Lenovo personal computer brand in China since 1997. In 2001, "Business Week" named him one of Asia's rising stars in business. Yang was president and CEO of Lenovo until 2004, when Lenovo closed its acquisition of IBM's PC division, after which Yang was succeeded as Lenovo CEO by IBM's Stephen M. Ward, Jr. Ward was succeeded by Bill Amelio on 20 December 2005. In February 2009, Yang replaced Amelio as CEO and has served in that capacity ever since. Yang was chairman of Lenovo's board from 2004 to 2008, and returned as chairman in 2012 alongside his role as CEO. In
Lenovo reducing the number of KPIs from 150 to 5, offering intensive training to managers, and working to create a global Lenovo culture. Lenovo also doubled-down on vertical integration and manufacturing near target markets in order to cut costs at time when its competitors were making increased use of outsourcing off-shoring. By 2013, Lenovo ranked 20th on Gartner's list of top 50 supply chains, whereas in 2010 the company was unranked. In 2012, Lenovo partially moved production of its ThinkPad line of computers to Japan. ThinkPads will be produced by NEC in Yamagata Prefecture. Akaemi Watanabe, president of Lenovo Japan, said,