The housing parts for the Ferrum components are completely manufactured in Poland and assembled at HEM. The circuit boards, on the other hand, are manufactured in China. In the past, service companies from Belgium were also contracted for this purpose, but now the PCBs originate mainly from China. This is not because they are particularly inexpensive, but because the finished circuit boards supplied by the corresponding suppliers have proven to be of the highest quality. The unpopulated circuit boards are sent to Gdansk accompanied by the required electronic components and assembled there by another service provider. In a further step, some important components are then soldered on by hand at HEM. The linkage of PCB and enclosure is exclusively done in-house at HEM. In the following, the electronics are first checked for correct function and then the devices receive their programming. The final inspection consists of two full-range tests covering all functions and parameters, performed by two different employees, as well as a stability test. No device leaves the final inspection without having run through a few hours of operation.

With these impressions, the first part of the company report ends. In the second part, which will follow soon, I will get to know Ferrum's engineers, learn a bit about their way of working and get a small preview of future plans.