Thursday, September 3, 2009

Welcome to Nokia, China

While waiting for my sister in a coffee shop, I chanced upon a magazine article featuring the new, state-of-the-art Nokia factory in Beijing, China, to open in the last quarter of this year. The facility has a floor area bigger than that of its world headquarters in Finland, and boasts of modern architecture and of course, high tech equipment. The article was quick to say too, that about 12% (or so, I'm not sure if of the ceiling only or of the entire building) is made of recycled materials.

Quite a big number of people will still constitute their work force (about 2000 personnel), but of course most of the manufacturing to be done there will accomplished through computers and machines. A large chunk of the six-storey building will be devoted to product development, where their people can think of new cell phone designs and features, appealing to different social and business groups, which will entice people to buy anew. A photo showed a touch-screen wall where Nokia’s think tank team can “doodle” their ideas for the next “it” gadget.

On the top left side was a fast-facts box, and written in bold, orange letters was this information: an average person presses the keys of his cell phone about 200 to 300 times a day. They can press the keys of one cell phone around one million times a day, using robotic fingers with fiber optic sensors. Just imagine how many presses their thousands of robotic fingers can make in a day. Just imagine how many cell phones their facility can manufacture in a day. Imagine how much money that can rake in.

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