Made in China

As the bulk of our antenna products are manufactured in China, it is imperative that we maintain a face to face relationship with them, as due to the extreme cultural differences, email, WhatsApp and Skype are not sufficient. Having left a visit gap of around 9 months previously, we were well overdue for another visit to ensure that our manufacturing quality and turnaround times remain at the high levels we expect. The last two visits to Envisen in China have been hugely successful and our manufacturing quality and turnaround times are better than they have ever been. 

The aim of Philip’s visit to China was as follows:

1. To deploy a new RF Test Suite
2. To audit the current test and verification setups
3. To quality check our latest products being manufactured
4. To handhold the manufacturing and QA process on new products being manufactured, specifically the MiMo-0001-V1 and V2
5. To audit and inspect the production of current product being manufactured such as XPOL-0002
6. To introduce, commission and train the Production team on a new communications and collaboration tool called Planner
7. To physically run random sample checking on RoHS compliance
8. To discuss various operational issues and challenges face to face with the owner of Envisen.

The Weather in China is extremely challenging this time of the year. The average temperature is around 33?C and the humidity around 85%. Just being outside is a very wet and sweaty challenge! There’s plenty of aircon in the factory areas so it is quite pleasant once inside. The Chinese people are very friendly and helpful and once the cultural differences are understood it is relatively easy to work with them. They never say ‘no’, they just won’t deliver if it isn’t possible and then later try and haggle the delivery date! Therefore, it is imperative to be very aware of their current workload and limitations when requesting new tasks from them. This is one of the key requirements in visiting them; To physically see and understand what is happening in their environment.

In a nutshell, the visit to Envisen was extremely successful. All planned tasks were completed on time, as well as a few unplanned ones! The relationship is in a very positive state and they are appreciative of our input and commitment. At the same time, we have their full commitment to the continued high quality and quick turnaround times of our products and they are more than willing to assist us in bringing new product and systems on line as we require them.

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