“Looks aren’t everything. Yes, Apple’s devices are examples of uncompromising industrial design, but all the style in the world won’t matter if that snazzy new iPhone, iPad, or iMac isn’t manufactured, shipped, and delivered on time,” JP Mangalindan reports for Fortune. “And that’s where Jeff Williams, Apple’s senior vice president of operations, comes in.”
“One of new CEO Tim Cook’s most trusted lieutenants, Williams, 48, essentially does a big chunk of what Cook did when he was chief operating officer,” Mangalindan reports. “Williams manages the company’s vast supply chain and production process, including overseeing Apple’s relationship with supplier Foxconn, which churns out iPad 2 tablets and other fare from its facility in Chengdu, China.”
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Mangalindan reports, “He negotiates supplier deals, keeps production going, and makes sure devices get where they need to be, when they need to be there — all while keeping costs down and without sacrificing quality.”
Read more in the full article here.
Real artists ship.
Two Cooks in the kitchen… Big orders meals and deals.
No matter how good the design or ecosystem, it won’t be successful in the absence of an effective manufacturing and distribution implementation. Apple’s success is as much due to Cook and his team as it is to Jobs or Ive. That is not taking anything away from Jobs or Ive – it is simply recognition of the fact that you have to turn the design into a marketable product in order to be successful.