Focusing on High-quality Surveying Instruments

FOIF (Suzhou FOIF Co., Ltd.) is located in Suzhou Industrial Park in China, near Shanghai. The company has integrated the disciplines of R&D, manufacturing, sales, logistics and after-sales service to address the measurement needs of the construction and surveying industries by providing high-quality instruments including gyroscopes, GNSS receivers, total stations, theodolites, levels, laser plummets, etc. The company has evolved into the leading manufacturer of its kind in China.

The origins of FOIF date back nearly 50 years, with the founding of Suzhou First Optical Instrument Factory in 1958. Over the past almost half a century, FOIF has achieved many ‘firsts’ in the domestic surveying and mapping market. As early as 1966, the company launched China’s first EDM 5B, for instance. Many other innovations followed, including the country’s first laser theodolite J2-JD in 1975, first rotating laser JP1 in 1986, first total station DQZ2 in 1996, first reflectorless OTS total station in 2002, first auto gyroscope station GTA1300 in 2010, and most recently China’s first high-precision digital level (+/-0.3mm) in 2013.

Today, FOIF is a joint-stock company with an annual turnover of more than USD35 million. The company continues to focus on high-quality surveying instruments and industrial measuring instruments, and its main products are surveying instruments, construction instruments, laser instruments and tools. FOIF currently has 8 product series and approximately 100 product models including GNSS receivers, GIS HW & SW solutions, total stations, electronic theodolites, optical theodolites, automatic levels, laser plummets, laser levels and measuring instruments for indoors.

The company is led by the board of directors, and general managers are responsible for the supporting the organisational structure which includes a marketing centre, a management centre, research & development centres, manufacturing centres and a subsidiary for the production of accessories.

Company Philosophy

FOIF is guided by the philosophy of creating value for its customers and is committed to innovating through continuous improvement and refinement. The firm attaches great importance to technological advancement. Just some examples of its innovative achievements include the DS03 precision level which has the highest accuracy in the industry, the automatic gyroscope station using the very latest technology and the most advanced reflectorless total station with a measuring distance of up to 500m.

In terms of product quality, the company has established several working groups for surveying. It has successfully presided over and participated in groups to draft near 20 different national standards, including for total stations, electronic theodolites, optical theodolites and levels.

It is a high-tech enterprise and has been awarded a Grade AAA certificate from the Chinese government in the Jiangsu province for honouring contracts and keeping promises. FOIF’s quality management system attained ISO9001:1994 certification from DNV (Det Norske Veritas) in 1996, and attained ISO9001:2000 certification in 2002.

International partners

FOIF’s products are recognised both domestically and internationally in the surveying, engineering, construction markets and industrial measurement, and are currently sold all over the world. The company also actively provides ODM services for well-known clients at home and abroad. Today, the company is seeking exclusive distributors for cooperative business relationships in certain regions. Within a long-term partnerships, agents are required to handle marketing, provide customers with pre-sales information and advice, and to offer local service as well as providing feedback to FOIF.

In 2014, FOIF plans to increase its focus on the overseas market and intends to generate up to 25% of its turnover through export. This growth will come from stabilising its activities in the South American market and expanding sales in the African and North American markets.

In response to the ongoing economic challenges both at domestically and internationally, the company is committed to further improving the performance and quality of its products, improving service quality, stabilising the market share of its existing products and tailoring its high-performance surveying instruments more closely to customer needs. Over the next five years, FOIF aims to become a truly international provider of high-quality R & D and high-precision surveying instruments and industrial measuring systems solutions based on stable and reliable product quality, warm and thoughtful service and an unremittingly innovative spirit.