Robo-tech helps smartphone maker Intex scale up output

The IT peripherals-to-mobile phones company Intex Technologies is now using robot-assisted technology for almost everything at its manufacturing unit here with an aim to provide best products to its customers, a top executive of the domestic company said here.

"First we used to import the components in semi-knocked down (SKD) form, but now we are calling the material in the completely knocked down (CKD) form. We are assembling everything at our manufacturing unit," Amitabh Khurana, Head of Manufacturing at Intex Technologies, told IANS during a visit to its Noida plant.

The robotic technology and automatic testing machines at Intex labs have helped increase the productivity and quality of devices. Also, it now has a research and development centre in New Delhi as well as one in China for physical testing of the products.

"We have a machine that tests camera, audio, video and speaker automatically at one go and is a completely Internet of Things (IoT) machine," Khurana added.

Intex forayed into the smartphone market in 2011 and has since then played on price in an aggressively competitive Indian market, managing to shore up a 9.2 percent share in the quarter ended March.

It is now one of India's leading mobile companies and exhibits a portfolio of 16 products, ranging from mobile handsets to LED TVs, washing machines, home theatre systems, data cards, networking products, IT accessories, modems and routers et al.

According to Khurana, Intex started domestic manufacturing in 2004 and currently has manufacturing units at three places -- Jammu, Baddi (Himachal Pradesh) and Noida -- employing over 5,000 people.

"Soon, we are coming up with a massive 20 acre-facility in Kasna (Greater Noida) that will manufacture mobile devices and accessories, LED TVs and washing machines, among others," he said, adding that currently, 30 per cent mobile parts are being manufactured in India while 70 per cent is imported.

"Printed circuit board assembly (PCBA), which is the most important part of a device, is imported from China. Some other parts are also being imported but we will soon manufacture 70 per cent of such parts in India," Khurana added.

Talking about the increasing cyber crimes and smartphone hacking cases worldwide, he said the company is already offering a robust security system in IT devices and will soon bring encrypted software solutions in smartphones.

The automatic technology has helped the company produce more devices. "It takes 30-35 minutes for a single smartphone to get ready with the new technology," Khurana said, adding that currently, Intex manufactures 650,000 smartphones a month. "Our target next month is to manufacture 800,000 smartphones."

The company is also manufacturing batteries and chargers for phones in India.