This is how a cell phone is produced every 11 seconds

China has positioned itself for many years as the world’s factory.partly thanks to a strong commitment to areas with their own economic rules, such as Shenzhen. This means that the eastern coast of the country has grown spectacularly in recent decades, exporting to practically every country in the world, among which Europe occupies a good position given its strategic location and acceptance social responsibility of its citizens towards products coming from this country. country.

This is particularly visible in the technology industry, as evidenced by the fact that virtually all mobile factories are in this country. And not just those from Chinese brands, but also those from other manufacturers like Apple. And now this industry is expanding to other sectors like the automobile industry.

It is no coincidence that brands like VIVO have contributed to this market landed in Europe a few years ago. At the beginning of 2020, the manufacturer arrived in Europe after the success of other bets such as that of Xiaomi. The company increased its visibility and, above all, invested in advertising because many users were not yet aware of its brand. Hence the commitment to football as the flagship of its marketing strategy.

This company recently held an event in Beijing in which it presented the VIVO X200 Pro, a high-end terminal that we were able to test in the Chinese capital and which This can be a before and after in the zoom photography section. Two other models were also presented which, for the moment, do not seem to reach the European markets, the VIVO X200 and the VIVO X200 Pro Mini.

EL ESPAÑOL – El Androide Libre had the opportunity to attend this presentation but also to visit the company’s factories next to its headquarters in Shenzhen. On this tour, we were able to see what the manufacturing process of a mobile phone looks like, from assembling its motherboard to final packaging before entering the global distribution chain.

A high-tech factory

This is not the first trip we have made to a mobile phone factory, but it is a trip in which we saw more advanced technology. The building we are in was more than 35,000 square meters in which no less than 30 production lines were located.

The automation of different parts of the process was high, although this varied according to needs. Even with the overwhelming number of robots working to integrate parts or move pallets from one side of the factory to the other, the number of people on the production lines was remarkable. However, the efficiency of the production lines was crucial, as they could produce an entire cell phone every 11 seconds.

The entire process is controlled from start to finish, with a data collection system that stores as many as 100,000 variables in the production of each mobile phone. In this way, parameters such as production time, test results, processing machines that intervened, employee identification, process parameters, temperature, humidity, etc. are associated with each mobile. .

The most precise part of the work is carried out robots capable of assembling up to 23 components per second in certain parts of the production chain. The large number of parts used in each mobile phone makes it extremely important to check for faults. This is done mechanically with robots that use cameras and lasers and also manually with people who inspect certain elements.

These production lines operate at all times, with operators working different shifts. in order to maintain a constant manufacturing rate. From time to time, when a new model appears, a line is transformed by adapting the requirements to change production from one cell phone to another, with the changes that this implies in the components used but also in the criteria of strength, size, etc.

resistance tests

Once the devices are made, they are finished being packaged in one of the parts of the production lines. They are thus packaged on pallets which are sent to stores around the world. But some devices do not end up in stores, but in the same building, for resistance tests.

To verify that there have been no problems in a specific series, or in the production of a line, Different units are selected and used to check resistance in different ways. For example, some are used to perform drop tests, to check the resistance of all external and internal parts of the device. The buttons are also checked, or if the cell phone bends problematically when we sit on it by mistake.

There are also water and dust resistance tests, on machines where the different units are subjected to very demanding tests. Even There are machines to verify that it is possible to use them in extreme conditionssuch as high or very low temperatures, between 40 degrees below zero and 60 degrees.

Todo el proceso de fabricación está extremadamente controlado para evitar que haya errores, pero también para controlar la entrada de polvo o partículas que puedan dañar los componentes, motivo por el cual los operarios, y los visitantes, han de llevar batas, cubre zapatos o gorras en todo momento.