Wertschöpfung durch integrierte Services über den gesamten Produktlebenszyklus hinweg

The services continuum

Design, source, build, deliver, reclaim, repeat

From supply chain volatility and rapid technological change to the financial and legal minutiae of tariffs and environmental regulations, companies face array of challenges as their products move from idea through end of life. With time to value at a premium, partnerships take on greater significance. Needs are as varied as the companies themselves, but the services continuum follows a familiar path regardless of sector: design, source, build, deliver, reclaim, repeat.

The cycle is straightforward for any given product, but it’s the rare company that only has one product in development, on the production line, or in market at a time. In practice, product lifecycle management is like orchestrating many interdependent systems moving in parallel across the portfolio. Even the manufacturing and distribution of a single product requires precise calibration with component suppliers and end-customer demand.

Outsourcing for flexibility and agility

The product lifecycle begins long before manufacturing commences and lingers well after the sale. Although companies may not always need a full complement of services, it’s a fair bet that one or several can be utilized to streamline the process. Tapping expertise outside the company keeps internal focus squarely where it should be — on innovation, not on staffing up, standing up, and maintaining ancillary capabilities in-house. A partner with end-to-end services gives companies the flexibility and agility to engage fluidly in sync with product roadmaps, manufacturing timelines, and end-customer demand.

This is where Flex comes in — providing comprehensive, integrated support tailored to each phase of the product lifecycle with solutions such as:

DESIGN FOR EXECUTION
Customer needs: Accelerate readiness, de-risk launch, optimize design
Flex solution: DfX, prototyping, and early engineering support

SUPPLY CHAIN RESILIENCE AND COMPONENT SOURCING
Customer needs: Secure supply, forecast accurately, reduce cost
Flex solution: Tailored sourcing, buffer programs, and supply visibility

ADVANCED MANUFACTURING
Customer needs: Scale efficiently, reduce complexity, meet standards
Flex solution: In-region, vertically integrated manufacturing

VALUE-ADDED FULFILLMENT AND LOGISTICS
Customer needs: Ship faster, customize late, serve all channels
Flex solution: Regional fulfillment, kitting, and omnichannel support

AFTERMARKET SERVICES
Customer needs: Reduce waste, recover value, improve sustainability
Flex solution: Reverse logistics, reuse, and circularity analytics

To help you unlock greater business value, Flex provides end-to-end lifecycle services that are:

Integriert — Designed to work together seamlessly

Tailored — Aligned to unique needs and customer requirements

Proven — Tested and proven across industries

Scalable — Adaptable to any region, any infrastructure

Fast — Built to accelerate execution and shorten deployment timelines

See the full portfolio of Flex’s end-to-end, integrated product lifecycle services

Design: The Flex advantage

Simplify manufacturing with design-for-excellence expertise

There are endless variables to consider when it comes to Produktdesign. Performance and functionality are just the tip of the iceberg. How will decisions made at the outset affect component availability and manufacturing timelines? What are the consequences for repairs or obsolescence? What is the impact on sustainability and value recovery?

Bringing together experts from critical phases of the product development process to vet a design before it gets to production saves time, money, and headaches down the road. Early collaboration can make the product easier and more cost-effective to manufacture, test, and assemble while enhancing long-term reliability and lessening environmental impact.

Flex supports early-stage product development with design engineering, prototyping, and Design for Excellence (DfX)-Dienste that reduce production risk and speed time to launch. From rack systems to embedded components, we help customers optimize performance, simplify manufacturing, and scale with confidence.

Rapid prototyping and early validation
Shorten development cycles with quick-turn builds, test simulations, and actionable design feedback

DfX engineering services
Design for manufacturing, testability, and assembly (DfM, DfT, DfA) principles reduce costs, streamline production, and accelerate ramp-up

Joint design and engineering resources
Scale faster by tapping into Flex’s global engineering teams for co-development, new product introduction, and technical augmentation

Value engineering and cost optimization
Improve margins and manufacturability by simplifying designs, eliminating waste, and identifying lower-cost alternatives upfront

Configurable BOM and approved vendor lists
Streamline parts management for custom product configurations and ensure components meet quality, compliance, and reliability standards

What Is DfX?

DfX is a set of methodologies and principles that guide designers and engineers to create products that excel not just in functionality, but in manufacturability, reliability, testability, sustainability, and serviceability. Its core principles center on quality improvement, cost reduction, and efficiency enhancement. Leveraging DfX services enables companies to deliver high-quality products that are cost-efficient to make and maintain.

Approximately 70–80% of product cost is determined up front

Decisions made during this crucial design period lock in everything from materials, components, and suppliers to tooling and tolerances.

Quelle: Engineering Design

Source: The Flex advantage

Strengthen supply chain resilience as a service

Supply chain disruptions aren’t merely inconvenient, they’re costly. Financial losses, customer dissatisfaction, and reputational damage compound in a hurry the longer an issue lingers. McKinsey estimates that a company can lose 30 to 50 percent of a year’s EBIDTA (a measure of profitability) to a single major disruption. No industry is immune.

Disruptions are also quite frequent — by one count, 10,629 in the first half of 2024 alone. Supply chain operations can boost resilience or exacerbate vulnerability, depending on how effectively they monitor risk, deploy mitigation strategies, and execute business continuity plans. Building resilience into the supply chain enables companies to anticipate, respond to, and recover from disruptions faster, protecting the bottom line and creating a competitive advantage as others struggle to pivot.

Tailored inventory programs

Flex’s tailored inventory programs complement our weltweite Versorgungs-Kette by ensuring a steady supply of onboard, hardware, and commodity components, helping companies meet demand and stay competitive in fast-moving markets.

Strategic buffer inventory
Capture upside from demand spikes and respond faster to change

Centralized supply chain management
Reduce sourcing risk and improve planning accuracy

Customized solutions for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs)
Align inventory to customer-specific needs and reduce obsolescence

Global material logistics
Streamline execution across regions and rebalance excess inventory efficiently

Data-driven decision tools
Improve visibility, forecasting, and risk management across the supply chain

Components portfolio for speed and reliability from Coreworks, A Flex Company

Direct-to-OEM component supply
Reduce sourcing complexity and lower total cost of ownership through direct access

Standard and custom component manufacturing
Consolidate suppliers and accelerate time to market with tailored parts

Design and engineering integration
Design in quality and flexibility from the start of the lifecycle

Resilient global fulfillment network
Deliver global fulfillment with competitive lead times, reliable component access, and resilient, region-compliant operations

Explore our full components portfolio

Global cost of supply chain disruption annually driven by raw material volatility, delays, and increased logistics costs

Quelle: JS Held

5 keys to supply chain resilience

Supply chain professionals break down resilience into five key components:

Flex Impuls^® intelligente Supply-Chain-Tools

Optimize supply chain processes, enhance decision-making, and bolster resilience in a dynamic global landscape with:

• Flex Pulse Actionable Insights
  Leverage real-time, end-to-end insights for more intelligent supply chain decisions, increased agility, and responsiveness
• Flex Impulsnetzwerkdesign
  Rapidly model scenarios to analyze and optimize supply chain network design and planning for cost savings, service level improvements, and inventory reduction
• Flex Pulse Risk Management
  Identify risk early in the product lifecycle to significantly mitigate supply chain risks — including production disruptions and financial impacts — in the product build stage

Strategie in Aktion

Unternehmen

Global industrial technology leader specializing in smart metering for water, gas, and electricity

Impact

Reduced unforecasted supply chain costs by nearly $3 million annually and captured 19 percent of previously unplanned revenue in the first year

How they did it

Leveraging Flex’s value-added services to implement a dynamic buffer and inventory program that stabilized supply, reduced unfavorable procurement costs, and enabled faster response to demand surges

Supply chain leaders experienced challenges in 2024

Quelle: McKinsey & Company

Build: The Flex advantage

Build and deploy at scale with vertical rack integration

Think “data center” — what image does it bring to mind? For many, it’s row upon row of racks with servers and other IT equipment blinking in the semi-darkness. Their ubiquity can make them an afterthought in data center design — a quick math problem based on square footage. But the advent of high-density computing puts the space inside at a premium. More compute means more power, and more power requires more cooling. On the horizon: 1+ MW racks enabled by +/- 400 VDC and 800 VDC power systems and advanced liquid cooling solutions. The race is on to maximize every centimeter.

A critical infrastructure component, racks enable efficient use of space, effective power and cooling, and scalable growth. The faster they’re built, integrated, and deployed, the faster companies can take advantage of computing power in a hyper-competitive era where 10 GW of data center space is expected to break ground in 2025, and another 7 GW will likely reach completion. With time to compute of the essence, partners that can deliver fully integrated racks at scale globally offer a distinct competitive advantage.

Global data center capacity (GW)

Note: Capacity includes hyperscale and colocation

Quelle: JLL Research, Structure Research

Flex helps companies scale faster and simplify operations in the AI era with vertically integrated, cost-effective rack and enclosure solutions that are custom-built and manufactured near deployment sites worldwide.

Vertically integrated global manufacturing
Simplify the supply chain and accelerate compute deployment with full rack ownership

Advanced automation and quality controls
Ensure compliance and consistent high-performance validation

Custom engineering and compliance design
Align inventory to customer-specific needs and reduce obsolescence

In-region scale and deployment speed
Enable hyperscale deployments faster while reducing emissions through regionalization

ORv3 solutions

Balancing rack standardization and customization, the Open Rack v3 (ORv3) specification meets several hyperscaler design imperatives and enables them to achieve more compute per square foot. Flex offers complete vertical integration of ORv3 rack solutions, from the fabrication of the frame to the design and manufacture of the IT components, power products, and liquid cooling systems that reside therein.

Strategie in Aktion

Unternehmen

Hyperscaler

Impact

Accelerated global rack deployment by 40% while cutting sourcing costs and lead times

How they did it

Unified component sourcing, ORv3 rack fabrication, and in‑region fulfillment for faster, more sustainable expansion

Deliver: The Flex advantage

Get finished goods to end customers faster

The work of getting a product to the end customer doesn’t stop at the production line. Moving finished goods from here to there is no simple matter. Transportation, warehousing, kitting, late customization, distribution, and other logistics-related activities must be tightly coordinated, often globally. Companies that go to market through a variety of channels — business, retail, direct-to-consumer — face a particularly complex fulfillment landscape. And as we noted earlier, supply chains can suffer disruptions at any moment.

Companies often turn to logistics and supply chain management partners to ensure seamless delivery of their products. While individual aspects such as Lagerung und Bestandsverwaltung can be outsourced to third-party logistics (3PL) providers, it’s often more expedient to engage a strategic partner with the expertise, capabilities, and geographic reach to manage the entire supply chain holistically — a fourth-party logistics provider (4PL). Aligning supply chain strategies with business objectives optimizes the entire logistics ecosystem, impacting everything from inventory levels to shipping costs.

The global logistics and services market for 3PL and 4PL providers is growing at a 9.25% compound annual growth rate (CAGR).

Quelle: Fortune Business Insights

Durch die forward logistics and fulfillment services streamline the movement of finished goods, enabling faster, more cost-effective delivery to business, retail, and direct-to-consumer customers globally.

Omnichannel-Fulfillment
Serve all channels flexibly, including direct to consumer, retail, B2B, and marketplaces

Kitting und späte Anpassung
Reduce time to market and improve delivery accuracy with tailored final assembly

Managed inventory and warehousing
Optimize inventory levels and reduce storage and shipping costs

Managed logistics and transportation
Simplify fulfillment and boost customer satisfaction through end-to-end visibility

What OEMs should look for in a 4PL

4PLs are strategic business partners that oversee the entire supply chain and orchestrate various service providers — transportation, warehousing, distribution, trade compliance, kitting/assembly, and others — on behalf of an OEM.

OEMs should look for:

End-to-end supply chain expertise inclusive of strategy, optimization, and transformation

A proven track record in the industry, especially for those navigating complex global supply chains

Real-time visibility across all suppliers, carriers, and operations

Predictive analytics and root cause analysis expertise to avoid and address issues, respectively

Seamless scalability when entering new markets, consolidating operations, and addressing shifts in demand

Multimodal coordination to move goods by air, sea, land, and rail expediently and cost-effectively

Compliance and reporting that supports environmental sustainability frameworks

Strategie in Aktion

Unternehmen

Global technology company

Impact

Met global demand while maintaining 99.5% on-time delivery and optimized inventory performance

How they did it

Implemented multi-region VMI, warehousing, and late-stage kitting to streamline fulfillment and boost efficiency

Reclaim: The Flex advantage

Extending the product lifecycle with aftermarket services

Environmental sustainability is under the microscope. Roughly 99 percent of the S&P 500 discloses sustainability information, including the standards and frameworks they’ve adopted and the progress they’re making on greenhouse gas and net zero commitments. With climate change a top-three priority for global C-suite business leaders — surpassing political uncertainty, competition for talent, and shifting regulations — companies are transforming their business models and strategies accordingly.

of companies are using more sustainable materials

of companies are requiring suppliers and business partners to meet specific sustainability criteria

of companies are reconfiguring operations, infrastructure, and/or supply chains to be more

Quelle: Deloitte 2024 CxO Sustainability Report

Not only is that good for the planet, but environmental stewardship also pays dividends with customers, suppliers, and investors seeking to do business with like-minded organizations. From a fiscal standpoint it’s good for the bottom line, too, as resale and responsible recycling create new revenue streams. Companies are turning to circular economy principles to minimize waste and maximize value recovery.

Flex Lösungen für die Kreislaufwirtschaft extend product lifecycles, reduce waste, and recover value, helping brands meet sustainability goals, reduce risk, and unlock value at end of life.

Reverse logistics and returns management
Turn post-sale complexity into competitive advantage and reduce environmental impact

Repair, refurbishment, and reuse
Extend product life and unlock new value through recovery and remarketing

Resale, recovery, and responsible recycling
Improve resource productivity while ensuring full compliance and traceability

Digital circularity platforms
Quantify carbon savings, track recovery value, and strengthen your sustainability posture

Close the circularity loop with Flex

FreeFlow
Streamline remarketing efforts and profit from retail, returned, obsolete, or excess stock
Mehr erfahren

Flex ECO2
Quantify impact across returns, repair, refurbishment, resale, and recycling efforts

Circale
Optimize reverse logistics to increase the residual value of products
Mehr erfahren

Strategie in Aktion

Unternehmen

Consumer products OEM

Impact

Doubled refurbishment output and recovered millions in value from returned floorcare products

How they did it

Established regional refurbishment centers and circular reuse programs across the U.S. and Europe to reduce waste

Designed for now. Ready for what’s next.

End-to-end product lifecycle services

With services that span the product lifecycle, Flex enables companies to thrive.

Built for volatility, proven at scale
Flex services are designed to help customers adapt faster, manage disruption, and stay ahead in a volatile world.

One partner, every phase
From design to return, Flex connects your product lifecycle with integrated services that add value and simplify execution.

Smarter decisions, powered by data
Traceable programs and innovative digital tools give you the visibility to plan better, act faster, and measure impact.

Speed, scale, and sustainability
Flex unifies agility, global execution, and circularity to help customers grow, launch, and reclaim with confidence.

The right partner, in-region and around the world

FASTER EXECUTION AT SCALE

Advanced manufacturing and integrated fulfillment move products to market quickly and simply.

SUSTAINABILE OUTCOMES

Repair, reuse, and recycling reclaim value and cut CO₂ impact by up to 40%.

PROVEN RESILIENCE

$184B in annual disruption costs highlight the need; Flex mitigates risk with sourcing, buffers, and visibility.

GLOBAL, IN-REGION REACH

30 countries, 16K suppliers, and regional hubs cut lead times by up to 50%.

Explore Flex’s product lifecycle services that can enhance your business, end to end

DESIGN:

Design und Technik

Produktdesign

• Reference design
• Rapid-Prototyping
• Einführung neuer Produkte
• Zuverlässigkeits- und Fehleranalyse
• Microelectronics packaging
• Simulation und Modellierung
• Wertanalyse und -analyse

Design für Exzellenz

• Design für die Fertigung
• Design für Tests
• Design für die Automatisierung

QUELLE:

Lieferkette

Globales Netzwerk

• 16K suppliers
• Preferred-Supplier-Programm
• 7K+ supply chain professionals
• 1M component SKUs

Supply Chain Design und Digitalisierung

• Value chain modelling
• Joint risk management
• Flex Pulse real-time visibility and analytics

Kundenspezifische Komponentenlösungen

• Standard, semi-custom, and custom electrical and mechanical components
• Global component hubbing and logistics programs

BAUEN:

Fortschrittliche Fertigung

Vertikal integrierte Fähigkeiten

• Fortschrittliche Elektronikmontage
• Sheet metal, racks, and enclosures
• Plastics and tooling
• Bearbeitung
• Integration und Tests
• Vormontage und Endmontage

Fortschrittliche Fertigungstechnologien

• Automatisierung und Robotik
• Digitalisierung
• Simulation and digital twins

LIEFERN:

Fulfillment and Logistics

Vorwärtslogistik und Mehrwert-Fulfillment

• Bestandsverwaltung
• Lagerung
• Kitting und späte Anpassung
• Omnichannel-Fulfillment

RÜCKFORDERUNG:

Aftermarket-Dienstleistungen

Rückwärtslogistik und Kreislaufwirtschaft

• Nachhaltigkeitsanalysen
• Retouren und Screening
• Reparatur
• Refurbishment
• Vermögensrückgewinnung
• Weiterverkauf von Produkten und Teilen