Ingram Micro To Expand Memphis Configuration Center; 480,000 Square-Foot Light Manufacturing Facility Will Increase Ingram Micro's Configuration Operations

Business Wire, Nov 13, 1997

SANTA ANA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 13, 1997--Ingram Micro Inc., the world's leading wholesale distributor of technology products and services, announced today it will be expanding its U.S. configuration capabilities. The company will convert the 480,000 square-foot configuration/distribution center it acquired as part of the Reseller Network Division acquisition from Intelligent Electronics earlier this year, into a state-of-the-art light manufacturing/integration center by early 1998.

The center, which is strategically located near the main Federal Express hub in Memphis, Tenn., will serve as the company's most advanced configuration operation in the U.S., and will greatly increase Ingram Micro's build-to-order, configuration and assembly capacity.

Ed Pensel, Ingram Micro's senior vice president of global configuration operations, said, "This strategic consolidation will greatly expand and rapidly improve our economies of scale. Many of our major channel assembly partners, including AcerOpen, Compaq, Digital Equipment Company, Hewlett-Packard, and IBM, will utilize this new center, increasing Ingram Micro's U.S. configuration capabilities significantly. Furthermore, the facility is situated close to Ingram Micro's most advanced 600,000 square-foot distribution center in Millington, Tenn."

In addition to the Memphis location, Ingram Micro's Fullerton, Calif., configuration center will continue with its current operations and will evolve into a prototype facility for Ingram Micro operations worldwide. The facility will test and design the latest configuration processes.

As part of this centralized configuration initiative, Ingram Micro's Chicago and Denver, Colo., configuration centers will be closed by the end of the first quarter of 1998. "We will make every attempt to integrate the impacted associates into other Ingram Micro distribution and configuration centers, or in other areas of the company," said Pensel.

He continued, "Over the past year, our major supplier and reseller partners have shown increasing interest in channel assembly, and through this move, they will benefit from better inventory management and stock availability, improved access to a concentration of component inventory and sub-assemblies, open bay desktop configurations and superior quality assurance."

About Ingram Micro's Frameworks, Total Integration Services

Earlier this year, Ingram Micro introduced Frameworks, Total Integration Services, the company's worldwide channel assembly and configuration initiative designed to benefit resellers and manufacturers. Resellers can order complete, configured custom solutions, or they can order OEM components a la carte. Frameworks is beneficial to manufacturers because it reduces inventory overhead. Frameworks currently offers six main services, including: AcerOpen; Custom Configuration; Manufacturer-Authorized Channel Assembly, including IBM's Authorized Assembler Program (AAP), Compaq's Channel Configuration Program (CCP), and Hewlett-Packard's Extended Solutions Program (ESP); OEM Components; Unbranded Systems Configuration; and UNIX Configuration for HP and Sun Microsystems servers and workstations.

Frameworks technicians are certified in the most advanced platforms and operating systems, such as Acer, Apple, CompTIA A , HP, IBM, Microsoft, Novell and Sun Microsystems. To ensure Frameworks systems meet performance expectations, they undergo stringent quality-testing at Ingram Laboratories, one of the industry's leading testing facilities.

Frameworks services are implemented at Ingram Micro's worldwide network of ISO 9002-certified configuration centers, including Fullerton, Calif.; Memphis, Tenn.; Barcelona, Spain; Lille, France; Milan, Italy; Copenhagen, Denmark; Frankfurt and Munich, Germany; Stockholm, Sweden; Milton Keynes, United Kingdom; Utrecht, The Netherlands, and Toronto, Canada.

About Ingram Micro Inc

Ingram Micro Inc. (NYSE:IM), headquartered in Santa Ana, Calif., is a leading provider of assembly services, with 1996 sales of $12 billion. The company operates in 21 countries and distributes more than 36,000 products to more than 100,000 resellers in 120 countries. Ingram Micro can be found at www.ingrammicro.com .

CONTACT: Ingram Micro Inc., Santa Ana

Kirsten Frosh, Media Relations

714/566-1000, Ext. 22727

kirsten.frosh@ingrammicro.com