Mission to Spain, Visit in Televes Headquarters
24/04/2014
article by Argiris Nomikos, source: Digital TV Info
After receiving an invitation from Televes and under the support of the Greek Televes distributor, Edision Hellas, Digital TV info visited the historic city Santiago de Compostela, situated in Spanish Galicia, between Portugal and the Atlantic ocean.
Galicia and especially Santiago de Compostela is famous for it\'s history mainly due to the existence of the glorious Saint James cathedral, as famous as it is for Televes headquarters in the city. The Spanish company was founded in 1958, more or less the same period that the first TV broadcasts started in Spain, today being one of the leading manufacturers of TV transmission, reception, distribution and testing systems.
We make everything on our own
If we want to pick just one fundamental factor that affects positively the Televes product quality, that would be the remoteness of it\'s geographical position. Since the early days of the company, the lack of access to third party vendors was a serious problem. You see, constructing an antenna is not only electronics as many of you think. It has plastic, metal, even the circuit board reflects the final product quality. So the company was forced to make everything on it\'s own. As the company\'s supervisors told us, even if the world was destroyed, we will have plastic and metal to create antennas!
Of course, during our visit in the factory, we found out that they buy plastic pellets in raw material while we also found out that they also create the cable reels in the premises. After a relevant question, they replied in all certainty that their own plastic is of higher quality and cheaper.
Quality control in all levels
The construction of a product from raw materials, gave Televes a unique ability that the mainstream competition does not possess. To have direct and inside control of a product, in all levels of it\'s construction. Meaning to having hold of the quality of metal, plastic and electronic parts of a product, from start to end.
To all this, add that Televes is a company that lives and manufactures for the western world and especially for the demanding and vast European markets. That means it should follow all the known rules and EC directions and respect the specifications.
That means we have a product 100% made in Spain, meaning manufactured and checked from start to end of each individual part that is consisted of. That may be today the main reason for which Televes is one of the few quality acclaimed manufacturers in the world.
Antenna vibration quality control
Televes corporation
As everybody understands, Televes today is not the company that started in 1958. It does not supply any more the Galician or Madrid market, but it is the first name in TV products in European markets and it\'s product is widespread in most places of the planet. It has leading role in Latin America countries that use DVB-T format, or the U.S.A. where the testing field spectrum analyzers are growing that market rapidly and in the biggest European countries, as well as in the eastern Europe like Russia. As you understand, the production lines of the Spanish company don\'t stop even for a second. In order for Televes to make everything on it\'s own and at the same time export in "...all of the planet", a normal production line is not enough, but individual factories each one specialized in it\'s sector. So, in one place the plastic is produced, in another the metal, in another the boards, in another the field strength meters etc. while each individual production line has it\'s own quality control and it is solely responsible for the part of the product that it produces.
Robotic arm in automatic assembly line
The journey begins
It was Monday 31st of March, 09:00 Spain time zone, when we visited for the first time the Televes headquarters in Santiago, along with the people from Edision Hellas who came for training from Greece, who consisted of Mr Asterios Roupas, Sales manager, Mr Makis Papadopoulos from Technical department and Mrs Anna Nikolaidou from Sales department. We had already switched three planes the previous day in order to reach Santiago, but the journey was just beginning. We were already in the first Televes Corporation companies, Televes SA, where the headquarters and main part of the factory co-exist. In total we had to \'travel\', during the two days of our stay, in 9 different sections-factories of the company.
Televes SA
Televes SA is partially a manufacturer. It\'s main role is to collect the different parts of the product from the rest manufacturing companies of Televes, assemble it in order to produce the final product, pack it and guide them to the logistic center, situated in another place at Santiago.
All the above procedures are 100% automated and no human hand is involved (except ours that interrupted the production line for 1-2 seconds, causing a bit of anxiousness to our tourers!).
In order to achieve something like that the use robotic arms with 6 degrees of freedom (moving or turning in 6 axis). The robotic arms are from ABB and known in the specific markets and considered to be \'best buy\' in their category, but all the electronics hardware and software that manage the robotic arm is also manufactured in Televes. The whole robotic system is supervised by cameras, which control the part of the product that the arm receives, as well as the assembled (or packed) final part or produced product.
The part of the product moves on to further assembly from another arm and as soon as the final product is formed, in moves on to the packing robot. We were lucky to be present in assembly of the new V-Zenit antenna of Televes. The biggest robotic arm of the factory, known as \'King Kong\', was receiving the ready antennas and placed them in the well known Televes boxes per 6 pieces. The cameras checked the final packing of the product. If it was OK, \'King Kong\' placed it on a pallet, ready to leave for the logistic center of the company, if not it placed it aside for manual check and recovery. In the same production line, the headends, amplifiers, as well as all the associated distribution parts of splitters and outlets of the company, are produced.
The ISF
Televes SA production line that we saw live the production of antennas and TV outlets, was nice and impressive, especially for our market segment. But what is this that makes a company stand out of the competition? Of course the ability to also manufacture it\'s factory by it\'s own. And who might do that better than a specialized Televes Group company? As the company officials stated "we have the technical expertise to manufacture our factory on our own\'.
That is exactly the purpose of ISF company. To design the whole function of production line from start to end, like the way the arms will be positioned and which direction the products will follow. But what makes the difference with other production lines is that it constructs the 2 following things:
Robotic heads in assembly lines are manufactured by ISF,
member of Televes Corporation
SMD Microprocessor board transferring device
Maybe in another company this might have been the point that our visit would have come to an end, but in Santiago things are different. Up to now we have only seen how the finished product is produced and not it\'s different parts. And in our market segment, nothing is more important than the circuit board of the product. So we move on the the company GCE, another one individual company of Televes Corporation, aim of which is to provide Televes SA with ready for assembly electronic part of Televes products, widely known as PCB (circuit board). Even the plastic of the circuit board in Televes... they manufacture it on their own. From that point on , you can understand what is going on in GCE. Chemical baths, laser print of circuit board (single or double) up to 16 layers (in real-life they use up to 14 layers), circuit board cutting tools, circuit board piercing, SMD parts installation tools, everything fully automated. All this of course is nothing compared to the automatic quality control that we saw. After the end of each stage, the \'under construction\' product is placed under an automated quality control and only after passing this control it moves to the next stage of the procedure. We saw time record breaking checks of short circuit and conductivity quality control in every copper channel of each circuit board.
Soundless chamber in Televes Certification Laboratory
Steel construction site or factory plant
You cannot imagine my \'square\' face when they announced that our next visit will be Televes steel production plant. I thought how on Earth is logical to leave aside high technology and spend time in steel production plants ... But our visit in Spain was strictly according to time schedule (...Spanish people are very typical with this) so we could not avoid it, eventually thankfully. And by saying thankfully we mean that what we saw had nothing to do with what we knew. The name of the company is Gamelsa and of course it is another member of Televes Corporation. We had the chance to meet a giant robotic dish production system. We saw with our own eyes how a plain metal sheet is transformed to a satellite dish, almost with no human involvement, covered with full electrostatic injection painting. We also saw how the non-oscillating towers of Televes are produced, which used in transmitters, the masts, the supports and the dish bases, the metal parts of terrestrial antennas and whatever metallic part Televes uses in it\'s products.
Tredess Transmitters
One of the basic companies of Televes Corporation is Tredess, which has complete transmitter systems and Gap Fillers for small, medium and extensive applications. Tredess is one of the major players in Spanish and French market of transmitters. For the needs of Spanish switch-off, it installed more Gap -Fillers than any other company, making a surprise even in the Basque Country, where it\'s three main competitors are situated, known from their presence in the Greek market also. Recently Tredess entered the security systems, by manufacturing a professional surveillance and recording system in a special computer (server), a huge number of cameras, with extensive video analytics possibilities.
Arantia is IPTV distribution
Televes is also involved in Hotel TV applications. Of course, in Televes group this is accomplished only by an extra company and this is no other than Arantia. Arantia, as the other Televes Group companies, is based in Santiago, has developed an extensive service of IPTV for hotels, based on it\'s own pay-per-view content. The Arantia Hotel TV system is probably one of the most advanced system of it\'s field, at least in a European level, but it is truly addressed to very big hotels, based on UTP network for their infrastructure. During our visit in Arantia, we have been shown the new IPTV set top bos, which has KNX input-output for two-way communication with the automation center of the house, in smart-home applications.
GSertel field strength meters
Field strength meters not only for Televes SA, but also for third-party companies are produced by the Spanish company GSertel, which also belongs to Televes Corporation. The known field strength meters Televes H45 and H60 are produced by GSertel as well as the field strength meters of a widely known German brand, famous for it\'s expensive and high-end instruments. During our visit in the factory we have been shown to an instrument for measuring and calibration of transmitters, in 1U rack mount version, which is placed on the transmission point, but the user, through various applications can measure and calibrate the transmitters remotely via smart-phones, Tablets PC (Android and iOS) or laptop/PC (Windows)
Televes\'s laboratory
If you think that Televes does not \'crash tests\' it\'s products, then you know nothing! The Ladetel (Laboratory de Televes) laboratory of Televes is the point that the products end to, before going to final production. There they get CE certification for trouble-free movement in EU, the well-known and necessary certificate under the name Declaration of Conformity etc. In the laboratory they carry out tests for EMI, electromagnetic compatibility, radiation check, while there is a special soundless chamber, a chamber playing the role of "Faraday\'s-box\', which does not allow exchange of communication with the outside area, as well as a special site for vibration check, where all the products go under compulsory check and especially the expensive headends, something that makes sure that there will be no problem during their transportation to the worldwide Televes customers. In the same area, with laboratory calibration point the Televes towers, they also check the strength of the antennas (crash test)
Logistics
The ninth and final area of the company that we visited during our two-day tour in Televes Corporation empire in Santiago, was the Logistics center of the company. As we approached by car, we saw it rising higher than the surrounding buildings in the area. Of course, when we entered, we saw that it was an extremely tall ground level area, where the products went all the way up to it\'s roof. So, every product manufactured in Televes factories is collected there, so to be archived and by use of trucks to be distributed in Spain and the rest of the planet. It is a huge product warehouse and distribution center, based on a computer and robot moving back and forth on a track, stacking products in a way that ... only it knows. Among the thousands of products that it has stacked in hundreds of boxes, I placed to it a ...\'greek order\' of three amplifiers with specific code. In 5 seconds, I had the things in front of me!
With Edision Hellas members, in Televes \'Clean Room\' department
In Televes\'s certification department
Performance - price
By observing the Televes product evolution, one would notice that the last years although the technology and the quality of the product have risen in general, the price gradually falls. And if all this time some of us could not understand why, it is now understandable. Televes is basing the performance-price ratio, in it\'s own hands. It manufactures it\'s product from start to end, it provides steady and faultless quality for which is 100% sure for it and of course knows the exact production expenditure from start to end. It has the lowest transport costs, saves from added-value from meta-supplying of products, from third-party companies. So actually it can adjust the 100% of the quality and price of it\'s products, so to always be on the top spot of performance-to-cost ratio, always in comparison with the competition.
Instead of closing sentence
Finally our trip to the other end of Europe was worthwhile. Televes is not another quality European manufacturing factory of television material. It is a total infrastructure of companies and different parts which possess distinctive roles. It is a Spanish company that managed to escape from the low limits of it\'s country, no matter how bigger that is from ours (Greece), by betting on it\'s cooperation, under the same roof of the Group, with other companies in the field in Santiago of 100000 population, the companies dealing with television market are not competitors to each other, but they have a common target: to make Televes the first name in the European and why not in the global market.
Many thanks
The Digital TV info and the person writing this message wish to dearly thank all the officials of Spanish Televes (Manuel Martinez - Group Commercial General Director, Juan Molezun - International Division Director, Sergio Martin - Communications Manager) for their exquisite level of hospitality and especially Alberto Lopez who took care not only for our technological update but also our tourist and gastronomical one.
Mission to Spain
Visit in Televes Headquarters
Visit in Televes Headquarters
After receiving an invitation from Televes and under the support of the Greek Televes distributor, Edision Hellas, Digital TV info visited the historic city Santiago de Compostela, situated in Spanish Galicia, between Portugal and the Atlantic ocean.
Galicia and especially Santiago de Compostela is famous for it\'s history mainly due to the existence of the glorious Saint James cathedral, as famous as it is for Televes headquarters in the city. The Spanish company was founded in 1958, more or less the same period that the first TV broadcasts started in Spain, today being one of the leading manufacturers of TV transmission, reception, distribution and testing systems.
We make everything on our own
If we want to pick just one fundamental factor that affects positively the Televes product quality, that would be the remoteness of it\'s geographical position. Since the early days of the company, the lack of access to third party vendors was a serious problem. You see, constructing an antenna is not only electronics as many of you think. It has plastic, metal, even the circuit board reflects the final product quality. So the company was forced to make everything on it\'s own. As the company\'s supervisors told us, even if the world was destroyed, we will have plastic and metal to create antennas!
Of course, during our visit in the factory, we found out that they buy plastic pellets in raw material while we also found out that they also create the cable reels in the premises. After a relevant question, they replied in all certainty that their own plastic is of higher quality and cheaper.
Quality control in all levels
The construction of a product from raw materials, gave Televes a unique ability that the mainstream competition does not possess. To have direct and inside control of a product, in all levels of it\'s construction. Meaning to having hold of the quality of metal, plastic and electronic parts of a product, from start to end.
To all this, add that Televes is a company that lives and manufactures for the western world and especially for the demanding and vast European markets. That means it should follow all the known rules and EC directions and respect the specifications.
That means we have a product 100% made in Spain, meaning manufactured and checked from start to end of each individual part that is consisted of. That may be today the main reason for which Televes is one of the few quality acclaimed manufacturers in the world.
Antenna vibration quality control
Televes corporation
As everybody understands, Televes today is not the company that started in 1958. It does not supply any more the Galician or Madrid market, but it is the first name in TV products in European markets and it\'s product is widespread in most places of the planet. It has leading role in Latin America countries that use DVB-T format, or the U.S.A. where the testing field spectrum analyzers are growing that market rapidly and in the biggest European countries, as well as in the eastern Europe like Russia. As you understand, the production lines of the Spanish company don\'t stop even for a second. In order for Televes to make everything on it\'s own and at the same time export in "...all of the planet", a normal production line is not enough, but individual factories each one specialized in it\'s sector. So, in one place the plastic is produced, in another the metal, in another the boards, in another the field strength meters etc. while each individual production line has it\'s own quality control and it is solely responsible for the part of the product that it produces.
Robotic arm in automatic assembly line
The journey begins
It was Monday 31st of March, 09:00 Spain time zone, when we visited for the first time the Televes headquarters in Santiago, along with the people from Edision Hellas who came for training from Greece, who consisted of Mr Asterios Roupas, Sales manager, Mr Makis Papadopoulos from Technical department and Mrs Anna Nikolaidou from Sales department. We had already switched three planes the previous day in order to reach Santiago, but the journey was just beginning. We were already in the first Televes Corporation companies, Televes SA, where the headquarters and main part of the factory co-exist. In total we had to \'travel\', during the two days of our stay, in 9 different sections-factories of the company.
Televes SA
Televes SA is partially a manufacturer. It\'s main role is to collect the different parts of the product from the rest manufacturing companies of Televes, assemble it in order to produce the final product, pack it and guide them to the logistic center, situated in another place at Santiago.
All the above procedures are 100% automated and no human hand is involved (except ours that interrupted the production line for 1-2 seconds, causing a bit of anxiousness to our tourers!).
In order to achieve something like that the use robotic arms with 6 degrees of freedom (moving or turning in 6 axis). The robotic arms are from ABB and known in the specific markets and considered to be \'best buy\' in their category, but all the electronics hardware and software that manage the robotic arm is also manufactured in Televes. The whole robotic system is supervised by cameras, which control the part of the product that the arm receives, as well as the assembled (or packed) final part or produced product.
The part of the product moves on to further assembly from another arm and as soon as the final product is formed, in moves on to the packing robot. We were lucky to be present in assembly of the new V-Zenit antenna of Televes. The biggest robotic arm of the factory, known as \'King Kong\', was receiving the ready antennas and placed them in the well known Televes boxes per 6 pieces. The cameras checked the final packing of the product. If it was OK, \'King Kong\' placed it on a pallet, ready to leave for the logistic center of the company, if not it placed it aside for manual check and recovery. In the same production line, the headends, amplifiers, as well as all the associated distribution parts of splitters and outlets of the company, are produced.
The ISF
Televes SA production line that we saw live the production of antennas and TV outlets, was nice and impressive, especially for our market segment. But what is this that makes a company stand out of the competition? Of course the ability to also manufacture it\'s factory by it\'s own. And who might do that better than a specialized Televes Group company? As the company officials stated "we have the technical expertise to manufacture our factory on our own\'.
That is exactly the purpose of ISF company. To design the whole function of production line from start to end, like the way the arms will be positioned and which direction the products will follow. But what makes the difference with other production lines is that it constructs the 2 following things:
- The heads of the arms, meaning the final part, that has to transfer the different materials that it receives, in order to assemble them to a major part of the product or to the finished product.
- The software that not only moves in the best way possible the arms and heads but also combines with the camera surveillance system and significantly contributes to the quality control of the final product.
Robotic heads in assembly lines are manufactured by ISF,
member of Televes Corporation
SMD Microprocessor board transferring device
Going backwards
Soundless chamber in Televes Certification Laboratory
Steel construction site or factory plant
You cannot imagine my \'square\' face when they announced that our next visit will be Televes steel production plant. I thought how on Earth is logical to leave aside high technology and spend time in steel production plants ... But our visit in Spain was strictly according to time schedule (...Spanish people are very typical with this) so we could not avoid it, eventually thankfully. And by saying thankfully we mean that what we saw had nothing to do with what we knew. The name of the company is Gamelsa and of course it is another member of Televes Corporation. We had the chance to meet a giant robotic dish production system. We saw with our own eyes how a plain metal sheet is transformed to a satellite dish, almost with no human involvement, covered with full electrostatic injection painting. We also saw how the non-oscillating towers of Televes are produced, which used in transmitters, the masts, the supports and the dish bases, the metal parts of terrestrial antennas and whatever metallic part Televes uses in it\'s products.
Tredess Transmitters
One of the basic companies of Televes Corporation is Tredess, which has complete transmitter systems and Gap Fillers for small, medium and extensive applications. Tredess is one of the major players in Spanish and French market of transmitters. For the needs of Spanish switch-off, it installed more Gap -Fillers than any other company, making a surprise even in the Basque Country, where it\'s three main competitors are situated, known from their presence in the Greek market also. Recently Tredess entered the security systems, by manufacturing a professional surveillance and recording system in a special computer (server), a huge number of cameras, with extensive video analytics possibilities.
Arantia is IPTV distribution
Televes is also involved in Hotel TV applications. Of course, in Televes group this is accomplished only by an extra company and this is no other than Arantia. Arantia, as the other Televes Group companies, is based in Santiago, has developed an extensive service of IPTV for hotels, based on it\'s own pay-per-view content. The Arantia Hotel TV system is probably one of the most advanced system of it\'s field, at least in a European level, but it is truly addressed to very big hotels, based on UTP network for their infrastructure. During our visit in Arantia, we have been shown the new IPTV set top bos, which has KNX input-output for two-way communication with the automation center of the house, in smart-home applications.
GSertel field strength meters
Field strength meters not only for Televes SA, but also for third-party companies are produced by the Spanish company GSertel, which also belongs to Televes Corporation. The known field strength meters Televes H45 and H60 are produced by GSertel as well as the field strength meters of a widely known German brand, famous for it\'s expensive and high-end instruments. During our visit in the factory we have been shown to an instrument for measuring and calibration of transmitters, in 1U rack mount version, which is placed on the transmission point, but the user, through various applications can measure and calibrate the transmitters remotely via smart-phones, Tablets PC (Android and iOS) or laptop/PC (Windows)
Televes\'s laboratory
If you think that Televes does not \'crash tests\' it\'s products, then you know nothing! The Ladetel (Laboratory de Televes) laboratory of Televes is the point that the products end to, before going to final production. There they get CE certification for trouble-free movement in EU, the well-known and necessary certificate under the name Declaration of Conformity etc. In the laboratory they carry out tests for EMI, electromagnetic compatibility, radiation check, while there is a special soundless chamber, a chamber playing the role of "Faraday\'s-box\', which does not allow exchange of communication with the outside area, as well as a special site for vibration check, where all the products go under compulsory check and especially the expensive headends, something that makes sure that there will be no problem during their transportation to the worldwide Televes customers. In the same area, with laboratory calibration point the Televes towers, they also check the strength of the antennas (crash test)
Logistics
The ninth and final area of the company that we visited during our two-day tour in Televes Corporation empire in Santiago, was the Logistics center of the company. As we approached by car, we saw it rising higher than the surrounding buildings in the area. Of course, when we entered, we saw that it was an extremely tall ground level area, where the products went all the way up to it\'s roof. So, every product manufactured in Televes factories is collected there, so to be archived and by use of trucks to be distributed in Spain and the rest of the planet. It is a huge product warehouse and distribution center, based on a computer and robot moving back and forth on a track, stacking products in a way that ... only it knows. Among the thousands of products that it has stacked in hundreds of boxes, I placed to it a ...\'greek order\' of three amplifiers with specific code. In 5 seconds, I had the things in front of me!
With Edision Hellas members, in Televes \'Clean Room\' department
In Televes\'s certification department
Performance - price
By observing the Televes product evolution, one would notice that the last years although the technology and the quality of the product have risen in general, the price gradually falls. And if all this time some of us could not understand why, it is now understandable. Televes is basing the performance-price ratio, in it\'s own hands. It manufactures it\'s product from start to end, it provides steady and faultless quality for which is 100% sure for it and of course knows the exact production expenditure from start to end. It has the lowest transport costs, saves from added-value from meta-supplying of products, from third-party companies. So actually it can adjust the 100% of the quality and price of it\'s products, so to always be on the top spot of performance-to-cost ratio, always in comparison with the competition.
Instead of closing sentence
Finally our trip to the other end of Europe was worthwhile. Televes is not another quality European manufacturing factory of television material. It is a total infrastructure of companies and different parts which possess distinctive roles. It is a Spanish company that managed to escape from the low limits of it\'s country, no matter how bigger that is from ours (Greece), by betting on it\'s cooperation, under the same roof of the Group, with other companies in the field in Santiago of 100000 population, the companies dealing with television market are not competitors to each other, but they have a common target: to make Televes the first name in the European and why not in the global market.
Many thanks
The Digital TV info and the person writing this message wish to dearly thank all the officials of Spanish Televes (Manuel Martinez - Group Commercial General Director, Juan Molezun - International Division Director, Sergio Martin - Communications Manager) for their exquisite level of hospitality and especially Alberto Lopez who took care not only for our technological update but also our tourist and gastronomical one.
