My China diary
New AV News reporter Jessica Dougal accepted an invitation to visit the Delta Electronics’ factory in Suzhou, China. These are her impressions.
During the month of November I was invited by Delta Electronics, the parent company of Vivitek, to visit their Chinese factory. The factory is Located in the city of Suzhou. a major city which can be found in the Jiangsu province in Eastern China. I hoped to better understand the ideas on which the Delta mission is based, and also to gain a better understanding of what Delta stands for on a global as well as local scale. The Delta Group is an electronics company that specialises in power and thermal management solutions, as well as the more familiar AV products.
Origins
Delta was founded in 1971 by Bruce Cheng, who has had a significant impact on the industry as a result of his innovative solutions and his dedication to the industry. What started as a small scale operation with just 15 employees has bloomed into a company that flourishes on a global scale with over 28,000 employees worldwide. Today, Delta Electronics is the number one provider of switching power supplies and components for television sets. Delta factories and offices can be found in over 43 countries including Europe, the Middle East and Africa; Delta headquarters can be found in Taiwan. 
Vivitek was launched September 2008; the Vivitek product range consists of visual presentation products, software and solutions. The company was one of the first companies to release the full high-definition LED home cinema projector. There is a vast array of projectors that are available to the mass market consumer which means that many of the target application areas can are met within the Vivitek range. These application areas range from meeting rooms and classrooms to home entertainment and large venues, even mobile and personal with the release of the HD LED Qumi series of projectors.
According to their mission statement, Delta is dedicated to providing “innovative, clean and energy-efficient solutions for a better tomorrow”. This objective can be recognised through the many projects that have been undertaken by Delta Electronics such as the Ishavsveien Project that has been completed in Norway. This project saw the installation of 250 EV charging stations along the West coast of Norway as part of their green energy solutions.
The trip
I was invited by Vivitek to visit the Delta factory from the 5th November to the 9th November, due to the long flight and the time difference we arrived at Pudong airport in Shanghai on the Thursday 6th November. After arriving at Pudong airport we were greeted by Holger Graeff, general manager of EMEA and James Hsu, director of operations EMEA. I visited the Suzhou Delta factory on Friday 7th November. Much of the morning was spent discussing Delta and their company’s global objective and mission statement as well as products that were released during the summer 2014 and future releases such as the DH758USTIR- a new 4 finger-touch interactive education projector
The factory visit was really helpful o in developing a better understanding of the Delta manufacturing processes that go into creating the projectors. Many of the projectors created by Vivitek would go through a series of tests before they are packaged and sent off to their final destinations. Products are constantly checked for faults by a machine, optical checks are also performed as well as a pre-test, safety test and a final test. It is also important that the products that are built at the factory are assembled in a clean and sterile environment so that dust cannot destroy the quality of the product; vents also push the dust downwards and away from the product so that the quality is not diminished.
R&D
I was also shown the Research and Development building which houses a display of past projector models. I visited the colour wheel manufacturing building; the colour wheels are considered one of the most expensive parts of the projectors due to the lengthy manufacturing process (4 to 7 hours depending on the wavelength of the filter and thickness of glass). The environments in these rooms have to be kept at a constant temperature. One interesting side issue was the predominance of female workers in the colour wheel building. Apparently they have smaller hands and are more dexterous for the processes needed for making the colour wheels.
I thought that the layout of the Delta site was interesting in the way that it seemed similar to a university campus. The employees could live on site if they wish as there was an accommodation block at the back of the site. Many people from around China come to work at Delta Electronics due to the fact that they have ethical employment policies and are considered to be one of the top companies to work for; some workers travel up to 2 days to get to the factory and live on the campus while working.
My visit addressed much of the conventional wisdom associated with Chinese manufacturing. The Delta workforce is happy, well treated and clearly proud of the products they are making. The company’s campus-style facility is focused on R&D and the latest manufacturing techniques, with an emphasis on environmental concerns. I was asked not to mention the contract manufacturing, which is a shame because the endorsement of leading projector brands would do Vivitek no harm whatsoever.
