ThinkPad past several years." Although Lenovo acquired the right to use the IBM brand name for five years after its acquisition of IBM's personal computer business, Lenovo only used it for three years. The majority of ThinkPad computers since the 2005 acquisition of the brand by Lenovo have been made in China. In addition to these Chinese manufacturing facilities, Lenovo employs 300 people at a combined manufacturing and distribution center near its American headquarters in Morrisville, North Carolina. Each device made in this facility "is packed in a box that sports a red-white-and-blue sticker proclaiming "Whitsett, North Carolina." In 2012, Lenovo
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,