Robert Freid is founder and president of Contract Manufacturing Consultants (CMC), a company that helps businesses develop successful electronics assembly outsourcing strategies.

Freid has over 20 years of experience in marketing, sales and engineering program management. Prior to founding CMC, he was marketing and programs manager for Solectron Washington, a subsidiary of the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer. Freid was responsible all sales, marketing and program management activities for the site. He set account qualification criteria and negotiated multi-year manufacturing agreements with major corporations. He managed site program managers and earned customer awards for successful start-up of new programs.

Freid began his career as a manufacturing engineer with the General Electric Company. In 1976, he joined McKinsey & Company as a general management consultant, where he resolved business strategy and key operating issues for leading companies. Here, Freid learned how rigorous fact-based analysis and effective presentation can be used to quickly gain consensus on complex issues.

In 1983 Freid relocated to the West Coast to expand his executive skills and expertise in the electronics industry. At Asyst Technologies, a venture capital-financed semiconductor capital equipment manufacturer, Freid was director of marketing and OEM relations, helping establish the company as a leader in automated wafer handling equipment. At Xidex Corporation, at the time the world’s largest manufacturer of magnetic storage media, Freid was director of new business development, responsible for assessing key business issues including new technologies and strategic alliances.

At Xidex, Freid led a comprehensive economic and risk analysis of countries in Asia, Europe and North America to establish new production sites in those areas. This experience contributed to his knowledge of manufacturing and distribution economics of these regions, an important element in CMC’s unique services.

Freid received a bachelor of science degree in industrial engineering and operations research from the University of California, Berkeley, and a master’s in business administration from Stanford University.

Copyright by CMC 1999-2002