ThinkPad For his innovative design management leadership during ThinkPad development, Hardy was named "innovator of the Year 1992" by PC Magazine. Since 1992, the ThinkPad design has been regularly updated, developed and refined over the years by Sapper and the respective teams at IBM and later Lenovo, which included Yamazaki, Tom Takahashi, Sam Lucente and, since 1995, David Hill, Vice President of User Experience & Design, who leads and manages the design/user experience of ThinkPad. Hill's approach to maintaining the evolution of Sapper's original ThinkPad design is analogous to how Porsche manages evolution of the classic 911. The fold-out butterfly keyboard,
Lenovo "As a Japanese, I am glad to see the return to domestic production and the goal is to realize full-scale production as this will improve our image and make the products more acceptable to Japanese customers." In October 2012, Lenovo announced that it would start assembling computers in Whitsett, North Carolina. Production of desktop and laptop computers, including the ThinkPad Helix began in January 2013. , 115 workers were employed at this facility. Lenovo has been in Whitsett since 2008, where it also has centers for logistics, customer service, and return processing. In 2015, Lenovo and Hong Kong Cyberport Management