Small ID Size Meets Consistent High Quality in Mass Production

A Case Study on GORE® Acoustic Vents: Learn how we helped a Smartphone OEM improve acoustic performance and reduce cost effectively.

Challenge

During the development stage of a smartphone in 2021, a well-known OEM and former Gore customer was caught up in a costly predicament:

The company was testing acoustic vents offered by a competitor in a prototype, which performed correctly in limited testing quantities. However, the customer lacked the confidence to use the competitor’s product in mass production because the inconsistent quality of the vents may result in unsatisfactory acoustic performance and numerous rejects in production. The company was also testing GORE® Acoustic Vents at the time, so they decided to ask our experts for recommendations on how to select the best vent for mass production.

Solution

We listened carefully to the concerns of the customer’s acoustic team and advised them on how to factor in the risk of variation during mass production.

This elaborate method and the custom vent design led to the following conclusion: Despite their smaller ID size, GORE® Acoustic Vents provide a better and, above all, more consistent acoustic performance than the competitor’s. Thus, choosing our vents for the production solves the acute performance problems and provides the OEM with significant design advantages for future projects.

To further satisfy the needs of the customer’s procurement department, we took additional measures. Not only did we optimize the supply chain in terms of cost–efficiency, we improved logistics by relocating the manufacturing site for the acoustic vent production near the OEM’s Contract Manufacturer plant. This helped our customer to reduce overall expenses and shorten lead times.

The Vent: GORE® Acoustic Vent GAW337

The vent used here was the GORE® Acoustic Vent GAW377. It is available with inner and outer dimensions of 1.4 and 3.0 mm as well as a reference thickness of 0.36 mm. Suited for shallow immersion, this standard part provides an IP68 rating and an insertion loss of less than 1.3 dB at 1kHz.

Results

With our help, the smartphone OEM was able to

• ensure the production of 1+ million phones per year without yield loss.
• provide stable and consistent acoustic performance in mass production.
• gain design advantages, saving 5% of space within the phone due to the small ID size of our vent.
• reduce transportation costs, lower custom fees and shorten lead times thanks to supply chain localization.
• set the bar for future projects in terms of design, development and production processes.