Manufacturing Magazine April 2018 | Page 79

Taco Zwemstra , Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer : “ With our balanced mix of in-house and external manufacturing , supported by state-of-the-art planning and execution tools , Ampleon is prepared to embark on the next journey towards greater customer collaboration and support .”
Arttu Ollinaho , Global Key Account Director : “ By closely collaborating with Nokia , the flexibility of the entire supply chain is being significantly improved . This increased flexibility and an overall lead-time reduction are needed to meet the volatile market requirements and to speed up new technology developments .”

TRANSFORMING THE SUPPLY CHAIN FOR BETTER CUSTOMER

EXPERIENCES

Nokia is a leading customer in the Mobile Broadband business , purchasing high volumes of Ampleon ’ s Radio Frequency Power Amplifiers ( RFPA ) for 4G and 4.5G base stations .
Examples for 4G RFPA high volume parts :
Ampleon , being a young company with a long history in RF Power , has had the ideal opportunity to transform its supply base and supply chain operations . Following the carve-out from a large company , the establishment of an independent company created many challenges , but also many opportunities which allowed us to improve the support for our customer base .
First and foremost is the ability to transform our previous in-house manufacturing to a balanced combination of inhouse and external manufacturing . Partnering with leading companies , leveraging their strengths with our needs , offered us to the chance to optimize our supply chain . Our own in-house back-end manufacturing gives us the flexibility and quality to launch key technologies which help to boost our business .
Secondly , we have had the opportunity to redefine our IT landscape and advance our business processes and associated tooling . Choosing state-of-the-art business planning and supply tooling will enable Ampleon to become even more flexible with the aim to further grow our business with our key customers . Ampleon has embraced “ Partnering for Success ” as one of the key business drivers towards future growth . Together with our customers , suppliers and R & D partners , and with a next step in supply chain excellence and system support , we are well on our way .
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As Nokia ’ s business is moving towards 5G , many business opportunities are linked to the multitude of new 5G frequency bands . These 5G products require complete new RFPA technologies for various power levels and frequency bands . At the same time , the speed of development and technology creation in the entire supply chain is challenged : the even more complex new products must be available way faster than before . This requires high attention to the overall lead- and cycle times within the global supply chain . The way towards a massive MIMO ( Multiple Input Multiple Output ) type of Base Stations in 5G requires scalability in volume capacity and an adjustable supply chain more flexible than ever before . This can only be achieved when supplier and customer are partnering for success .
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