A few years after Silvia and I saw “The Graduate” and learned the importance of plastics, I was providing test systems to Dr. Winston Chen, a founder of Solectron. Back then, a number of companies, little more than garage shops, really, were busy making quick-turn circuit boards and assemblies for larger Silicon Valley firms. Flextronics and Sanmina were other shops nearby. Their business (and mine) really took off in the mid 1980s as big electronics companies realized they could make more money designing and marketing electronics than by assembling electronics. The EMS market, electronic manufacturing services, was born.

Flextronics was the first to expand offshore but Solectron followed. In 1992, Solectron acquired former IBM facilities in Charlotte (well, to a SV guy, North Carolina seemed like another country!) and France. In 1995, Solectron acquired former HP plants in Germany. And so the story went for others like Sanmina. Step by step, EMS companies expanded through acquisitions as big brands outsourced. By 2003, Solectron’s sales reached an annual run rate of $10B and Michael Cannon became CEO. The imperative for expansion caught up with Solectron in 2007, when it was acquired by Flextronics, its old home-town rival. Mr. Cannon then joined Dell.

And now I read that Dell plans to sell its PC assembly plants. As head of global operations, Mr. Cannon knows the ins and outs of manufacturing. I think he’s making the right decision.

The profit zone shifted when Dell wasn’t looking. Ten years ago, the Dell business model was wreaking havoc on PC competitors like HP, who had long supply chains. Dell specialized in meeting the needs of corporate IT buyers by configuring desktop systems to client spec. Fast—Dell often got paid before it had to pay its suppliers. HP and others adapted, as good companies will do. Now Dell finds itself fighting for notebook share in retail, where it has little experience. It doesn’t have a long supply chain; it has the wrong supply chain. Now it’s Dell’s turn to adapt.

Meanwhile, EMS keeps getting bigger but smaller. I just read that Philips will outsource TV assembly for Central and North America to Elcoteq, an EMS company in Luxembourg. (Now there’s a big little country!) Will I see a day when all electronics is made by one company but designed by many? Maybe, I buy everything at Walmart.