NiRoTech, which manufactures intelligent access and safety control devices for homes, has upgraded itself to a smart production line in Hong Kong and improved its productivity, using intelligent manufacturing technologies such as machine vision.
The company received assistance from the Hong Kong Productivity Council and is now a tenant of HKSTP.
Production line data is absorbed by NiRoTech’s enterprise resource planning system, allowing the company to analyze processes from production to customers, for improved business planning.
Managing director and co-founder Roberto Leone said that NiRoTech has a new office at HKSTP’s Tseung Kwan O Industrial Estate.
“We signed a contract to become a tenant of the Advanced Manufacturing Center in Tseung Kwan O,” he said.
“Science Park has provided the infrastructure and we are producing in Hong Kong under the Industry 4.0 philosophy. Hong Kong is a provider of high-class infrastructure for us. We became a part of a network and plan to seek funding.”
NiRoTech and its two shareholders first started operations in Yuen Long. “We set up in 2013. Nicole Yip is NiRoTech’s other co-founder and partner. We used to manage production of consumer electronics for the European market. We owned the processes, scouting for suppliers, buying materials, managing the production and quality and so on,” Leone recalled.
“In 2020, with help from the HKPC, we were able to set up an Industry 4.0 production line in Hong Kong. We produce video door phones. There are 12 robots. We moved from a fully manual assembly line in the Chinese mainland to semi-automated line in Hong Kong. Automation in Hong Kong is high grade.”
In 2018, the HKPC helped NiRoTech to set up a smart production line using custom-built machines and smart robots empowered with artificial intelligence for automated assembly and quality assurance.
“We substituted a 40-to-60 worker assembly line with 12 robots. We still need a degree of manual work. We started producing at end-2020 and went into mass production in 2021. Despite the pandemic, we were able to boost production. It was a big gamble, but we are quite satisfied now,” Leone said.
“It was a strategic decision to be a manufacturer. In the European market, there are many competitors, so we needed to be different. We can also produce in the Chinese mainland, Vietnam and Hong Kong. We have more than 100 products monthly. Six are produced in Hong Kong and the rest in the mainland or Vietnam.
“We have big potential not only because we are in mass production but also because we can get new business and develop automation. This is the future goal. We are co-developing new products with customers and aim to produce them 100 percent or close to 100 percent through automation.”
NiRoTech has about 60 employees, including 50 handling processes such as quality, purchasing and customer services. Fewer than 10 of them are involved in manufacturing in Hong Kong.