Ruminations on Russia

Today, I wrote to our investors that one of the company's achievements, where I sit on the Board, in the last quarter was finding alternate sourcing for all of the components that it had previously developed and sourced in Russia.

Not because the suppliers were bad, in fact they had been an integral part of the component development, nor unreliable, nor expensive but because if you manufacture a product that is part of a global supply chain then reliability of delivery is vitally important.

As the components had to pass through Russian customs on their way to assembly plants in Thailand and Malaysia it became impossible to predict delivery time.  These were high value added components in the whole package and the key behind the intellectual property of the package.

So the plants in Russia lost out on the manufacturing income and are now effectively outsourced R&D (really product development) centers.

And it has got worse since the new man was brought in.  Do you think he reads Ruminations or is currently in Cantineta or Sardinia/South of France/not at his desk?

I read in a study that Intel opening its fab in Israel was a key moment in Israel's development as a high-tyech center.  We have certainly benefitted from employees who have passed through on their way to more entrepreneurial jobs and finally “home.”

[composed and posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: entrepreneur, supply+chain, Russia, Technology