improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . learn how and when to remove these template messages this article needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . july 2012 learn how and when to remove this template message this article is missing information about the acquisition of wink . please expand the article to include this information . further details may exist on the talk page . november 2015 this article contains content that is written like an advertisement . please help improve it by removing promotional content and inappropriate external links and by adding encyclopedic content written from a neutral point of view . january 2016 learn how and when to remove this template message learn how and when to remove this template message flex type public traded as nasdaq flex industry electronics manufacturing services and original design manufacturer odm founded 1969 ; 47 years ago 1969 as flextronics inc. founder joe mckenzie and barbara ann mckenzie headquarters san jose california u.s. key people mike mcnamara ceo website www.flextronics.com flex previously known as flextronics international ltd. or flextronics is an american international supply chain solutions company that offers design manufacturing distribution and aftermarket services 1 to original equipment manufacturers oems . it is headquartered in san jose california . it is the second largest global electronics manufacturing services ems original design manufacturer odm company by revenue behind only taiwan s foxconn . flex has manufacturing operations in over 40 countries totaling approximately 27.2 million square feet and 200 000 employees . contents 1 history 2 lab ix 3 the intelligence of things 4 rebranding 5 controversies 5.1 breach of contracts 5.2 leak of usb charger confidential shipment data 6 notes 7 external links history edit this section needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . july 2012 learn how and when to remove this template message flextronics singapore headquarters in august 2006 . logo used until 2015 . in 1969 the company was founded in silicon valley as flextronics inc. by joe mckenzie . in 1980 the company was sold to bob todd joe sullivan and jack watts . in 1981 flextronics became a publicly held company . in 1990 the company returned to being a private company in a leveraged buyout and was renamed as flextronics international ltd. with singapore as its new base . in 1993 the company received venture capital funding through sequoia capital 2 and became a public held company again in 1994 . the company closed its contract electronic manufacturing plant in richardson texas in 1996 . the company acquired two companies in hong kong astron group and fico plastics ltd. and a swedish based company ericsson business networks . in 2000 the company ranked third on 100 best managed companies by industryweek . in 2005 the company purchased the manufacturing division of nortel networks and solectron in 2007 . in 2006 flextronics took over a part of the production of lego but in 2009 lego decided to end relations with flextronics and purchase the production facilities in mexico and hungary . on june 4 2007 flextronics offered to purchase solectron for us 3.6 billion and thus making solectron a subsidiary of flextronics . the acquisition of solectron was completed by end of october 2007 earlier than anticipated . on march 18 2009 flextronics was invited to ring the nasdaq stock market opening bell signifying the day s start of trading and celebrated 15 year nasdaq listed anniversary . mike mcnamara ceo and a group of top executives represented the company at the ringing of the bell . 3 on august 25 2009 flextronics announced that it was chosen by lg electronics lge a global provider of advanced digital products and applied technologies to manufacture 19 22 26 32 and 37 inch lcd television receivers at its ciudad ju rez mexico facility for distribution to the north and south american markets . 4 on september 2 2009 flextronics announced that multek received danaher test and measurement s 2009 outstanding supplier award . the award was given based on quality delivery performance engineering support and cost for work with two of danaher s business units tektronix and fluke . 5 on september 15 2010 flextronics announced that it had been chosen by brammo inc. a global leader in the electric motorcycle business to be its manufacturing partner for the production and distribution of plug in electric motorcycles and components . the partnership represented an expansion of flextronics automotive division s portfolio for battery powered vehicles and complemented its expertise in high voltage and energy recuperation for the automotive market . 6 7 in 2010 the company signed an agreement with lenovo to provide manufacturing for europe . that same year flextronics also signed an agreement with brammo to provide acquisition and manufacturing in north america asia and europe . in 2012 flextronics incubated elementum a start up supply chain management scm company based in mountain view california . in 2014 elementum was spun off from flextronics as its own separate entity . 8 in 2014 flextronics was named as the manufacturer of the fitbit force by the u.s. consumer product safety commission in the context of a complete recall of the product due to rashes developing on the wrists of its users . 9 in 2015 flex acquired wink smart home platform to bring the intelligence of things home . flex has been a strategic partner to wink serving as their primary supplier of hardware and firmware including the wink hub and wink relay which include core intellectual property developed within flex . 10 in august of 2016 the state of massachusetts and the city of boston offered the company more than 3 million dollars in public aid to entice the company to open its flex boston innovation center on the south boston waterfront . the 17 000 square feet 1 600 m2 facility will employ 25 people and be located in a former military storehouse in the seaport now called the innovation and design building . 11 lab ix edit in 2013 flextronics launched lab ix an accelerator program based out of milpitas where the company also has an r & d center which will award 500 000 to each selected company to grow their ideas and bring it to market . the focus of lab ix is to find start ups that are less than three years old have less than 5 million in funding early stage disruptive companies incorporating hardware and software innovation . in addition to a capital injection lab ix will also provide access to lab ix and flextronics engineers and designers including ideo access to manufacturing and prototyping equipment some 30 million in the r & d center alone . those who look like they may be progressing to the next stage of their development get access to flextronics network of factories for manufacturing procurement network and marketing network . 12 the intelligence of things edit intelligence is a quarterly print and digital magazine published by flex to explore the concept of co innovation and the intelligence of things what flextronics sees as building blocks of the post information age era . written for today s forward thinking and innovative business leaders intelligence and theintelligenceofthings.com spark a new conversation about the potential to evolve smart concepts and sketches into scalable intelligent products for consumers . launched in january 2015 intelligence will monitor the trends and developments in the age of intelligence reporting on the most groundbreaking technologies redefining business today for the world tomorrow . 13 rebranding edit on july 23 2015 flex announced the rebranding efforts that includes everything in the company a legal name change a new identity package a new brand package a new set of communications architecture and brand architecture and a new tagline . the new tagline is live smarter . our idea of live smarter really embodies the vision and mission of the company which is bringing intelligence to everything whether it is a solution set a product or designing something . 14 controversies edit breach of contracts edit flextronics was sued what was apparent in breach of contract with beckman coulter inc. a medical device maker . the case dates from 1997 when beckman coulter entered into an agreement with dovatron a unit of the dii group to provide circuit boards for a beckman blood analyzer . flextronics acquired the dii group in 1999 and according to beckman shortly thereafter flextronics refused to provide the circuit boards unless it bought other electronic components from the company . beckman filed suit in early 2001 seeking 2.2 million in damages which were cited as the costs incurred in having to retool one of its plants to manufacture the circuit boards in house . 15 16 at the end of trial flextronics paid 23 million for the damages . 17 leak of usb charger confidential shipment data edit a former flextronics executive pleaded guilty to committing wire fraud and security fraud by providing confidential information related to usb charger shipment data used for us based iphones and ipods for the third and fourth quarters of 2009 . 18 notes edit flextronics about us sequoia capital funds flextronics . http www.companieshistory.com flextronics international presentation video 1 2 miles matthew . brammo partners with flextronics industry news . cycleworld magazine . retrieved 2010 09 16 . williams christina 16 september 2010 . brammo teams with flextronics . portland business journal . retrieved 23 september 2010 . flextronics spins off startup to put supply chain software in the cloud . http www.cpsc.gov en recalls 2014 fitbit recalls force activity tracking wristband http www.prnewswire.com news releases flex to bring the intelligence of things home with wink acquisition 300179504.html chesto jon 2016 08 16 . 3.3 m package coaxes flextronics into opening city innovation center . the boston globe . retrieved 2016 08 17 . http techcrunch.com 2013 07 23 hardware giant flextronics is launching lab ix an accelerator that gives 500k to each startup to grow https www.theintelligenceofthings.com research http news.flextronics.com newsroom press releases press release details 2015 meet flex former hp cmo michael mendenhall rebrands a new company default.aspx http www.callahan law.com verdicts and settlements callahan blaine wins 934 million for beckman coulter.shtml callahan & blaine wins 934 million for beckman coulter http www.mddionline.com article california jury awards beckman coulter 934 million california jury awards beckman coulter 934 million http online.wsj.com news articles sb10698823666934400 flextronics will pay 23 million to beckman to settle a lawsuit http www.zdnet.com blog btl apples weak link on secrets contract equipment manufacturing 42866 apple s weak link on secrets contract equipment manufacturing external links edit singapore portal companies portal official website wikimedia commons has media related to flextronics . v t e major information technology companies largest it companies largest internet companies largest software companies semiconductor sales leaders by year consulting and outsourcing accenture atos booz allen hamilton bt global services caci capgemini cgi group cognizant computer sciences corporation deloitte digital china fujitsu hcl technologies hitachi consulting hewlett packard enterprise services ibm global services indra sistemas infosys kpmg leidos nec ntt data orange business services t systems tata consultancy services tech mahindra unisys wipro imaging canon inc. hp inc. eastman kodak fujifilm konica minolta kyocera lexmark nikon olympus corporation panasonic ricoh samsung electronics seiko epson sharp sony toshiba xerox information storage adata dell technologies dell emc fujitsu hitachi data systems hewlett packard enterprise ibm kingston technology lenovoemc netapp oracle corporation plextor samsung electronics seagate technology silicon power sony toshiba transcend information western digital sandisk internet aol baidu facebook google iac interactivecorp microsoft naver netease netflix tencent twitter yahoo yandex cloud computing amazon web services google ibm microsoft oracle corporation rackspace salesforce.com e commerce only alibaba group amazon.com ebay groupon jd.com rakuten mainframes fujitsu ibm