in this case, Flex would use the app to find new suppliers that can deliver the products to salvage the mission at hand. This system works because Flex lets their managers innovate and make decisions on their own with their decentralized supply chain, resulting in faster result times.
While flex does not have branded merchandise itself, they are involved in many different products that we interact with everyday. Flex is pioneering the wearable technology industry, pairing wearable products with the internet of things, allowing them to be much more interactive and useful. The reason we never see a Flex logo on any of their products is because they license their products to other companies. For wearable, they have partnerships with Ralph Lauren, Nike, and Google, so by putting their own logo on any products, they would be competing with their clients.
We saw many of these wearable technologies and more as we toured the Flex facilities, including their labs and robotics. They showed us a production schedule of what technologies they planned to work on in coming years, and even a model of a futuristic kitchen with everything interconnected and technological.
Key Takeaways
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Flex showed us where our everyday lives are headed. Visiting the model kitchen really stuck with me because it showed that we may soon live in a world where everything we do relies on technology. They showed us a fridge that had internal cameras to show what was inside, as opposed to opening the door to do that. Flex is taking routine tasks like that and making them technology based, which is a scary thought.
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As Deborah Piscione says in "Secrets of Silicon Valley," technology is accelerating at an increasing rate. Piscione quotes Ray Kurzweil regarding the topic, saying, "'The pace [of technology] will continue to accelerate, and because of the explosive nature of exponential growth, the twenty-first century will be equivalent to twenty thousand years of progress at today's rate of progress.'"​
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It was incredible to me that I had never heard of Flex even though they generated $26 billion in revenue annually by producing products that I am very familiar with. This served to reinforce how many different aspects of Silicon Valley there are - there is so much more than the Googles and Apples and small start-ups in the valley.
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Innovation is something that must be thought about with sights set on the future. Flex is currently developing products for 3-5 years from now, and they showed us an innovation production schedule that goes even further than that. If you think in the now, you are 5 years too late.
Post Visit Actions/ Thoughts
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Flex made me more conscious about all of the amazing, innovative companies that exist in this world that I have never even heard of.
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Being in an atmosphere that is operating so far in the future made me think about what the future of our increasingly technological world will look like, and it is definitely a scary thought.