Lenovo Moves ThinkPad Production Back to Japan

Ever since the Chinese company Lenovo bought IBM’s computer manufacturing division back in 2005, it has maintained a strong presence on the computer market, currently being the second greatest manufacturer after American company HP.

Lenovo did everything to profit from the use of IBM’s established brands and position on the market, while trying to maximize the profit by moving most of the production in mainland China, where labor costs and raw materials are at their lowest level.

For the general public, Lenovo doesn’t sound even remotely as good as IBM, but Lenovo thinks that a Made-in-Japan sticker would really improve the company’s image.

We tend to agree on that, as we already have confirmed the fact that Japanese quality requirements are much higher than Chinese regulations, and Japan-made products from Pioneer, Fujitsu and Panasonic have already made a very good impression on us.

The ThinkPad line was originally engineered in Japan and has the black squared “boxy” aspect of the Japanese traditional lunch box. The design emphasized on high-quality build and sturdiness.

In fact, the ThinkPad line is the only brand of notebooks certified for work on the International Space Station.

Back in January, Lenovo entered into a project together with NEC regarding the founding of a company in the Netherlands, and now the Chinese computer maker wants a trial run in NEC’s Japanese factories in Yamagata for its ThinkPad line of products.

Akaemi Watanabe, president of Lenovo Japan reportedly said:

"As a Japanese, I am glad to see the return to domestic production and the goal is to realize full-scale production as this will improve our image and make the products more acceptable to Japanese customers.”