PCH International

History

PCH was founded in Cork, Ireland, by CEO Liam Casey in 1996. Corporate headquarters are located in Cork, operational headquarters are in Shenzhen, South China, and US headquarters are in San Francisco.

Liam Casey started working in fashion retail with Tricot Marine, moving to the United States to work for a trading company, before finally landing in Shenzhen, China. During his time in the United States, Casey worked for a trading company that imported from China. He visited China and started an outsourcing operation, matching Chinese suppliers with western companies seeking manufacturers for products. In 2007, Liam Casey was named Ernst & Young Irish Entrepreneur of the Year. In 2015, he was selected by Metropolis editors for their Game Changer award.

Services

PCH offers product design engineering and development services as well as manufacturing, packaging and fulfillment, distribution and retail services. For startups, PCH has two divisions - Highway1 and PCH Access - that work with entrepreneurs to minimize the risk of market entrance and help them scale production.

PCH China Direct assists companies looking to export to China or expand existing operations.

In late 2015, PCH International laid off 1,500 workers in China, nearly it's entire workforce, as it moved away from mass production of products into more niche markets.

PCH Access

PCH Access is a program designed to help small hardware companies scale through an integrated platform that brings products from concept to consumer and reduces the time it takes to bring products to market.

The program was launched at Techcrunch, a technology media event, in May 2011. Since then the program was involved in the launch of several products, including:

•November 2014: Podo Labs

•Fall 2014: Ringly

•April 2013: Lively

•April 2013: Zinc Software Limited

•August 2012: The MetaWatch Strata

•July 2012: littleBits

•May 2011: Lark

Highway1

In June 2013 PCH launched Highway1 (www.highway1.io), a four-month accelerator program consisting of:

Funding and expansion

On 7 June 2011 the company announced that it had raised a new round of funding of $30 million. Two new investors, Northbrooks Investments and J. Christopher Burch, and existing investors Norwest Venture Partners, Triangle Peak Partners, Cross Creek Capital, and Fung Capital participated in the round.

In 2011 the company acquired TNS Distribution, a European distributor of consumer electronics products and accessories for an immediate payment of €6m (US$8.67m) and an earnings-based payment of €5m (US$7.22m) over 3 years, based on the performance of TNS Distribution.

On 15 June 2012 the company announced an agreement to acquire Lime Lab Inc., a Silicon Valley-based product development consultancy.

On March 3, 2015, PCH announced that they had acquired Fab (website), a design e-commerce platform, for an undisclosed sum. The purchase price was later revealed to be $15 million, a huge drop in valuation for the distressed internet company.

Sustainability and Employee Well-Being

PCH has released Sustainability Reports for 2013 and 2014 as part of its commitment to the United Nations Global Compact, of which it has been a member since 2012. The company has made environmental sustainability a core business priority, and has focused on decreasing waste in the supply chain by focusing on demand-driven manufacturing and shipping rather than traditional models of producing according to forecast to regional distribution centers.

PCH has a zero-tolerance policy towards child labor, physical punishment, falsification of time cards, and withholding pay.