# Jabil at 60: The Making of the Brand Behind the World’s Leading Brands **P. J. Farrenkopf **: Senior Manager, Global Energy In business lore, some of the most compelling origin stories begin in basements, garages, or dorm rooms. These humble spaces embody accessibility, possibility, and the belief that anyone, anywhere, can build a company that over time grows beyond even their boldest ambitions. For Jabil, the place was a small kitchen table in suburban Detroit. The year was 1966, when Bill Morean asked James Golden to join him at that table, along with a soldering iron (or two) and a contract to repair circuit boards for one of the country's leading computer manufacturers. James and Bill welded their first names together to form the [company's name](/about-us/jabil-overview.html). Sixty years later, that bond is still holding strong. ## What Does Jabil Do Today? Chances are, you have used at least one Jabil-made product today. Digital payment processing terminals. Smart appliances throughout your home. Fitness trackers. A medical device for monitoring glucose or an auto-injector to administer medication. It's also possible cameras in your car helped you drive safely, or an autonomous robot moved a package through a warehouse en route to your door, or a data center powered the app you just opened to ask a question. Across almost every [industry](/industries.html) and sector of the global economy, Jabil teams design, engineer, and [manufacture](/solutions/manufacturing.html) the products that define modern life for more than 400 of the world's most important brands. Jabil also manages complex global [supply chains](/solutions/supply-chain-management.html) for those companies every day, including 38,000 global suppliers and more than $25 billion in annual procurement spend. But numbers only tell part of the story. Looking back over the trajectory of Jabil's [60-year history](/about-us/jabil-history.html), it's natural to wonder how a single contract, fulfilled by two men at a kitchen table, grew to an organization of 140,000+ employees and 100 [global sites](/about-us/global-locations.html) --- but the more interesting questions focus on what guided this expansion. And why? The answer is twofold: Jabil built the company it is today by delivering what their customers asked for --- what they wanted --- while simultaneously evolving to be what they needed. [Watch: Watch video](https://play.vidyard.com/75HNbZ3oEuz5Ktva6Bbw1D) ## Jabil's Transformation Into a Global Manufacturing Solutions Partner Industry and financial press have, over the years, used shorthand to describe companies like Jabil: electronics subcontractor, contract manufacturer, contract manufacturing organization (CMO). While contract manufacturing remains core to what Jabil does, the company's role today is now inclusive of a far richer set of services and [solutions](/solutions.html), largely due to the changing nature of customer needs. Product portfolios have become more technologically complex while customers' markets increasingly competitive. Maintaining and growing market share within innovation-driven industries requires navigating multiple workstreams with exceptional agility, cost efficiency, and global scale. To help customers meet these needs, Jabil has grown with and beyond the traditional contract manufacturing model. The evolution has been shaped along both horizontal and vertical dimensions. Geographically, Jabil expanded its reach from a regional [electronics](/capability/electronics.html) repair and PCB manufacturing shop to a global network spanning the Americas, Europe, and Asia. Strategically, Jabil has moved toward vertical integration, adding capabilities beyond foundational assembly and manufacturing to include product design, [engineering](/solutions/engineering.html), supply chain management, [post-production](/solutions/post-production.html) services, and more to deliver a full set of solutions across the product lifecycle. The result? Jabil can still build to your prints if that's what you need. But increasingly, customers need a deeper partnership, one that offers expertise and guidance addressing challenges both upstream and downstream from the factory floor. For Jabil customers, the company's growth into a manufacturing partner capable of orchestrating all the complex systems, technologies, and [logistics](http://pscs.jabil.com/supply-chain-services/logistics-management-services.html) required to turn customer ideas into products at global scale meant a fundamental shift in responsibility. Instead of committing their own capital, talent, and attention to managing these interdependent challenges, customers could rely on Jabil to carry that operational burden --- allowing them to stay focused on innovation, market growth, and their end customers. ## How Six Decades of Technological Change Reshaped Manufacturing To understand the full scope of what Jabil does today, it helps to look at how the global manufacturing environment itself has changed over time. Technical sophistication across product domains has changed in astonishing ways since the mid-1960s. The evolution of information technology from the mainframe era through the personal computing revolution; the rise of mobile devices, the internet, and the [cloud](/industries/data-center/cloud-and-enterprise.html); the explosion of [connected everything](/industries/consumer/smart-home-appliance.html); and now the massive AI-fueled [data center](/industries/data-center.html) buildout illustrate how dramatically the tech landscape has transformed. While printed circuit boards (PCBs) are embedded into almost everything these days, so too are sensors, [optics](/capability/optics.html) technologies, communications protocols, and mobile power management solutions. Certainly, product architecture has become more complex. But so too has the confluence of factors that original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) must navigate to get products built --- from fragile global supply chains and geopolitical shifts to growing [sustainability](/about-us/sustainability.html) expectations. The traditional model --- where the OEM designs a product, locks the specs, and hands it off to a contract manufacturer --- still works well for many brands. But as complexity and risk have increased, many customers found they needed more, particularly when confronted with major [supply line disruptions](/blog/successful-supply-chain-resilience-strategy.html), like those resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and geopolitics. A more comprehensive and responsive partnership, like the manufacturing solutions orchestrator model, helps protect OEMs against the disruptive unknown inherent in modern manufacturing, while enabling a more agile and efficient way to manage product portfolios. For Jabil's customers, this partnership means having 10,000 engineers across disciplines like optics, thermal management, and [materials science](/capability/metals.html) helping design for manufacturability from day one. It means proactive management of 38,000 suppliers running thousands of AI-powered scenarios daily to spot supply chain risks before they impact delivery. And it means the ability to shift or identically replicate production lines across regions --- from [Asia](/about-us/global-locations/asia.html) to the [Americas](/about-us/global-locations/americas.html) to [Europe](/about-us/global-locations/europe-and-middle-east.html) --- based on [tariffs](http://pscs.jabil.com/what-we-think/blog/minimizing-the-tariff-impact-on-supply-chain-performance.html), cost structures, or speed-to-market requirements, supported by a manufacturing footprint built for continuity. These capabilities didn't appear overnight. They are the result of six decades of incremental strategic decisions, each one expanding not just what Jabil could *make* , but what they could *enable*for their customers. ## Jabil's Global Manufacturing Footprint, Built One Step at a Time Jabil's first major stride out of the starting blocks came in 1979, securing a $15 million high-volume PCB manufacturing contract with General Motors --- transformative for a company whose own revenues had been under $50,000 just years earlier. By 1982, Jabil relocated headquarters to St. Petersburg, Florida, to support IBM's personal computer business, doubling sales to $100 million within a year. The company's narrative had shifted from regional PCB producer to a trusted partner capable of scaling precision electronics manufacturing for complex OEM needs. When Jabil went public in 1993, international expansion was already underway with a facility in Scotland focused on European electronics customers, followed soon after by key manufacturing sites in Penang, Malaysia, and Guadalajara, Mexico. Customer-focused solutions, delivered on a global scale, were now a defining feature of Jabil's growing value proposition. But the moves that most clearly reveal Jabil's customer-focused development strategy have come through the targeted acquisitions and partnerships that have filled in critical layers of the solutions stack to meet the needs of a changing world. ## Strategic Manufacturing Investments Built for What's Next For Jabil's leaders, being vigilant to the trends and technologies impacting their customers is job number one. It's in a sense an inventory of opportunities and challenges and a means for managing the continuous improvement of the partnership. The process determines where customer needs are heading, enabling Jabil teams to plot out a proactive strategy to deliver on what's next. Over the last several decades, this discipline has led Jabil to execute a series of targeted investments. Some acquisitions brought deep expertise in specific technologies, such as advanced optics, precision [plastic injection molding](https://www.nypromold.com/), silicon photonics, [liquid cooling](http://www.mikrostechnologies.com/learn/trends-and-insights/liquid-cooling-solutions-for-data-center-infrastructure.html), and [power and energy management](https://investors.jabil.com/news/news-details/2026/Jabil-Acquires-Hanley-Energy-Group-to-Support-AI-Data-Center-Power-Management/default.aspx) solutions. Others expanded services within regulated markets like medical device sterilization as well as [CDMO services](https://investors.jabil.com/news/news-details/2025/Jabil-Acquires-Pharmaceutics-International-Inc.-Pii/default.aspx) to better serve pharmaceutical customers. The pattern across these investments is consistent: **identify** where manufacturing work processes are becoming more complex, **invest** in capabilities to help solve that complexity, then **integrate** those solutions and **deploy** them across Jabil's global operations platform. Bringing these capabilities together under one roof helps customers reduce complexity, accelerate time-to-market, and mitigate the risk of managing multiple partners. While Jabil's growth has been shaped by a belief in what's possible, it has also been backstopped by disciplined choices about where to invest resources. The willingness to exit markets has been as strategic as the drive to enter them in the first place. For example, the 2023 divestiture of Jabil's [mobility business](https://investors.jabil.com/news/news-details/2023/Jabil-Completes-the-Divestiture-of-Mobility-Business/default.aspx) freed capital and resources for emerging opportunities in healthcare and for the rapid buildout of AI and data center infrastructure in North America, providing greater diversification at both a sector level and geographically. ## How Jabil's Cross‑Industry Diversification Creates Customer Value Jabil's diversification strengthens the value of its vertically integrated model. Capabilities developed to solve complex challenges in one market often apply directly to others, as many modern products --- whether in healthcare, mobility, [industrial automation](/industries/building-infrastructure/building-automation.html), or data center infrastructure --- share common manufacturing demands. Sensors, optics, and embedded computing increasingly sit at the core of these products, driving similar requirements around miniaturization, precision, reliability, and [quality](https://medium.com/@paularrendell/from-policy-to-purpose-embedding-quality-as-a-cultural-mindset-across-global-teams-db28e5a78ad0) at scale. Because Jabil has built and integrated these capabilities across its global footprint, customers don't have to source them piece by piece. > That ability to apply proven solutions across industries is one of the less visible but most powerful advantages of Jabil's manufacturing model. > Yet, managing all of these capabilities and solutions has itself become more complex. How does the modern manufacturing solutions orchestrator manage its own operations? For Jabil, scaled, standardized processes are central to how their factories operate with AI, automation, and advanced analytics, transforming traditional factory floors into exceptionally efficient, adaptive environments. ## The Digital Factory: AI‑Driven Manufacturing Already in Operation The [digital transformation](https://www.criticalmanufacturing.com/insights/mes-industry-4-0-summit/empowering-innovation-the-digital-evolution-of-jabil) of manufacturing has been discussed for years, often framed as a future state. At Jabil, it's already operational. AI, [automation](/capability/automation.html), and advanced analytics are turning traditional factory floors into intelligent, adaptive environments where physical and digital systems work in concert. When an issue appears on one production line --- a quality variation, a process inefficiency, a potential defect --- the system flags it automatically, and more importantly, ensures these vital insights are distributed across Jabil's global network. [Robotics](/blog/humanoid-robots-mass-adoption.html) handle repetitive or high-risk tasks, enabling employees to do more creative, higher value work. AI-powered optical inspection tools catch defects the unassisted human eye might miss. Predictive maintenance prevents equipment failures before they cause downtime. The result: higher yields, faster throughput, fewer defects, and a safer work environment. The same digital intelligence extends beyond factory walls into [supply chain management](/blog/supply-chain-technology-stack.html). Jabil's platforms use AI and digital twins to monitor the flow of materials, capacity, and risk across the entire supplier network. These systems run thousands of "what-if" scenarios daily: What if a component gets delayed in Thailand? What if a customer needs to shift production regions? The platform models the options, calculates the tradeoffs, and provides customers with data-driven choices, often before they know a problem is coming. For OEMs, the impact is tangible: faster time-to-market, more accurate demand forecasting, and flexible fulfillment models. But perhaps most importantly, it frees customers from the burden of maintaining cutting-edge manufacturing infrastructure themselves. Capital and talent that might have gone toward production can be dedicated to designing the next product, entering new markets, and staying ahead of competition. ## Back at that Kitchen Table For James and Bill, their initial circuit board piecework wasn't glamorous. It didn't hint in the slightest at the scope of what their partnership would someday deliver. It was just work. Careful, meticulous, get-it-right work. Two sets of hands at a table, soldering components that would eventually disappear into larger machines that would, in turn, provide the value of harnessed technology to companies around the world. Theirs was a service enabling someone else's breakthrough. Nearly 60 years later, that dynamic hasn't really changed at all. What has changed is the scale. Today, Jabil is the quiet partner behind more than 400 of the most respected and innovative brands on the planet --- the brand behind the brand. Jabil's name rarely appears on a bezel, a package, or a product launch stage. And that's by design. The world's innovators lead, empowered by a Jabil partnership that helps bring their ideas to life reliably and repeatedly at a pace and scale few companies can match. ## How can Jabil make your product a reality? Contact us. No matter how complex or demanding the project, we're helping today's innovators solve it. Get started with a trusted partner. Every year, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction becomes more urgent as the effects of human-induced climate change become more dangerous. This urgency is not only due to consumers taking a stand and demanding action, but also from investors and governments requiring more accountability from businesses in addressing this issue. According to the [EPA](https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/sources-greenhouse-gas-emissions), electricity, industry and transportation make up the majority of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions compared to other economic sectors. That's why many companies are focused on reducing Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions. Since 1998, the Greenhouse Gas Protocol has worked toward creating internationally accepted accounting and reporting standards for emissions reduction. To address both indirect and direct emissions from a reporting organization, GHG Protocol offers developed guidance and standards that break down emissions into three scopes across the value chain. Scope 1, 2 and 3 Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards --------------------------------------------------- The major contributors to corporate GHG emissions have been divided into three scopes. Each of these addresses emissions from manufacturing and materials all the way to a product's end-of-life, including disposal by the end user. The three scopes include: * Scope 1 --- direct emissions from company-owned facilities and company-owned vehicles. * Scope 2 --- indirect emissions from the purchase of electricity for the organization's own use. * Scope 3 --- indirect emissions from partners in the value chain. Scope 1 emissions are perhaps the most straightforward since they cover direct emissions from sources that the organization controls. These include on-site fuel combustion from stationary and mobile sources like boilers, furnaces and vehicles. While Scope 1 addresses emissions from industry and transportation, Scope 2 addresses emissions from purchased electricity and involves collaboration with utility companies and governments. According to the [World Resource Institute's](https://www.wri.org/research/ghg-protocol-scope-2-guidance) Scope 2 Guidance, "Scope 2 represents one of the largest sources of GHG emissions globally: the generation of electricity and heat now accounts for at least a third of global GHG emissions." [Scope 3 emissions](https://www.jabil.com/blog/scope-3-emissions.html) cover indirect emissions both upstream and downstream of the reporting organization. Accounting for Scope 3 is difficult because it involves collaboration with stakeholders along the value chain. As most organizations have yet to begin or are early on in their journey to measure these emissions --- and because Scope 1 and 2 emissions of organizations lower in the value chain contribute to Scope 3 emissions of organizations higher in the value chain - the reduction priorities for most manufacturers are instead those from Scopes 1 and 2. Scope 1 and 2 Emissions Categories ---------------------------------- Since they address different parts of the value chain and involve multiple organizations and energy companies, emissions reduction strategies vary by category and scope. They include a combination of efficiency, reducing consumption and switching to renewable energy. ### Scope 1 Direct Emissions: Stationary Combustion The first category of Scope 1 emissions covers all emissions from stationary combustion. This includes fuel combustion sources like: * Boilers/furnaces * Internal combustion engines * Turbines * Flares * Process heaters/ovens * Incinerators * Cooling systems In addition to combustion, this category also includes gases emitted from leaks and other business activities in organization-owned facilities. ### Scope 1 Direct Emissions: Mobile Combustion Transportation is addressed in Scope 1 and Scope 3. While Scope 3 accounts for mobile combustion from supply chain partners and employee vehicles both upstream and downstream, Scope 1 focuses on direct mobile combustion emissions from vehicles the company owns or controls. This does not include the full life cycle of greenhouse gas emissions related to the vehicle and its fuel. In their [guidance for Scope 1 vehicle emissions, the EPA notes](https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2020-12/documents/mobileemissions.pdf) that "users of this guidance should be aware, however, that the choice of transportation modes and fuels can greatly influence GHG emissions from a life cycle perspective. A transportation mode may have relatively few GHG emissions from the vehicle itself, but emissions could be higher from the production of the fuel." ### Scope 2 Indirect Emissions: Purchased Energy Energy generation represents nearly 40% of global GHG emissions, an amount industry is responsible for half of according to the [World Resource Institute's](https://www.wri.org/research/ghg-protocol-scope-2-guidance) Scope 2 Guidance. To address these emissions, two standards have been created for reporting Scope 2 emissions: a location-based method and a market-based method. Location-based Scope 2 reporting is based on the average emissions intensity of the grids where the consumption occurs. The market-based method derives emissions factors from contracts for the sale or purchase of energy. Market-based contracts include energy attribute certificates, direct contracts and supplier-specific emission rates. This method also provides more specific energy and emissions data to supply chain partners who are measuring their own Scope 3 output (compared to location-based average emissions). Scope 1 and 2 Emissions Reduction Strategies -------------------------------------------- There are different strategies to reducing Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions that organizations can use to reduce their carbon footprint. Choosing the appropriate strategy depends on factors like location, market and the type of industry and business activities involved. In most cases, a company can combine elements of each strategy to align with its unique circumstances and emissions reduction goals. ### Reducing Consumption and Energy Conservation Finding ways to 1) reduce energy consumption; 2) conserve energy onsite; and within 3) an organization's fleet is the most logical strategy for reducing GHG emissions from business activities. However, in most cases, operations depend on energy, so other strategies must be enacted to meet reduction goals. ### Power Purchase Agreements With a power purchase agreement (PPA), a third-party developer installs and operates an energy system on an organization's property, allowing the company to buy low-cost renewable energy from them. In turn, the owner of the energy system can benefit from tax credits and income from the sale of the energy. This solution is ideal for businesses operating in locations or industries that require increased energy consumption. ### Energy Efficiency and Transportation Optimization With the amount of data available to companies today, creating efficiencies with energy consumption is a strategy that can also benefit business operations. Optimizing transportation through specialized management systems and [supply chain network optimization technology](https://www.jabil.com/services/supply-chain/supply-chain-services/network-optimization.html) that identifies the most energy-efficient routes is another way to reduce Scope 1 emissions and contribute to overall operational efficiency. ### Carbon Offsets When reducing consumption is challenging and energy efficiency isn't enough to meet your Scope 1 and 2 emissions reduction targets, an organization can opt to offset their emissions by purchasing carbon offsets. In this exchange, the emissions reduction of one entity can be transferred to another to create a net climate benefit. A Four-Pillar Approach to Reducing Scope 1 and 2 GHG Emissions -------------------------------------------------------------- Every company will have its own combined approach to reducing Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions. At Jabil, we take a four-pillar approach that combines the above reduction strategies with energy production and procurement practices that help us meet our sustainability goals. ### 1. Manage Scope 1 and 2 Greenhouse Gas Emissions Before taking steps to manage and reduce GHG emissions, you must first take an accurate measure of your organization's current emissions. Measuring emissions requires different types of data. Some of this data is primary data, like energy consumption at facilities, which is quantifiable and easily accessible by the company. However, most of the data used in measuring GHG emissions are secondary data, which is derived from estimations based on a region or industry's emission factor for a certain commodity or raw material. Once an accurate and standardized measurement is taken, a company is ready to begin creating emissions reduction goals. One of the ways to do this is by using automated tools like building management systems (BMS), which can ultimately reduce energy usage for a company's facilities. These systems can use weather data, energy costs, historical data, operational requirements and sometimes even regular regulatory requirements to detect patterns in energy use of a machine or production line. A BMS is a great tool to help build efficiencies over time and help with preventative maintenance detection. It also helps the company calculate the facility's carbon footprint and then share product-specific footprint data with customers. ### 2. Reduce Carbon Consumption and Footprint Once you accurately measure your carbon footprint, you can begin implementing emissions reduction strategies. This includes replacing capital equipment to increase energy efficiency. This is an important first step, especially if you plan to implement power purchase agreements. The less energy you consume during day-to-day operations, the less you will have to pay for energy down the line. Here are a few approaches to reducing energy consumption in manufacturing for some of the biggest drivers of electricity usage: * **Injection Molding Machines:** Legacy injection molding machines relying on hydraulic energy, consuming up to 70% more energy than machines that use electric energy. By replacing these machines with hybrid or electric machines, a company can reduce energy consumption. Another way to reduce energy consumption would be to use hot runner controllers to take the burden off the machine itself needing to heat the molds, heating them externally and pulling power at a lower voltage. * **Compressors and Chillers:** Compressors are one of the biggest energy consumers at a manufacturing facility, responsible for anywhere between 15% and 30% of a site's total energy use. One way to mitigate carbon emissions from compressors is by adding a variable speed drive (or a variable frequency drive) to vary the amount of air pushed out of the compressor. This ensures that it is only pushing out air when driving a process and also aids in air leak detection. Bringing new chillers online once equipment approaches its 18-year lifespan can also help reduce electricity consumption by up to 30%. ### 3. Produce Renewable Energy While reducing energy consumption is a great starting point, producing renewable energy onsite is another pillar that can help companies and third-party energy suppliers reach their Scope 2 GHG emissions reduction goals. Solar panels are a common way organizations choose to produce renewable energy onsite. However, since manufacturing requires substantial energy, this will only address a fraction of the energy needed for operations. The ownership of a facility may also be a roadblock to producing energy onsite; leased buildings may need to lean on alternative reduction strategies, including engaging with local utilities to incorporate green power. ### 4. Procure Clean Energy Since a company's ability to produce renewable energy for its own use can be limited due to factors like facility size, location and ownership, the next pillar in our approach is procurement. Tools like Direct PPAs, where renewable energy is delivered to the site from a renewable source, are an effective method for procuring clean energy. Some utility companies also offer solar, hydro and wind power to customers. It has become common for organizations to rely on procurement strategies like renewable energy certificates (RECs) or guarantees of origin (GOs) that involve little more from the company itself than signing a check to reach carbon neutrality. While this does reduce the emissions a company is reporting, it does not effectively address the need for all organizations to reduce their actual GHG emissions, which will help slow the climate change crisis. The Bottom Line of Scope 1 and 2 Emissions Reduction ---------------------------------------------------- Effective Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions reduction strategies do more than just help us address the major causes of climate change. They also offer added business benefits like cost savings from operational efficiency, increased sales and customer loyalty, innovation, and improved relationships with stakeholders. With the majority of greenhouse gas emissions coming from industry, it is essential for companies to begin accounting for and reporting Scope 1 and 2 emissions. This is also the foundation for being able to calculate Scope 3 emissions, which are still being standardized today. Implementing sustainable business practices can be challenging given the lack of data in some areas and the upfront costs of some emissions reduction strategies. However, these challenges also present new leadership opportunities for companies that are willing to put in the work.