It only feels like yesterday that these six Apollo systems and one Cab Kit left our workshop to go to Balfour Beatty. They’ve been out in the field, being used daily since 2015, and have only just come back for a deep service and repair.
We can only guess at the number of hours usage – it has got to be at least 70,000 hours.
Aside from having a couple of minor repairs, the open mic wireless communication systems have never faltered. They’ve been reliably enabling Balfour Beatty’s engineers to communicate for seven years.
Virtually no faults found
When our deep clean team undertook a major inspection of the returned systems, there were virtually no system faults found. As to be expected with heavy usage, there were a couple of minor headset issues, but everything was in great condition.
Operations Director at dBD Communications, Claire Summers, who amongst many things, oversees quality assurance, said:
“In seven years, only one of the power buttons and a volume dial had been damaged, which we would expect. All other items and headsets within the system had no faults on inspection, which is not unusual to see. Our systems are built to last, so it’s always good to see them come back in good working order, and in this case, for a system upgrade.”
Innovating at speed
At times like this, when the very first designs return, we pause and think about how far some of our innovations have come along. The return of the Cab Kit is a great example.
The returned Cab Kit was one of our first-built designs with an external speaker. In 2015, the technical wiring was housed in a separate box that the external speaker plugged into. Since then, the Cab Kit has experienced two upgrades – firstly, the speaker being moved inside the box to now a compact design.
Within the batch of systems, we also welcomed the return of one of our first swap-in systems. This is where a system can be changed from being connected to a headset to a WTX so that it can be connected to a Cab Kit for personal use. Again, it was great to see it come back with no faults.
What makes our equipment so robust?
Well, there are two things; extensive testing and the fact that the equipment has been designed to withstand heavy usage.
Being a supplier and manufacturer means we also have a great deal of control over the quality assurance process. Every system is extensively tested before it leaves our workshop.