Fujitsu Network Communications, a supplier of optical and wireless networking solutions, announced on July 25 that they are expanding manufacturing capacity at their Richardson, Texas, headquarters.
"In an environment where a majority of customer orders require delivery in under a week, and often within 24 hours, our manufacturing facility in Richardson is critical to our competitive advantage," said Hans Roehrig, senior vice president of operations and manufacturing at Fujitsu Network Communications. "Fujitsu is one of only a few major optical networking vendors that manufactures its own equipment in North America. By optimizing our in-sourced supply chain and implementing highly-regarded manufacturing philosophies, we are able to respond faster to rapidly changing customer requirements and deliver industry-leading product reliability."
Fujitsu is transferring manufacturing of optical and electronic assemblies for its market-leading FLASHWAVE® 4500 Multiservice Provisioning Platform (MSPP) and FLASHWAVE 7500 Re-configurable Optical Add/Drop Multiplexer (ROADM) from Japan. Manufacturing of broadband and fiber access products from Europe are also being transferred to Richardson.
One of the key objectives of these moves is to improve Fujitsus ability to respond to highly variable global demand, says the company. By pooling production capabilities in fewer places, peaks and troughs of demand can be balanced to improve operating efficiency.
"The transfer of manufacturing requirements from Europe and Japan to Richardson is an affirmation of the success we have been able to achieve through a commitment to continuous improvement," continued Roehrig. "Each year our employees implement more than 4,000 process improvements through our Kaizen reward program. Most changes are small improvements, but the combined impact of thousands of small ideas delivers impressive results. We welcome the addition of new employees to our manufacturing team, and look forward to their fresh perspectives and contributions that will reinforce our manufacturing facility as second to none in our industry."
