The Nokia China Campus ...
>> Putting Nokia to the Test at the Nokia China Campus
Seow Tein Hee
Hardware Zone
7th July, 2009
hrrp://www.hardwarezone.com/articles/view.php?cid=18&id=2954
Peeking into Nokia China
What goes into making a Nokia device? Plenty, based on what we've seen at the Nokia China Campus in the city of Beijing, China. During our two-day visit, we were privy to a series of processes that introduced us to the world of stringent testing, creative design, and seamless manufacturing within the Nokia China Campus.
The Nokia China Campus is a collection of three core centers, mainly the Nokia Test Center, the Nokia Design Studio and finally the Nokia Factory, all interlinked within a single site that sees the creation of a Nokia device from the early prototype, to the testing and finally mass manufacturing.
Mr. David Tang, Vice President of Nokia China, gave us an insight to the evolving mobile device market in Greater China. With the growth of the Ovi name, Nokia has moved onwards to a service-oriented Internet company that aims to close the digital divide amongst focused mobile users and the generic consumer. He mentioned that the strategy adopted by Nokia includes transforming the country via the internet and the mobile device. Achieving a penetration rate of half the population in China, Nokia is making the move to introduce services related to agriculture and healthcare to rural areas, with the assistance of the local service providers.
Next up - a quick tour of the three core areas within the Nokia China Campus. The first of them is the Nokia Test Center, which held quite a few interesting sights for us (and hopefully, for everyone reading this too).
Nokia Test Labs
Being a company of repute, Nokia is known to place a series of strict tests to prove its product's quality in the face of adversities that includes wear, tear and even shock. These tests are performed worldwide, within the global network of up to 10 test centers, with four of them based in Finland and the rest spread out across the various regions such as Denmark, Germany, the United Kingdoms, China, Japan and the United States of America. Sometime back at the end of 2008, we've seen some of the processes in testing a Nokia device's durability , but nothing beats seeing the real test lab in action, which we had the privilege during our visit to the Nokia Test Center in Beijing, China.
Within the Nokia Test Center, tests are developed and performed according to real life situations. These include scenarios which involve a device being shaken amongst items such as a keys and coins, or even chemical-based substances such as make-up within the bag or purse that the device might reside in. Durability tests are also conducted, which includes the mobile device's survivability from high altitude drops onto concrete surfaces and stress testing of the device in terms of bending and warping. Usability is also factored in, and this is tested with repetitive mechanical tests that involve assessing the device's keypad durability with multiple presses on its keypad and the lifespan of the sliding/flipping mechanism of the device being put to the test. Weather conditions are also simulated, such as sun bleaching effects, extreme temperatures and humidity levels. ...
Nokia Design Studio
Designing a phone isn't easy. And this is where the creative minds gather together, in a bid to create a phone that's pleasing to the eye, and easy on the hands. Various design studios come into play, with offices placed strategically in Nokia's home ground, Finland, and across the oceans via its Los Angeles and Beijing studios. As part of the Nokia China Campus, the Nokia Design Studio in Beijing is a hotbed of ideas. Focusing on devices aimed at the entry level market, the Beijing Nokia Design Studio has seen a few great ideas come to fruition over the years it has been running.
Manned by a team of 25 designers, the Beijing Nokia Design Studio is further divided into separate teams, each specializing in a specific area that requires an aesthetic eye to it. This includes Packaging (box designs) and Color Materials (the aesthetic color and layout of your device) just to name a few. Some of the cooler stuff we've seen in the Design Studio includes a machine that is able to produce a prototype dummy unit based on the 3D models as laid out by the designers. In a short matter of an hour, the dummy unit, made of wax and plastic, allows the designers to further analyze an actual unit and the possible feel of the device.
Nokia Factory
Ending off our tour, we made a visit to the Nokia Factory, located within the Xing Wang Industrial Park which is one of the world's largest mobile phone industry chains. The Xing Wang Industrial Park also houses Nokia's various partners in manufacturing, which includes its battery provider, Sanyo Energy (Beijing) Co., Ltd, RF Micro Devices for its RF chips, Ibiden Electronics (Beijing) Co., Ltd for its printed circuit boards, and many more. The significance of having its partners within close proximity becomes apparent with the reduction in transportation and shipping costs when it comes to material provision from its partners. Furthermore, with the alignment of these closely knit industries, an e-commerce system is also established. This creates a fast and efficient order system, wherein major orders from countries around the world can be fulfilled as fast as within a day. As one of the key manufacturing hubs, the Beijing site is instrumental in the production of top-end Nokia devices, which includes the recently launched Nokia N97.
As you might have surmised by now, to produce a mobile device requires a whole lot of work and preparation. Beginning with the basic design, to the stringent tests and logistics involved to ship these final production units across the world, it goes to show that the Finnish company has taken a variety of steps to ensure it keeps its market share in the near future. With that, we end our short but fruitful tour of the Nokia China Campus. In our upcoming August issue of HWM, we'll also delve into the minds of the Nokia designers, and give you an insight of their thought process, and some possible developments in the near future. ###
Dozens of testing, design, and factory photos are at these page 2. 3, and 4 links:
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