Juniper Systems Manufactures In The U.S. — And 3 Reasons You Should Too

Manufacturing jobs in the 2000s were flying away from the United States — but not from Juniper Systems.

A Utah business networking group recognized Juniper Systems in 2004 as one of the fastest growing companies in Utah. In February of the same year, the United States had lost manufacturing jobs for 43 consecutive months, the longest span since the Great Depression. In the period between 2001 and 2011, 5 million U.S. manufacturing jobs were offshored, according to research from Northwestern University.

The largest U.S. firms cut domestic jobs and invested heavily in employment overseas. Juniper Systems, however, continued to invest in its Logan, Utah-based headquarters where it designs and assembles rugged mobile computers, tablets, GNSS receivers, and a slew of research and commercial solutions for agricultural applications through its HarvestMaster brand. Since 2000, Juniper Systems has added more than 100 full-time jobs to the Logan, Utah area. That is a lot of local mouths fed, mortgages paid, and revenue energizing the community.

The working philosophy at Juniper Systems was to make the company headquarters a one-stop shop for its customers. The in-house engineering team designed and tested Juniper Systems’ rugged products. A few dozen steps away, the manufacturing team built the lineup of rugged products. In addition, customer service, sales and marketing, shipping, and the executive team were all under the same roof.

This localized approach to designing and manufacturing products has allowed the company flexibility and responsiveness in the whiplashing tech industry — and it has paid off. Juniper Systems posted double-digit growth for the second consecutive year in 2018.

In the meantime, some U.S. firms have changed their tune on foreign labor. According to a 2015 survey, rising labor costs, hidden costs, and management difficulties overseas pushed 17 percent of executives to bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States. Another 37 percent of executives said they were considering the option.

Here are three reasons Juniper Systems designs and assembles its products in the United States and you should too.

1. Controlling production

Boiled down, it is about flexibility, responsiveness, and quality.

That is the conclusion Juniper Systems has made after more than two decades producing its products in the United States. Juniper Systems designs and assembles its products for a wide variety of industries and the result is a relatively low volume and high mix of products coming from its in-house manufacturing facility.

In 2017, in addition to 118 standard device variations, customers ordered 92 modifications of Juniper Systems’ popular Mesa 2 Rugged Tablet. Some variations are aesthetic, like device color, and others require additional engineering like adding an external Wi-Fi antenna for Provo-based farm management software company Amelicor. Both types of changes require careful communication and understanding, said Juniper Systems’ lead production engineer Doug Jensen.

“If this product weren’t built at Juniper Systems, I would have had to contact the offshore manufacturer, walk them through the process, and audit their work,” Jensen said. “Since we build it, we have total control of that process. We do it, we verify it, and we send it to the customer.”

Some offshore manufacturers will not permit auditing, Jensen added.

Jensen cites travel costs, quality issues, and the potential for costly miscommunication as additional reasons Juniper Systems has avoided producing its products overseas.

“We may not always be able to beat the price, but if you do have a problem, call here and someone will answer,” he said. “We are designing, figuring out manufacturing, and manufacturing the product. If you have issues, rest assured we’ll figure it out.”

“Engineers will walk down the hall to manufacturing and attack the problem,” he added. “Could I do some of this externally?” Jensen said. “Yes, but the response would take many more months and might miss the mark; we can do it in a third of the time.”

2. Managing the supply chain

Expertly managing supply chains, above all else, requires close collaboration and communication, according to Greg Foulger, Juniper Systems’ purchasing and supply chain manager.

To build its array of rugged products, Juniper Systems juggles more than 100 suppliers that produce and deliver around 3,000 parts.

The nature of today’s tech industry requires Juniper Systems to purchase foreign and domestic parts to build its hardware products — a majority of these parts are domestic. However, building and maintaining relationships with domestic suppliers is often less complicated, Foulger said.

“We really view companies in our supply chain as partners,” he said. “We collaborate all the time. We have to be able to talk and work through issues and problems. When you have domestic suppliers, those conversations are easier.”

“When so much of what we do is custom, we need great relationships — so we try to use U.S. manufacturers as often as possible,” Foulger said.

3. Boosting the customer experience

The sales team at Juniper Systems relies heavily on the company’s flexibility and responsiveness to support customers in extreme environments like a team of environmental consultants in Canada’s Northwest Territories and everyday tough environments like an auto salvage yard in rural Hoxie, Arkansas.

“Manufacturing where we all live and work gives us the flexibility to customize,” Juniper Systems sales manager Doug Moore said. “Foreign manufacturers rapidly pump out products, but we get to closely control the quality of our product.”

“Because we are all under one roof, it allows us to instantaneously speed up and slow down production,” he added. “It makes it easy to fix problems and for customers to see what we’re doing.”

Production, this way, is market sensitive, which allows Juniper Systems to keep its inventories low and decreases sales lead times, the time between an order and shipment. “There’s no waiting for foreign shipments and there’s no waiting for customs. We can just do it quickly,” he said. Juniper Systems boasts some of the shortest lead times in its industry, starting at three business days for low quantity orders.

Not to mention, Moore said, the words “designed and assembled in the USA” are important to many of Juniper Systems’ customers.

It is important to Juniper Systems, too.

Making it possible

The market, product, and business climate often determine where a business can produce its goods. In the 2000s, many U.S. firms made the decision to make their products elsewhere. Now overseas labor costs are rising while U.S. manufacturing is getting smarter with automation and a culture of continuous improvement.

U.S. manufacturing might not be possible for every company, but “designed and assembled in the United States” has sure been a powerful asset at Juniper Systems for its customers.