Company Profile

Founded in 1987, TFI is a leading research and consulting firm specializing in global outsourcing for the electronics manufacturing industry and on profitable environmental compliance and leadership. TFI's team of 27 highly experienced analysts and consultants are in constant demand to assist the world’s best-known electronics companies with their most complex and demanding outsourcing and supply-chain challenges. TFI professionals are equipped to answer many of today’s most vexing manufacturing questions, such as:

  • Should we outsource our manufacturing to another company?
  • Should I work with one outsource partner or several?
  • Should my outsourcing partners be located in the USA or elsewhere in the world?
  • Should we outsource our entire production chain or only part of it?
  • What price should I expect to pay to my outsource partners and how do I negotiate the best deal?
  • Who is the best outsource partner for us to use?
  • How do I know when it is time to disengage and how do I do so most effectively?
  • How do I craft meaningful service-level agreements with these key suppliers?
  • How do I determine if my suppliers meet local environmental and social requirements?
  • How much time and money should I expect to spend internally in managing these relationships?
  • What are my competitors doing with respect to outsourcing various parts of their supply chains?
  • How do my competitors rate their levels of satisfaction with their outsourcing partners?
  • How do I manage the quality of my suppliers and outsourcing partners?
  • What creative supply-chain arrangements can I make with third-party logistics companies to manage risk and accelerate time to market?
  • What software and hardware products are best-suited for tracking product lifecycles anywhere in the world, and who at the companies make the selections?

TFI provides electronics manufacturers with tools and consulting services to help them establish and maintain successful, profitable contract manufacturing relationships across the supply chain and throughout the world. TFI provides a unique combination of information, consulting services, practical business tools, and peer interaction. TFI has become the place where manufacturing and logistics professionals gather to share information with peers and learn the latest trends and techniques. TFI manages the world’s only member-driven research community for electronics companies, their manufacturers, and suppliers

In addition to its other world-class research and consulting activities, TFI is a recognized world leader in helping electronics manufacturers blend environmental responsibility with business profitably. TFI conducted the landmark study on environmental manufacturing practices eight years ago, and since then has been a recognized thought-leader through their proprietary Lean and Green Leadership practice.

TFI’s research, analytical and consulting professionals have been hand-picked from the executive and senior management ranks of the world’s most highly regarded electronics, logistics and supply-chain companies. Many live and work in established and emerging manufacturing hubs such as India, Vietnam, Indonesia, China, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Russia, Mexico, and Canada.

TFI is also a publishing and editorial powerhouse. Over the years, the Company has written and published, literally hundreds of articles, columns, newsletters, books, book chapters, training materials, handbooks, and course curricula. Many of these materials are published directly by TFI’s, while others are published by a wide range of other publishing and editorial companies.