Notebook production

Notebook PCs consist of 1,800 to 2,000 parts. Production is distributed across a multi-stage manufacturing process and hundreds of suppliers. The ten largest brand-name manufacturers in the world (Dell, HP, Lenovo, Acer, Toshiba, Fujitsu-Siemens, NEC, Sony, Apple and Asus) no longer maintain their own production facilities, with the exception of Toshiba in some segments and certain final processes in the high-end segment. Labour-intensive manufacturing processes take place almost exclusively in the People's Republic of China. Technologically demanding components (displays, battery cells, etc.) are also manufactured in other locations. The actual production work is done by contract manufacturers, whilst several further layers of suppliers are responsible for manufacturing the components. 

The structure of production can be seen in the figure beside. Many of the components are used in other electronics products as well, so potentially it should be possible to assemble relevant module data on social aspects throughout the electronics industry.

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