Lenovo moving thinkpad production to Japan, what models?

Not too long ago, I read that Lenovo was moving some thinkpad production back to Yamagata Japan.
Does anyone know what model this affects?

 

As I recall from the news release, they're doing it to speed up shipping times to Japan. It didn't sound like it ThinkPads would be coming from Japan to the US.

 

They are doing that for Thinkpads sold in the Japanese market. If you go to Japan and buy a Thinkpad, it will probably be Made in Japan. Otherwise, no.

You could probably mailforward one from Japan if that matters a lot. idk, but possibly we might see Made in Japan Thinkpads on dynamism/conics/etc if there is demand.

Personally, I don't think that you would see a significant increase in quality from Made in Japan. Factory workers are factory workers and the designs being made are pretty much the same.

 

A lot of the Thinkpad design and engineering work are done by Yamato Labs. Since Lenovo now has a joint venture with NEC to sell computers in Japan I'd imagine it makes sense to start making Thinkpads locally to better organize logistics operations. I can't imagine a full on assembly line in Japan, since the market probably won't be able to justify such expensive investment, but probably something more in line with a CTO center.

 

thanks for the replies.. The reason why I asked this is because of this article
Lenovo/NEC venture produces Lavie Z notebook, ThinkPad production in Japan - notebooks, NEC, Lenovo - ARN

it implies that specific models of the Thinkpad line will be built in japan but at the time it was written, they didn't state which models.

 

Looking at it from historical perspective, Japan-built ThinkPads were sold in Japan only and most of them are collector's items nowadays...240Z, S30/31, G50...

Yes, I know that most of these relate to the IBM days, but labour force in Japan doesn't come cheap...so I'd tend to believe that Lenovo will follow the same route.

My $0.02 only...

 

It seems that Lenovo also wants to set up a production in the USA: Lenovo to Set Up PC Plant in the U.S. - WSJ.com

 

My guess would be that they'll simply expand the custom shop that's been there for years...no "insider" info on my end, though...

I've owned (and still do) numerous post-acquisition ThinkPads which have a sticker on the bottom reading "Assembled in the U.S. from U.S. and non-U.S. components for Lenovo"...actually typing on one of them right now...

 

It will be interesting to know if this will lead to faster delivery.

 

I think it's long time overdue to expand CTO shops in the US, especially for popular models such as the T series, it's much cheaper for them to ship vanilla T series bodies here with the popular CPU/GPU combo, and just stick in the CRUs such as RAM, Wifi, Ultrabay, battery and HDDs people ordered to complete the setup.

 

A detailed interview to the new manufacturing in the USA: Lenovo: Making it in the U.S.A. (Q&A) | Business Tech - CNET News

 

I don't see how. Most of the machines I've received from Lenovo take about three days to get from China to my home in the USA. Standard domestic shipping in the USA is no quicker.

 

Lenovo has now officially opened the new factory in North Carolina, which will produce Think-products in the future: Lenovo Newsroom | Lenovo Announces Official Opening of U.S. Computer Manufacturing Line in North Carolina

 

Oh the power of good marketing...

 

It won't change my oblverall opinion on Lenovo products much, but it's nice to see a Made in USA option. I'll sit back and see if this ends up being a long-term thing, though. But I agree with you overall; most of the laptop is still made elsewhere (Asia having a near monopoly on electronics manufacturing).

Doesn't surprise me one bit that they located the factory in the RTP. What did though was that they're not making any Thinkpad laptops there (I don't consider the Helix to really be a "Thinkpad").

 

Well, I have heard they will also produce the X230 there: https://twitter.com/lenovo/status/342287491304402944

 

I dunno, I think my X220i was made in China and it seems to work OK. I've never understood the fascination with US made machines.

 

It might have something to do with keeping jobs in the USA, and providing jobs to the many that are unemployed. Der

 

Indeed.

It would be interesting to find out how many *new* jobs are involved out of 115 total...

 

It's really more of a feel-good from Lenovo. Partly to American politicians ("We shouldn't be buying stuff from China!11!!"), partly to American consumers ("Jobs!!11!1").

Funny how the Chinese are outsourcing to the US in this case

 

I have no doubt part of this is politically motivated. Apple is doing the same thing in Texas. Who knows what is really going on behind the scenes with tax abatement's and political arm twisting.

But jobs are jobs, net new or not. I have no problem keeping or creating new ones in the USA. Then again, I am partial to the USA.

 

Likewise. I remember a thread about American manufacturing where HTwingNut and I basically filled tens of thousands of words in pro-American-manufacturing posts.

 

+1 by all means.

I just positively hate the BS, smoke and mirrors involved.

 

America is still very much on top of manufacturing very expensive stuff (aircraft, supercomputers, the like). It's just the cheap stuff (personal electronics and the like) where America lags behind and where we get all that BS. Funniest example is the "Designed in California, Made in China" BS that Apple likes to show off on their products.

 

My point being, that plant has been there for quite some time. I'm certain that they've updated it, though.

I currently own several Lenovo-era ThinkPads with bottom labels that read "Assembled in the U.S. from U.S. and non-U.S. components for Lenovo"...that's where my reference to "net jobs" came from.

As I've said, I'm all for bringing the jobs back, but am against smoke and mirrors.