Smart TV sets with Croatian signature becoming a reality
The M SAN’s manufacturing facility, which created the first “made in Croatia” LED TV and has been making LED screens for several months now, is getting ready to present the first smart TV with “Croatian signature” within a month. M SAN Group has developed the Vivax Smart TV and will manufacture it in its plant in Rugvica near Zagreb. The company has invested 4,48 million kuna in its new production line. While they have been making LED TV sets in Rugvica since 2013, the screens themselves had been imported from China, reports Večernji List on March 5, 2016.
“To improve the quality of the end product, M SAN Group has decided to invest into the production of its own screens”, said Marijan Janko, who heads the company’s quality assurance department. Earlier, the production facility had assembly and testing lines, but now the latest addition is the so-called “clean room” where screens are produced. The conditions in this room are strictly controlled, including the level of humidity and temperature. Workers wear special uniforms, and the air has to be ionized so that dust would not settle on the screens.
“The plant employs 27 people, and 10 of them are working in screen production”, said Vladimir Brkljača, who heads the Vivax department. The facility could employ about 50 people in the future, he added. Another five people work in the quality assurance department, which is an important segment at M SAN.
With the improvement of the production facility, the annual production capacity has increased from 84,500 to 180,000 TV units. The plant is producing about 40 units per hour at the 1,200 square metre production site. In other words, one unit is made in less than two minutes.
Vivax brand has been actively broadening its production in recent years. After air-conditioners and small appliances, they started manufacturing TVs, audio devices, tablets and smartphones. The smart 32- and 42-inch TV sets produced at the Croatian facility will be based on the Android operating system, and could be used in the same way as a smartphone connected to the internet.
Another novelty are Vivax 55- and 65-inch TVs which should become available in about two months. “Vivax strategy is to create products that are both affordable and reliable”, Brkljača said. He pointed out that Vivax already exports its products to the markets in the region, Western Europe, Africa and South America. It holds 15 percent of the TV sets market in Croatia and it wants to reach 19 percent.
