January 19, 2007 -- Andrew Corp. (www.andrew.com) announced the opening of a newly-built production facility in Goa, India, for the manufacture both radio frequency cable products and antennas. The company claims that the facility is the first to provide "in-country production" for the Indian wireless market.
According to the company, the facility will serve the various equipment manufacturers and network operators in the rapidly growing Indian marketplace with technically superior, high quality products which previously were available only through importing.
The local supply of Indian-produced Andrew RF products will include the company's HELIAX coaxial cable, connectors and accessories; decibel base station antennas; and the company's ValuLine and Advantage terrestrial microwave antennas, backed by in-country technical assistance and customer support. The new facility also hosts a staffed service and repair depot for Andrew RF repeater products.
"As we approach the 10-year anniversary of the establishment of our local subsidiary in India, Andrew is proud to significantly expand its capabilities in support of this nation's rapid deployment of wireless networks," comments John DeSana, group president of Andrew's antenna and cable products segment. "Our new Goa facility, with state-of-the-art RF equipment and manufacturing processes that are unique to India, will deliver tangible benefits to our customers that will accelerate network deployment, reduce unnecessary costs, and improve quality."
The 19,400 square meter Goa facility is ISO9000 certified and began operation this month. Based on current business outlook, Andrew expects to add approximately 60 employees to the approximately 240 workers it employed at its previous Goa facility. (The new plant replaced a smaller, neighboring facility that also produced cable products.)
The company says the new facility represents a major expansion of its production capabilities in India, which began in 1997 with a small cable assembly facility in Goa that employed 10 people. Andrew also supports the Indian telecommunications market from sales and support offices in New Delhi and Mumbai.
"Local production in the Indian market provides our customers with significant freight and inventory cost savings, plus meaningful improvement in product delivery times and availability," concludes Ben Cardwell, vice president of Asia-Pacific sales and marketing at Andrew. "Andrew can manufacture and handle all logistics locally to ensure products and site kits are delivered quickly to locations where customers require them."
