Nokia Proudly Made in China

See under the battery cover of your new Nokia and more than 75 % of the chances are that it’s made in China even my new N86 is also made in China what it makes you feel ?? does it give you a cheap feeling of your phone or are you thinking that Nokia is cutting costs and may be reducing quality by going to China .  Right on cutting cost wrong on the phone being of inferior quality.

Now look at the iPhone , made in China , what about that Aluminum clad HP 2140 netbook , made in China , Nintendo Wii , made in China even Xbox 360 you love so much , made in China , what about that Nikon and Canon cameras you have chances are all are made in China and soon the Airbus A320 plane taking you to your next destination guess what made in China.

Nokia is proud of their state of the art plant in China and lately had been showing their Gem in the Orient to a selected group of journalists from around the world and what they see is a facility at par and better than any European and North American manufacturing concern with emphasis on quality and durability not to mention design and aesthetics .

Welcome to Nokia China Campus Beijing

Located at Beijing eTown Economic Development Zone completed on May 27th 2007 at a cost of CNY 450 million the campus is winner of Large Office Category at Contract magazine’s 2009 Interiors Awards  along with the acclaimed Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED™) Gold Certificate by the United States Green Building Council  , one of the most prestigious sustainability certificates in the world. , and rightfully known as the  “ Nokia Green Building” .

The campus comprises of a total floor area of over 74,000 sq meter , with Office and R&D bulding covering 71417 Sq meter .  an Energy center of 2,975 sq m and a Bicycle Shed of 188 sq meter ,  providing a ‘environmental friendly’ working environment to it’s  2,300 employees .

 

The building using computational fluid dynamics , thermal and energy models , structure optimization and building sustainability techniques  is designed to be energy efficient and makes full use of natural lights through 97 % of it’s area having outside view ,  ventilation and with a double skin facade and intelligent temperature control systems to auto adjust temperature through air between the panels saving 14 % of  energy costs this combined with 30 water conversation designs resulting in a total of 37 % less water and 20% less energy consumption.

To reward “ Green thinking”  the campus also have reserved parking area for environmental friendly vehicles  and secure bicycle shed

The campus houses Nokia’s business offices and R &D Facilities and the offices are grouped around a ‘ mini city’  called Nokia Main Street with shared workspaces ,  meeting rooms and auditoriums for human comforts the ‘street’ also offers restaurants , mini marts , health clubs , concierge services and even a jet leg room for visitors coming from abroad . 

The Main Street also acts as a walk-in office with WiFi coverage , power points and Cell Chargers rampant and ergonomically adjustable table and chair so instead of sticking yourself in a cubicle , your office is everywhere and anywhere giving an open working environment and encouraging openness and creativity.

The campus is not only a ‘Pretty Green’ building it houses the Nokia Test Center , The Nokia Design Studio and Nokia Factory all at one place for better coordination and semless integration from prototype developmet to final production

Nokia Phone Test Labs run a series of stringent tests on the phone which are nothing less than ‘sadistic’ for a phone afficiando like me . The phones are given stress test , bend test , gravity test even the Denim test to check how they will perform in real world wear , tear and shock environment.

Nokia puts the phones in a tumbler along with keys and coins even makeup and other stuff which are often in a pocket and purse and shake the phone to check it’s scratch resistance .

The phone is dropped by rotating machines on hard concrete at a certain angel to check it’s durability against accidental drops . Each drop is monitored by high speed camera with frame rates of 100,000 FPS for frame by frame analysis of drop.

Devices are also bended and try to warp the device to check how much stress level they can endure before cracking when inside a tight jeans pocket .

The tests are taken to the extent that phones are placed between Levis Dark Blue denim and rigoursly rubbed to check if it’s color will withstand it or not ( fading is checked for phone not jeans )

Each and every aspect of the phone is tested including a million keypress test to check keypad durability ,

 

flipping and sliding mechanim even the weather conditions where the phone might be used from extreme cold to extreme hot and multiple humidity levels.

The phones are also X-Rayed along the process to check any internal damages

The devices are also checked against electrostatic discharge which we gives it along with radio frequency effects .

Nokia Design Center :

The birthplace of a phone is no easy task , a team of deigner and engineers sit together to develop the next big thing which is not only asthtically pleasing but also usable and durable .

In China Nokia has a team of 25 designers divided into spate teams specializing in specific areas from box desiging to colors and phone designs . They even have a prototype creater making 3D models with wax and plastics for possible outlook of device .

Following Toyota’s footsteps , Nokia’s manufacturing plant is surrounded by Nokia Suppliers such as Sanyo Energy (Beijing) Co., Ltd, RF Micro Devices, Ibiden Electronics (Beijing) Co., so it can ensure less inventory at hand , work in Just in Time system and also incorporate supplier inputs in it’s design and manufacturing [process along with these suppliers and many others the Xing Wang Industrial Park is one of the world’s largest mobile phone industry chain.

It’s a brief introduction of what Nokia is doing in China , I agree they moved to China to cut costs but with the largest mobile phone market in the world and one of the largest production bases in the world with expertise available for each and every industry China is now an ideal place for every manufacturer .

I’m proud of my Nokia made in China are you ? Let me know in comments