“We will further invest in Sri Lanka”: Huawei Country Head Henry Liu

From left Huawei Sri Lanka Country Head Device Henry Liu, Huawei 

Sri Lanka General Manager Kalpa Perera, Huawei Sri Lanka Marketing Manager Ruwan Gamage, Huawei Sri Lanka Technical Supporting Engineering Gayan Hewapathirana and Huawei Sri Lanka Training Manager Prasad Fernando 

- Pic by Daminda Harsha Perera

Huawei Sri Lanka’s fastest growing smartphone announced its further investments and market expansion plans at The Huawei Tech Day held at its head office in Colombo recently. 

Huawei also announced that the company has also opened three new sub-regional offices in Anuradhapura, Kandy and Galle further strengthening its distribution, customer support and operations in other parts of Sri Lanka.

Huawei Device Sri Lanka Country Head Henry Liu commented, “Huawei is aggressively expecting considerable growth in 2016 as it has achieved outmatched milestones in the previous year as well. Huawei has gained a market share of 24.4% according to GFK Q3 2016 in Sri Lanka further accelerating its market as the number two smartphone brand in the country.”

He added: “The principle of building market trust in quality is always been the success for Huawei. Huawei has continuously updated its technology through constant innovation and R&D, this is a significant factor for our success in Sri Lanka and across the globe. We will continue to invest in our R&D and concentrate on providing the best quality experience to all our customers.”

Huawei Device Sri Lanka General Manager Kalpa Perera added: “Our expansion strategy all around Sri Lanka would further enable our valued customers and trade partners. Within the next quarter we hope to grow our distribution to 3,000 plus outlets and by the end of this year we plan to have 20 islandwide service centers enhancing our service offering locally.”

Huawei R&D and IP

As a leading ICT solutions and smart device provider and patent owner, Huawei invests heavily in research and development. In 2015 alone, Huawei invested $ 9.2 billion, or 15% of its annual revenue, in the research and development of new technologies, new products, and wireless communications standards. Huawei’s substantial investment in R&D over the years has resulted in a large number of high-value patents.

According to the statistics published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), in 2015 Huawei topped the list of international patent filers for the second consecutive year with 3,898 published PCT applications, or an additional 456 applications over the previous year.

Huawei, for example. As one of the top three global smartphone makers that had shipped over 100 million smartphones to more than 170 countries and regions last year alone, the company spares no efforts in order to forge top quality smartphones, and the way they do it could sometimes go to extremes. 

Huawei strictly enforces the QMS system from prototype design, R&D, raw material procurement, manufacturing to testing, and uses automated and smart manufacturing to ensure product quality. The world-class standards that Huawei has adopted are even higher than the mandatory standards in Europe or in the US.

Quality inspection

For quality inspection, Huawei has a top-notched reliability test laboratory in the industry. Comprehensive tests conducted on Huawei handsets sometimes seem extreme. For the mechanical reliability check, a sample must withstand thousands of rounds of drum tests, 500 rounds of twist tests, a 70kg hardware stress test and 2,000 rounds of software stress tests. 

For environmental reliability, the sample undergoes a72-hour solar radiation test, 48 hours of hot and cold shift tests, eight hours of salt spray tests, damp heat test, vibration test and other wear-resistance tests. For lifecycle reliability check, the sample undergoes 800,000 touch screen taps, 200,000 key touches, 5,000 headphone plug endurance tests and 10,000 USB interface plug endurance tests. 

All these test standards are above the industry benchmarks, with requirements for the drum, heat, touch screen and RF specification tests far exceeding the industry norms. 

Huawei also conducts tests on headphone jacks, charging ports and SIM card slots, which are not usually tested by industry peers. In addition, Huawei’s products also go through a series of rigorous network tests before going on sales, including overseas roaming and SAR laboratory tests (to ensure they are 4G ready). 

Passing these comprehensive tests, Huawei’s products meet the network requirements from top global carriers such as AT&T in the US. In terms of quality management systems, Huawei’s products meet the world’s most rigid standards such as those applied in the US, Europe and Japan. And all products passing through the human radiation safety laboratory testing fully comply with the US FCC certification.

With such exacting quality control, it is hardly surprising to read some of the thrilling stories involving Huawei smartphones. 

Zero tolerance towards defective products

On top of the internal quality control, Huawei has been working closely with vendors to ensure the quality along the whole supply chain. Only in this way can Huawei provide high quality devices to consumers and clients. For example, the quality of glue used on the focusing motor of the phone camera can affect the responsiveness and speed of autofocus. To provide the best experience to consumers, Huawei need to manage not only the lens supplier but also the motor and glue supplier.

Thanks to its zero tolerance towards defective products and continued pursuit of innovation and quality, Huawei has won its global success and reputation. In the telecommunication equipment market, Huawei is already the world leading information and communication solutions provider. 

In the smartphone market, according to figures from market research and user experience research consultancy GFK, Huawei’s global market share has stayed in the top three, while taking the lead in the Chinese market and maintaining one of the top three spots in many developed countries in Western Europe. More than 60% of Huawei’s revenue comes from the overseas market as its products are shipped to over 170 countries and regions. 

Huawei is ranked 47th among the World’s Top 100 Most Valuable Brands in 2016 According to Brand Finance.