USA 5G Smart Factory expansion: Ensuring supply chain resilience and accelerating new product development

Since opening just three years ago, amid the pandemic, the Ericsson USA 5G Smart Factory is fully operational, with 5G products rolling off the line. Now, Ericsson is adding more than 27,000 square feet to the factory’s production floor. This expansion will provide the space to produce more products for North America, in North America. Why is that so important? Let us explain.

Bringing new products to market

The Ericsson USA 5G Smart Factory has been recognized as a Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) Global Lighthouse by the World Economic Forum. A spirit of innovation is part of its DNA. So, it is only fitting that the factory’s growth plans include new product introduction (NPI).

New Product Introduction is the step-by-step process of taking a product idea from concept to a working prototype to mass production and industrialization. Facilitating communication between all relevant teams is essential to the NPI process.

Currently, the R&D team in Ottawa works with our factory in Tallin, Estonia, to develop, test and optimize the designs. The design team conceives and designs a new product. They send the design to the NPI team at the production site. The teams work together to finesse every aspect—from how to produce the product most efficiently to how to ship it in the best possible way.

While the Ottawa and Tallin teams successfully collaborate together, time and distance present substantial hurdles. The seven-hour difference between the teams can delay communication. Shipping prototypes back and forth adds time to the schedule. Many of these issues were exacerbated by the pandemic and the supply chain problems that followed.

Expanding NPI capabilities at our Texas factory rewrites the entire equation for our North American operations. It enables Ericsson North America to produce prototypes in the early phases, with physical iterations, much more quickly and reliably than previously.

It also improves sustainability by reducing CO2 emissions in shipping and travel.

Securing our supply chain

Ericsson has a global supply chain footprint, with manufacturing operations across four continents. COVID-19 highlighted the value of this global footprint. It also illustrated the importance of strengthening the supply chain right here in the U.S.

The USA 5G Smart Factory is key for Ericsson’s strategy to secure the supply chain for our U.S. customers. With the additional space from the expansion, the U.S. factory will be able to produce a wider range of products and greater volumes for our U.S. customers.

Imagining what’s possible for our U.S. customers

Our USA factory expansion is the latest step in our continuing efforts to support our U.S. customers. By putting the entire development and production lifecycle close to our U.S. customers, we will:

• save engineering time and resources
• improve sustainability by reducing CO2 emissions in shipping and travel
• get products in our customers’ hands faster
• ensure a resilient supply chain in the U.S. market for 5G

Our growing USA 5G Smart Factory will not only build today’s technology but accelerate the drive to new technology for the market. We are imagining what’s possible.

Visit the US Factory page