New manufacturing technologies, equipment, and specialised production capabilities in Slovakia establish the foundation for the next generation of RF elements antenna products.

Bratislava, Slovakia - June 15, 2023 - RF elements has significantly expanded its operations in Slovakia, European Union, establishing in-house manufacturing capabilities for the next generation of its antenna products.

RF elements has operated from its Slovak production location for years, previously using the site primarily for final assembly, inspection, quality control, preparation of products for distribution, as well as R&D, and prototyping.

RF elements is now building genuine manufacturing competence in Europe, closely integrated with its engineering and product-development teams. Importantly, the project is not a relocation of existing manufacturing processes from Asia to Europe. Instead, RF elements has developed new production technologies and capabilities in Slovakia specifically for a new generation of products being designed around them.

Building New Manufacturing Competence

RF elements was founded in Slovakia in 2010 and has developed antenna and connectivity products for fixed wireless networks for more than a decade. 

Historically, the company concentrated primarily on RF engineering, mechanical design, intellectual property, product development, and market introduction, while relying extensively on external manufacturing partners. Alongside product innovation, R&D, testing, and prototyping, its Slovak operation also provided an important final layer of assembly, inspection, and quality assurance.

The company is now extending the vertical integration strategy. Rather than reproducing established manufacturing processes internally, RF elements has invested in new machinery, production methods, and people to create manufacturing capabilities that did not previously exist within the company or its external manufacturing base. These capabilities are being developed together with a new generation of antenna products.

“We are not bringing an existing production from one part of the world to another,” said Juraj Taptic, CEO of RF elements. “We are building new manufacturing competence around the products we want to make next. That gives our engineers much more freedom to develop products together with the processes that will ultimately manufacture them.”

Greater Control From Design to Production

The now even closer integration of engineering and manufacturing changes how RF elements develops products. RF elements has never treated product development and production as completely separate disciplines. However, integrating development and manufacturing teams across continents, time zones, and - most importantly - different business models is inherently difficult.

Bringing these capabilities closer together allows RF elements to develop products and production technologies in parallel. New antenna products can be designed around manufacturing technologies available internally. At the same time, production methods, tooling, assembly processes, and quality controls can be developed specifically around the requirements of each new product family. This creates a much tighter development cycle between RF engineering, mechanical design, prototyping, production engineering, and serial manufacturing. It also gives RF elements greater freedom to pursue product concepts that may be difficult to realise efficiently using established external manufacturing methods.

“Good RF design and good manufacturing cannot be treated as separate disciplines,” added Taptic. “The final product depends on both. Having these competencies inside the same organisation allows us to make better engineering decisions and gives us much greater control over the result.”

Strengthening RF elements in Europe

Building manufacturing competence in Slovakia also strengthens the company’s European industrial base. RF elements can retain more engineering and production know-how internally, shorten the distance between development and manufacturing. 

The company will continue to work with specialised suppliers and manufacturing partners where this makes technical and economic sense. Vertical integration does not mean producing every component internally. RF elements aims to own the manufacturing processes and competencies that are strategically important to its products and technology.

“We have spent years developing our own approach to antenna technology,” said Taptic. “Now we are extending the same approach into manufacturing. We want to control not only what we design, but also how it is made. That capability will be increasingly important for the products we are developing next.”

RF elements expects the new manufacturing capabilities to support a growing share of future product development and production in Slovakia.

About RF elements

RF elements develops antennas and connectivity solutions for fixed wireless access networks. The company focuses on precise radiation patterns, interference rejection, spectrum efficiency, and scalable network design.

The RF elements brand is closely associated with horn antenna technology, which the company reintroduced to modern fixed wireless networks in 2014.

Founded in 2010 and headquartered in Bratislava, Slovakia, RF elements develops products for wireless internet service providers and network operators around the world.