Flextronics Acquires Product Development Firm

Flextronics International Ltd. has acquired Farm Design, a full-service, ISO 13485-certified and FDA-compliant product development company with more than 40 years of experience providing complete development and design services for medical device and diagnostic companies.

Services provided by Farm Design take place early in the product design cycle through user research, human factors engineering, user interface design, industrial design, mechanical and systems engineering, and usability testing. Adding Farm Design’s team and design capabilities to Flex’s established medical segment further expands Flex’s industrial design, usability engineering and development expertise, executives claim.

“Flex’s global organization and manufacturing facilities make it an ideal fit for Farm Design and our employees,” said Jack Harkins, president of Farm Design. “We are excited to join Flex’s team and become a part of their innovative medical group as we continue to provide our customers with industry-leading design services.”

In addition to expanding the portfolio of innovation services available to Flex’s medical device OEM customers, the acquisition of Farm Design improves Flex’s ability to help customers navigate upfront challenges to ensure new medical devices optimally meet user needs.

“We are delighted to welcome the highly talented Farm Design team to Flex,” said Paul Humphries, group president of High Reliability Solutions at Flex. “Over the past 40 years, they have built an outstanding company with an award-winning design portfolio, and a reputation for quality and integrity. This strategic addition is extremely well aligned with the sketch-to-scale offerings of our medical group, and will enhance the design services we provide to our valued medical customers.”

The transaction was completed during the first week of December; additional terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Flextronics International Ltd. is a “sketch-to-scale” solutions company that designs and builds intelligent products for a connected world. With approximately 200,000 professionals across 30 countries and a promise to help the world live smarter, the company provides design, engineering, manufacturing, real-time supply chain insight and logistics services to companies of all sizes in various industries and end-markets.