Universal Electronics Moving Some Operations to Mexico in Response to Tariffs

Universal Electronics is streamlining operations to be more efficient and to free resources for “strategic investments,” said the company Wednesday. The remote control maker is relocating engineering, supply chain and customer support functions from its Hong Kong regional office to its facilities in Panyu and Suzhou, China. The process began in late 2018 and is expected to be completed over the next three to six months. In response to higher tariffs for its China-made products, the company is moving production to its UEM facility in Monterrey, Mexico, and to a newly assigned contract manufacturing partner in the Philippines. It's “actively upgrading its manufacturing footprint outside China,” while optimizing its China operation “to continue to meet the needs of customers in other international markets.” Also as part of the restructuring, UEI is relocating finance and administration services from Santa Ana, California, to Scottsdale “to stem the rising cost of finance and administration services in Southern California,” management said. It expects to complete transactions this quarter. The company's California-based core engineering and software operations are “a successful equation that is unlikely to change in the future,” it said. The company highlighted Nevo Butler, a voice-enabled smart home hub with a “white label” digital assistant and QuickSet, nevo.AI, and smart home sensors it launched last month. It described QuickSet Cloud as a monitoring and control assistant for the home, designed to allow service providers and CE brands to bring voice-enabled services to customers “while remaining in control of the consumer relationship.” Dougherty & Co. analyst Steven Frankel said the moves “are designed to deliver on management's promise to hold expenses at 2018 levels through 2020.”