Electronics giant seeks ways to adjust to COVID challenges

Flextronics Electronics Technology (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd., a global supply chain and manufacturing solutions provider, has completely resumed normal production even though its business was affected by the weeklong COVID-induced lockdown between March 14 and 20, according to Hill Zhang, general manager of the company’s manufacturing site in Fuyong, Bao’an District.

Zhang told Shenzhen Daily in an email interview Friday that Flextronics Shenzhen was very supportive of the city government’s resolute control measures to contain the pandemic outbreak. The company took the temporary lockdown positively and quickly adjusted itself to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 flare-ups. 

“We were affected since our supply chain has been deeply engaged with the local supply base including supplier partners located in Dongguan, Zhuhai, Huizhou and Zhongshan, as well as cross-border logistics through Hong Kong. However, when the situation happened, we understood it’s necessary to prevent the virus from further spreading and causing more serious consequences, so we immediately adjusted ourselves and did our part to ensure our people and factory are well managed,” Zhang said.

Zhang explained that the company’s Fuyong site managed to partially run production thanks to the employees living in the factory and material inventory already on hand. “We also developed innovative ways for technicians and engineers to remotely support those in production and keep close communication with our supplier partners to prepare buffer inventories so that they could deliver materials to us once everything was back to normal. In this way, we could maximize our production capacity to catch up what we lost during the lockdown,” Zhang added.

Flextronics Shenzhen is a member company of the American Chamber of Commerce in South China (AmCham South China). Dr. Harley Seyedin, president of AmCham South China, told Shenzhen Daily that with the support of local governments, its members overcame all sorts of difficulties and kept production lines fully operational, striving to complete global orders in a timely manner and with high quality. “They also actively communicated and coordinated with local transport departments to ensure the smooth flow of cargos,” Dr. Seyedin said.

According to Dr. Seyedin, 26% of over 2,300 AmCham South China members are engaged in manufacturing, while 41% are from professional services including logistics. 

Dr. Seyedin thinks highly of Shenzhen government’s financial relief measures rolled out in late March to support companies and businesses affected by the COVID-19 resurgence. “With the reduction of operation cost and financial assistance at its core, the measures will certainly help businesses navigate through the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic and resume normal production levels as soon as possible. I believe that such supportive policy measures mark a significant step in increasing support for pandemic-hit companies and provides them with a strong guarantee for sustainable development in South China,” he said. 

Flextronics is an American Singaporean-domiciled multinational electronics contract manufacturer. In Shenzhen, the company has three manufacturing sites in Gushu, Fuyong and Shiyan in Bao’an and two offices in Nanshan, offering complete technology and supply chain solutions to internal and external customers across multiple industries.