LAS VEGAS — Flextronics, a $30 billion global electronics company, has announced a new venture to help speed the deployment of self-service applications. The program, called “Jumpstart,” offers companies a set of software plug-ins and hardware components preconfigured for faster, more effective rollouts.
“We want to bring to market a product that will help jumpstart businesses,” said Andrew Block, senior director of Flextronics’ Self Service Solutions Group. “And we hope to jumpstart not just the product, but the industry as well.”
Block said that the self-service industry is confronting a quality problem. Not only are kiosks with poor usability being misused to premature deaths, manufacturing processes are not cranking out reliable machines. And when users encounter down kiosks, the whole industry suffers. One remedy, Block said, is to bring some consistency to the design and building of machines.
Block said that since acquiring WebRaiser Technologies and Solectron, Flextronics has benefited from the unification of self-service resources, thus becoming a major player in the industry. The acquisition made Flextronics the world’s second-largest electronics manufacturing and self-service powerhouse, trailing only Taiwan-based Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. in terms of annual sales, according to Forbes.
Headquartered in Singapore, with 200,000 employees in dozens of locations around the world, Flextronics helps customers design, build, ship and service electronics products, including kiosks, through a network of facilities in 30 countries on four continents.
