The author, Harvey Ikeman, has worked in the data communications field throughout his 30-year career and held positions in engineering, operations and manufacturing management. In 1987, Harvey co-founded Telesystems SLW Inc. of Toronto, Canada - a pioneer in wireless local area networking -and was responsible for operations and manufacturing. After an acquisition, re-organization, and a physical move to Akron Ohio, the company now known as Aironet Wireless Communications, Inc. launched a successful IPO in 1999. Harvey retired shortly after Cisco Systems, San Jose, California, purchased Aironet in 2000.

Harvey is enjoying his retirement by doing part-time consulting for local businesses, volunteering, traveling, keeping fit, and catching up on his reading. He and his wife, Margaret, call Akron their home, but when the Midwest winters get too cold, you'll probably find them in Sarasota, Florida. Their daughter is a junior at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio.



This article is written for those who are responsible for outsourcing all or part of their company's manufacturing operations to a contract manufacturer (CM). If this is your first time working with a CM, here are some ideas to consider in the evaluation process. If you are already outsourcing to a CM, this article should help you assess the current relationship.

Over my 25+ years working in the electronics industry, I have had my share of successes and failures outsourcing projects to CMs large and small. This article aims to pass along lessons learned from those experiences. No matter which CM you work with, or what the scope of the project is, the relationship with the CM must be built on a solid foundation. A pragmatic approach using the concept of "Fit" makes sure this foundation is built right from the start.

The goal is to have you consider these discussion points in your evaluation or review of the CM. You can then decide whether, and to what degree, they apply to your situation. The principles presented apply to a wide cross-section of outsourcing projects and are valid if dealing with a single sub-assembly, a complex finished product, and right up through product configuration, packaging and order fulfillment.