Before the Dawn of IP Telephony - Part 5The product finished at last (latter half of 1996)
These contents translated a serialization article carried by ITPro IP telephony ONLINE published by Nikkei Business Publications, Inc. Jump to the original (Japanese).
Shinji Usuba
General Manager
eSound Venture Unit
Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd
The use of VoIP technology was officially approved by the integrator during the beginning of October 1996. Only 3 months left until the start of shipment at the end of the year. Days of craziness had started once again.
Photo 1 : Honjo plant of OKI
I frequently visited the manufacturing plant located in Honjo City of Saitama (photo 1).
Despite the little time we had, there was the need to manufacture the first lot. Honjo is OKI's plant manufacturing communication devices and it was the first time the plant would be handling LAN and PC related parts. Parts and testing devices had to be created from scratch. The manufacturing schedule was skin-tight, with no leeway whatsoever. The immediate response from the plant was very skeptical. . And we didn't blame them. We were trying to fit in a schedule for production using new technology, parts and materials; all in an extremely short delivery period.
It was Assistant Manager Mr. Kiuchi and Ms. Nozawa of the Plant Planning Department who saved us. We were able to convey our enthusiasm and they welcomed us with open doors. The schedule was so tight that the design and manufacturing had to proceed at the same time. I remember making apologies for a number of change requests during the manufacturing process. Although Assistant Manager Mr. Kiuchi and Ms. Nozawa seemed troubled, they did not express it. And they responded to our needs with professionalism.
Perhaps due to the build-up of tension, I became sick at one point. It must have been pretty bad since I received an email from Ms. Nozawa to cheer me up. It said, "Hang in there." It kept me going.
We're almost there. We just have to push on. All members of development, plant and sales felt the same. In December, we finally reached the stage of reliability tests using mass production models. All we needed was an okay at the shipment judgment meeting. We're almost done!
"There's smoke!"
It was the middle of December, one week prior to the shipment judgment meeting. I had just started writing the screening references when the phone on my desk rang.
Photo 2 : Hitoshi Yakabe, a new recruit at the time
I had a sick feeling in my stomach the moment I picked up the phone. It was because the call was from Mr. Yakabe (photo 2), a newly recruited member from the QA Testing Room performing reliability tests. Unlike most new recruits, he had adaptable fighting potential and did very well at his job. And uncharacteristic of him, he was panicking.
"Mr. Usuba. We've got a serious problem here."
Holding back my desire of not really wanting to know, I asked, "What happened?" I felt as if I were going to faint when I heard his answer.
"There's smoke and I mean a lot!"
Apparently, white smoke was blowing out of the device like crazy.
Mr. Yakabe continued, "It's so bizarre, the person from QA is videotaping it as we speak."
Great. After examination, we found that the condenser had failed during the test of applying abnormal voltage, causing vapor to blow out from the device. We had concentrated so much on the quality of VoIP, we had been reluctant to examine other parts in more detail. The thought of the power supply unit going wrong had never crossed our minds. The fact that it was a part unrelated to VoIP, we were caught completely off-guard.
Needless to say, something that emits smoke is hardly worthy as a product. The nationwide shipment schedule has already been set. What had occurred was absolutely unacceptable for the integrator who had finally approved VOICEHUB.
We immediately gathered inhouse project members and experts to discuss measures. Then, middle-ranked Mr. Sato proposed a different type of protection circuit from the one used.
The circuit was ordered and tested immediately. As a result, we found that the circuit worked sufficiently. But there weren't enough in stock. In order to avoid delay in delivery, we had to procure the circuits ourselves. We called every office handling the part in Tokyo. At last, we managed to gather enough parts. Mr. Yakabe and I took the parts to the plant and made it in time.
December 25th was the day of the shipment judgment meeting. The judgment meeting did not proceed smoothly as we would have liked due to the problems we had. But in the end, after hours of deliberation with the shipment judgment personnel, we were able to obtain approval for the shipment of the first lot.
For the follow-up and shipment of the second and succeeding lots, the development members stayed at the plant even during the year end holidays. We didn't even participate in the last meeting of the year that was held annually. By this time, some of the development members had become ill. The development site almost appeared as a battlefield. Some members made it through on cough medicine and health drinks.
Supported by the passion of related personnel, we were able to complete the schedule within the year. By the time we finished handing the report to the supervisor and were leaving, the plant was completely deserted and dark. But amidst the darkness, we felt a sense of accomplishment and confidence.
Despite the many troubles we encountered, we somehow managed to meet the product deadline. Let me add that the nationwide sales implementation and field handling that followed were accomplished due to the exceptional efforts of many persons related to the VoIP gateway project.
... To be continued
