Electronics component supplier evolves into systems provider over 40 years

Published: 02 July, 2021

In the past 40 years, technology has greatly changed the way we live and do business. Especially in the latter half of that period, the Internet and the Internet of Smart Things have completely changed the appearance of global industries.

In 40 years, DFI has undergone stages of growth and evolution, transforming from a purely electronic components supplier to a global leading provider of diverse installations based on Industrial PCs (IPC).

Starting with consumer IT products in the 1980s, DFI engaged in a transitional journey into the IT future. Early product lines gave way to the changing market circumstances and led to the innovative and renowned LANParty products of the 1990s, which set the stage for DFI’s shift into more sophisticated industrial computing technologies in 2004. This decisive strategy change has led DFI to further rapid growth and significant financial success.

Desire for Innovation
In today’s world, the boundary between hardware and services is blurred. Both must be combined to create a competitive and meaningful offer. DFI is a provider of industrial solutions that help customers optimize their equipment to ensure maximum productivity, durability, and longevity. DFI also serves a wide range of segments and applications, including factory automation, healthcare, gaming, transportation, smart energy, mission-critical, and intelligent retail.

DFI marked the 40th anniversary with a focus on three main aspects, and with a future focus on the Intelligent Edge, DFI will leverage these advantages:

Miniaturized Edge AI:

Edge applications in the upcoming IoT era are becoming more common and complex, especially the ones with a smaller size. DFI has developed miniaturizing technology for decades and helped countless manufacturers to make edge applications lighter and smarter with their small computers. The famous case was the popular Raspberry Pi-sized GHF51 that was the first tiny board built with AMD Embedded Ryzen Processor and successfully downsized the facial recognition, traffic surveillance, and cold chain tracking equipment for their clients. In the future, the focus will be on even more innovative computers with smaller footprints to refresh the industr

Extended Durability:

In addition to making Edge AI devices smarter and smaller, DFI strictly follows the international standards for anti-vibration, temperature endurance, and voltage fluctuation tolerance to maximally ensure the product longevity. In regards to the operating temperature, DFI supports wider-ranges of non-standard temperatures, from basically -5° to 65° degrees to even -50° to 85° degrees. On the high-performance models whose operating temperature is restricted to 0~60°C by the CPU, proven innovation, like attaching the heater to the motherboard, can also be seen in order to support booting and operating at -30°C. Under a defined ambient temperature, all parts of the computers must pass the testing so as to fully ensure the safety and durability of the product.

Synergy with Qisda/BenQ Group:

Since joining the Qisda/BenQ Group in 2017, DFI’s technology, supply chain management, and manufacturing productivity has been enhanced to a new level. By leveraging diversified resources within the Qisda/BenQ Group, DFI’s product portfolio expands to advanced services such as LCD in-house integration, PCB & system assembly, a measurement lab, and enclosure capabilities. These value-added services enable DFI to provide a range of benefits, from flexible small volume and high variety, to large scale and cost-efficient production. Moreover, it offers additional options, including factory automation, digital healthcare, smart energy, and IoT-related applications for future business development.

Besides those three main foci, DFI, in order to accommodate the diversity of IPC requirements, has continuously strengthened and extended its capabilities. In one example of this, DFI set up a dedicated FPGA R&D team to complement the limited and costly IC choices for the special functions required by clients in industrial PCs. Also, on the way to developing 5G end-to-end technologies, DFI obtained 100% support from its sister companies specialising in 5G infrastructure in the Qisda/BenQ Group to build a solid and comprehensive 5G ecosystem.

Synergies for Growth
In July of 2021, DFI is moving to the Qisda manufacturing complex in Taoyuan, Taiwan to maximise the advantages of joining the Qisda/BenQ Group. The integration of the production line with Qisda manufacturing system will not only improve DFI’s manufacturing capacity, but also further its development of digital manufacturing capabilities.

Smart factories are the imminent goal following the arrival of Industry 4.0. DFI has been actively building a more robust framework with enhancements such as barcode management, automated warehouses, part traceability, and big data collection and application.

“After 40 years of continuous development and evolution, DFI is embarking on an exciting new chapter,” said Steven Tsai, President of DFI. “We look forward and with great anticipation to the further expansion and development of DFI as a key player in the IPC sector by utilisating the synergies of being part of the Qisda/BenQ Group. In doing so, we will continue to cultivate key application markets and welcome partners from various application industries to join us in creating even more new business opportunities together.”

Tsai also mentioned that “At the same time, DFI is dealing effectively with the impact of ongoing trade conflicts, COVID-19, global supply chain restructuring, and other factors. To do that, DFI will continue its technology innovation and expand its presence in the IPC sector.”

Moving Forward
In addition to the continuing work in the field of smart factories, DFI is also actively collaborating with world-class medical manufacturers and local smart transportation system integrators as well. Meanwhile, becoming a member of the Taiwan Electric Vehicle MIH Alliance also helps DFI to provide more complete in-vehicle applications.

Additionally, learning from the pandemic, DFI has also adopted a more flexible and decentralized management model in response to the drastic change and uncertainty in the future. This strategy strengthened its digital transformation and core competencies.

In the future, DFI’s action plans aim at the twin objectives: collaborating with more partners from diverse backgrounds and serving a larger group of clients. DFI believes that it succeeds when its partners and clients succeed. This honor motivates DFI to help more industries with its expertise and experience in progressing automation and reach more peaks together in the next ten years.