Who's the Daddy? --T61's contract manufacturer.

Does anyone know who the contract manufacturer is for the currently produced T61?

I've read that in the past all Lenovo (perhaps IBM as well) Thinkpads were assembled in Osaka, Japan. However some, if not all, assembly for Thinkpads have been moved to China.

Anyone know?

 

yes, you are correct, all lenovo laptops are made in china now, there are three different factories in china if i'm not mistaking.

 

Can I ask which laptops are assembled in the coutries other than China?

 

there are many sonys are made in japan

 

Thinkpads have been assembled in China for quite awhile now...even before the Lenovo buyout. But design and manufacturing/assembling are different processes....but Thinkpads are have been and currently are designed in Yamamoto, Japan at the Lenovo Design Center

 

And Fujitsu Lifebooks.

 

Panasonic also
I thought the thinkpads are made by Quanta

 

I don't think it matters anymore where it's produced.

I had 5 Sony MD player in my life and 3 iPods.

Every MD player got broken every year exactly when the warranty runs out, and it's all MD players were made in Japan.

None of my iPod had broken yet.

 

I was curious as obviously there are two camps with the T61: the "I'd rather have a T40" v. "what's everyone complaining about." Was wondering if there was any relation to laxening standards with a different assembler.

I'm still breaking in my T61 but I'm leaning towards the "I'd rather have a T40 camp." Naturally, YMMV. But I'm underimpressed by my computer's poorly fitting/loose palm rests, gaps in the two plastic halves that make up the lid and a couple of keys on my keyboard are off.

Looks like I'll be talking to customer support on Monday.

Thanks for the replies.

 

i have a sony S series that was built in japan and it screwed up around the time the warranty ran out as well

 

to panteedropper:

how did you get a real NMB keyboard. Did you buy one and install it yourself? Not impress with my Chinoy (sp?). My fingers can feel and I can hear the difference between NMB and Chinoy.

Thanks.

 

I posted this back on June 6th:

I did some digging and found out that starting in the last half of 2006, Lenovo begun phasing in the out-sourcing of their Thinkpad production to a company called "Compal" and away from their in-house production in Osaka Japan.

I am very familiar with Compal (a real notebook powerhouse operating as a OEM provider to many notebook nameplates. So I wondered what impact this Lenovo business had on Compal.

Here's the raw data:

In the month, Shipment of NB PCs was 1,650 thousand, with 101% year over year (820 thousand in May 2006); and of 190 thousand for display products.

That's a 101% increase in unit shipments over last year. That kind of explosive growth equates to all kinds of issues relative to qualified employees, resources, logistics, pressure to meet deadlines etc. I think you get the picture.

Therein lies the issue with Lenovo today. They are inexperienced at out-sourcing Thinkpad production and coupled with Compal's explosive growth = logistics issues.

Given this information, I see real trouble/reliability issues ahead for any latop coming out of Compal. Not even the most experienced comapny can handle that kind of explosive growth without problems.

JUne 8th:

However, IBM/Lenovo has out sourced various product offerings over the years but the sacred T-series was always done in house. Surely there was a reason for this and I believe it was the sacred market position the T Series Thinkpad held in the marketplace as the very best built laptop in the world.

Having complete control over the assembly process on your turf is a far better position to be in than competing with 5 - 10 other manufacturers for the exact same resources.

The only ODM I believe that even has a chance of comparing to IBM-Japan is Quanta and Lenovo just pulled the contract from them on some other products. Quanta also assembles the Latitude for Dell while Compal handles the Inspiron.

I don't believe that all ODM's are the same. Like any industry some are better than others and Compals position has always been the lower tier product lines of the various NB marketers.

I think Compal outbid Quanta and I believe that IBM is once and for all through with Thinkpad involvement. I believe both of thse conditions are detrimental to Lenovo and they're playing with fire.

June 8th again:

If you look at this web link http://www.pc.ibm.com/ca/about_lenovo/locations.html you'll note that Lenovo's lists only 6 assembly facilities in the world. 5 of which are in China and 1 in India. Not only is Japan out off the list but so is Taiwan. Lenovo is truly taking the T61 mainstream and willing to give up some of that aura that IBM created with the Thinkpad line. To IBM, the Thinkpad was a sacred product that deserved its special and full attention. I think we can all testify to the quality that resulted from that attention. Clearly, Lenovo has other ideas for the Thinkpad line.

As I had stated, Compal is mostly the 2nd & 3rd tier assembler for various OEM's (Original Equipment Marketers) with Quanta handling many of the top tier line of products.

IBM had the T Series in house with the X and G series at Quanta in Taiwan. Quanta held the X series through 2006 before being dumped in favor of Compal.

I don't know what all of this really means but my experience indicates that Lenovo is attempting to expand their marketshare and to do so, feel they must cut costs to compete with Dell's Latitude line. However, Lenovo is now playing in Dell's backyard where they have many more years of experieince in China and with Compal in particular. I doubt Dell is going to let Lenovo have the the cream of the crop of Compal's resources.

Can you imagine if Mercedes, BMW, Porsche all competed for the same workers, use of facilities, etc in assembling their cars? Not a fair comparison but you can imagine the intrigue and fighting for resources that must be going on. I give Dell the huge advantage in this arena - at least for the near future.

This situation has played out so many times before. Macy's took the chain into a mainstream battle and really got clobbered when they lost their market position in the eyes of the consumer. I fear Lenovo is headed that way. Dell and HP will not Lenovo in the door very easily with these Chinese ODM's.

What I do know is that the Thinkpad of old is becoming more mainstream. Whether that means better or more typical reliability only time will tell.

JUne 9th:

Compal has been the "value line" notebook assembler. That's their market position first and foremost. Quanta in reverse by handling the higher product line offerings and assembling in Taiwan not China. Quanta has 40% market share so they obviously handle 2nd & 3rd tier offerings as well, but in general, they haven't been as competitive as Compal on the low end stuff.

That's it. Lenovo management is handling the Thinkpads differently than IBM's approach. Maybe for the better and maybe not. IBM wanted their quality image in the business community to remain on top. Therefore, things remained pretty tight to the chest with the Thinkpads.

IBM removing their name from the Thinkpad was the final seperation and the point at which things turned towards China and away from Japan and Taiwan.

Lenovo is not as well known in the business community and therefore, doesn't have the same affinity for the business community. They are going mainstream and hopefully they can pull it off.

June 9th again:

My most recent info had the Dell Latitude line asembled in Taiwan.

Look, management direction means a lot. Stephen Ward, the IBM executive who became Lenovo's first chief executive after the takeover, resigned in December after a year on the job. Lenovo replaced Ward with Dell's No.3 executive, William Amelio, who has extensive experience in Asia. Amelio played a critical role in getting Dell established in China and you can expect a Dell look like in Lenovo going forward if Amelio remains.

I would guess that IBM's Ward didn't like the direction Lenovo wanted to take the company.

I think what the general community is saying is that IBM's approach with the Thinkpad was old guard and not competitive. We'll see if the new Thinkpad of approach of acting more like Dell helps or hurts their position.

 

Ya, I bought my maxxed out (ex. for 4-cell battery) T61 for $1040, or basically the same as a comparably equipped D630.

Basically, Lenovo is no longer charging a Thinkpad premium. This would have been unheard of pre-2006.

My T61 would be a great Dell, but it's a so-so Thinkpad. The problem with my computer was not with the design, but with the execution of the design, ie poorly fitting plastic panels, non-uniform feeling in the keyboard. Basically the left side of my computer wasn't assembled quite right. And these issues squarely rest on the assembler.

My impression from this board is that the D630 assembler (Quanta?) executed the assembly very well and the "problems" with the D630 (weight, etc) are purely design issues.

 

Not sure how accurate your research is as my 2004 T42P has Made in China written all over it.

 

Mercer, i got lucky. Mine shipped with a real nmb and not a rebadged one. The chicony is a pretty good keyboard as is the alps, all three are the best in the industry in the eyes and fingers of many!

 

How would the new approach hurt their position?
IBM was loosing money, Lenovo is earning record profits.

 

Lets remember IBM's true business...

its not computers.

I am of the opinion that Lenovo will only heighten the quality of the computers. Computers actually ARE their business.

 

So, does Lenovo make all the laptops or have some company like quanta do the job ?. I know every branded laptops has it's own design (that's why each one of them is different) but if Quanta or compal makes the thinkpad then what exactly Lenovo does ?