Demand for the user-friendly communication screen KOMP sky-rocketed as a result of the corona pandemic, and the partners are now set to produce more in record time. The company behind this new innovation, No Isolation, has secured a contract worth NOK 20 million with electronics manufacturer Simpro to produce a large quantity.
No Isolation’s Chief Communications Officer, Anna Heide, says demand sky-rocketed when Norway went into lockdown. She and her colleagues scrambled to meet market demands, and contacted their hardware partner in Trondheim, Inventas.
“We had to see if it was possible to initiate the next round of production sooner than anticipated. Through Inventas, we established contact with Simpro, who will be manufacturing the units,” she says.
Great faith in the product
No Isolation strives to reduce loneliness through custom communication tools. KOMP is designed to meet the needs and uses of an older or analogue user group, and makes it very easy to stay in touch with family in a digital manner.
Simpro’s Business Development Manager, Kjetil Blokkum, is thrilled about this contract, and says everyone on his team have great faith in the product.
“Nowadays, the elderly, in particular, are forced to keep their distance from grandchildren, so there is considerable need for this product. We are thrilled to have secured this contract, both because we really believe in the product, and because this contract gives us a strong foothold in a growing segment of the market.”
Regional collaboration
The units they will be manufacturing are developed by Inventas. Tore Eide is the senior product developer at Inventas, and he says they have selected manufacturers they know are flexible enough to handle this assignment.
“We are working with a tight turnaround, and we had to get an agile manufacturing chain in place. We have worked with Simpro before, and we know they are great with both high-volume production and other logistics. The same is true for our subsupplier IV Moulding in Leksvik, who manufactures plastic components for KOMP. So we have a strong regional team behind this production,” Eide says.
Eide has nothing but praise for subsuppliers and partners, who have shown extraordinary dedication to this project and rolled up their sleeves to get things done – even with the tight deadlines this project demanded of them.
Stimulating the Norwegian economy
All parties involved in this project agree it’s important to keep Norwegian production up. According to Heide, No Isolation’s experience with Norwegian manufacturers and developers is good, and she believes there are considerable benefits to keeping an exclusively Norwegian value chain.
“Communication is made much easier, as a result of all of us being in the same time zone and sharing the same business culture. In addition, we feel confident our partners comply with our code of conduct, and we contribute to increased value creation in Norway.”
Blokkum in Simpro also points out that geographical proximity between partners is another great advantage.
“It shortens the chain of communication considerably,” he adds.
Production launch in August
Simpro, Inventas and No Isolation all agree that their collaboration so far has worked really well, and they have nothing but good things to say about each other.
At Simpro’s production facilities at Løkken Verk, they are in the process of preparing production.
“We are going to use our entire range of production equipment — from the production of circuit boards and component assembly, to packaging the finished product,” Blokkum says.
Production starts in August, and Simpro will be producing approx. 5,500 units before year’s end.
“We have considerable experience with serial production of a wide range of products, but this will be our first product in this segment, so we are really looking forward to it,” Blokkum concludes.