Electronic Contract Manufacturing Services
USA, Mexico, China, S.E. Asia, Eastern Europe
President and Founder of Contract Manufacturing Consultants, Robert Freid is an expert in outsource manufacturing of electronic and electro-mechanical products. He has extensive production, certifications and supply-chain knowledge for complex technology products. His expert witness clients have been both customers and suppliers of electronic manufacturing services (EMS), suppliers defending class-action lawsuits, and for both taxpayer and for the IRS in transfer-pricing disputes. He is well-experienced in expert testimony, argument research, document review and analysis, rebuttal and report preparation.
Examples of Cases
2021 - Breach of Contract, Fraud, Excess Inventory
United States District Court, Southern District of New York
Complaint filed by a large OEM alleging that its former CM in Mexico fraudulently induced it to enter into a manufacturing contract but acted with gross negligence in its manufacture of the products. ($100 million)
2021 – United States Tax Court
Client: Electronic Device Manufacturer (taxpayer)
IRS action for deficiencies in taxes ($450 million). Offshore manufacturing operations and transfer pricing methods dispute. Scope of service includes assessment of relative profit creation value of client’s offshore operations and suitability of IRS proposed technology companies for financial benchmarking.
2020 - Excess Inventory, Purchase Order Payment
District Court, TX
Assessment of lawsuit for excess inventory and non-payment of delivered product and counter-lawsuit for lost revenue and profit related to missed deliveries of printed circuit board assemblies. Retained by the electronics contract manufacturer to assess root causes for residual excess inventory and to assess customer claims related to missed deliveries. Scope of work included use of my proprietary materials requirements planning (MRP) to check reasonableness of residual inventory given customer forecasts, part lead-times in context of industry-wide part shortages and allocations.
2017 - Breach of Contract
International Centre for Dispute Resolution, New York
$6.8 million inventory liability claims between an EMS company with operations in China and Mexico and a former OEM customer located in North America. Retained by the EMS company to provide expert analysis and testimony regarding the electronic manufacturing services industry. Scope of work included review of all contracts and relevant communications between the parties, analysis of EMS company stop shipments and contract termination actions, customer product forecast accuracy, technical assessment of damage claims including lost profits. Deposition and half-day testimony at arbitration hearing.
