Production
Alpha Soldering Materials at SMT Show
Alpha - Cookson Electronics Assembly Materials will show its extensive range of Solder and soldering related chemicals on stand 9.624 at SMT / Hybrid Packaging in Nurnberg. On show for the first time in Europe will be ALPHA® SACX Plus™ 0307, a low silver, lead-free alloy specially designed with proprietary additives to deliver soldering and reliability performance similar to higher silver SAC alloys (eg, SAC305 etc.) at up to 30% lower alloy cost.
Tower Maximises Profit
The Tower raises the productivity of the SMD production, reduces set-up time and ensures an error-free assembly. Thus it lowers production costs, increases capacity and profit. The Tower component storage system can be connected to pick and place machines and ERP systems of all brands.
Speedplacer SW helps AWS Group speed up prototype/low volume PCB assembly
AWS Group, one of the UK's leading independent Electronic Manufacturing Solutions (EMS) providers, is using the newly-available V 2.04 Speedplacer software from Speedplacer Ltd at its AWS Cemgraft location to simplify the process of populating PCBs by hand, thereby reducing time, eliminating errors and cutting the cost of producing prototype and low volume boards.
DEK ProFlow ATx Tops Performance and Cost-Efficiency among Enclosed Head Print Systems
With the ability to accommodate all solder pastes, ProFlow ATx provides the flexibility required by today's demanding production environments. The technology combines a low-volume print chamber with an innovative paste loading mechanism, facilitating consistent process control and performance. Within the print chamber, ProFlow ATx's conditioning grid actively conditions the solder paste materials and the system subsequently delivers a robust paste roll for precise aperture filling.
DEK’s ProFlow ATx system meets real-world mass production & product complexity challenges
Following a successful evaluation period, DEK's ProFlow ATx enclosed print head technology has been adopted by a high profile electronics company due to its ability to meet complex mass production requirements. As specialists in design, production and product management, the electronics solutions company had strict evaluation criteria that the DEK system successfully met and even, in some cases, exceeded.
Micro Structures with Nano Pastes
50 µm wide conductive lines can now be screen printed due to nano pastes and a new printing process, which is implemented in Essemtec's new SP900-S printer. This system surpasses the capabilities of expensive offset or flex printers because screen printing is inexpensive, flexible and allows the printing of very high thickness layers.
European Introduction Of The Most Compact Pick & Place Platform At SMT Nuremberg
Royal Philips Electronics subsidiary Assembléon will show several recent developments to its pick & place range at this year's SMT Nuremberg (June 8-10, Booth 7.549). Packing a PCB assembly line with 80 kcph (components per hour) and up to 220 feeders into only 4 square meters, the company's award winning MC-24 and MC-24X combination will help the European SMT industry to produce a variety of PCBs at very high speeds. Assembléon is building on its Smart Solutions campaign, showing its hardware and software for total PCB assembly, along with a new European web shop that simplifies the ordering of spare parts 24/7. New financial packages also make it easy for customers to acquire new machines like its MG-5.
Count On Tools Offers Custom SMT Nozzles for CREE LEDs
Count On Tools Inc, introduces its new series of custom SMT pick-and-place nozzles for CREE LED components. This new series is manufacturer-approved, based on CREE Inc.'s strict requirements and specifications.
Electrolube makes a stand with new Products at the Australian NMW Exhibition
With just days to go until the start of the National Manufacturing Week Exhibition in Sydney, Electrolube, the leading manufacturer of electro-chemicals for the electronics, automotive and industrial manufacturing industries, is preparing to present its full product range, including a number of new additions.
Automated X-Ray PCB inspection to be demonstrated by YESTech-Europe in Nuremberg SMT/Hybrid/Packaging exhibition’s live production line
Visitors to the Nuremberg SMT/ Hybrid/Packaging show in June will have an opportunity to see how automated X-Ray inspection improves speed and reliability in electronics manufacturing. Throughout the event, Nordson YESTECH's in-line X3 X-Ray automated inspection system will be on show within a live demonstration production line. The X3's state of the art, patented digital imaging technology achieves a high rate of failure detection with a fast throughput and few false calls.
Essemtec's New Screen Printing Process Prints Fine Structures With High Cross Sections
50 µm wide conductive lines can now be screen printed due to nano pastes and a new printing process, which is implemented in Essemtec's new SP900-S printer. This system surpasses the capabilities of expensive offset or flex printers because screen printing is inexpensive, flexible and allows the printing of very high thickness layers.
New Software For Assembléon’s A-Series Cuts NPI Time By 30%
Royal Philips Electronics subsidiary Assembléon is cutting New Product Introduction (NPI) time on its A-Series pick & place equipment by 30%. The improvement is the first result of Assembléon's strategic partnership with Valor – a division of Mentor Graphics – which brings a full suite of NPI and MES factory integration tools to automate machine-, line- and factory-level workflows and business processes. The result is a lean manufacturing operations management framework that is open, modular, and flexible. And connects flawlessly to Assembléon's enriched interfaces enabling performance monitoring, traceability and warehousing solutions. That all helps integrate its customers' manufacturing processes.
HCD adds capacity to handle increased business and extra services
HCD has recently completed the installation of a mezzanine floor at its Letchworth facility, increasing operational floor space by 50 per cent. The move is in response to increased sales and also to enable the company to deliver more services.
Single Component Snap Cure Epoxy Has Outstanding Electrical Properties and Chemical Resistance
Master Bond EP17HT-3 is a one part epoxy that sets up in 20 to 30 seconds and snap cures in only 2 to 3 minutes at 250°F-300ºF. As a one part system, no mixing is required and the epoxy can be cured in sections up to 1/4 thick. Moreover, its working life is indefinite as it will not gel until heated above 200ºF.
Seica Inc. Announces Zero Defects International as North American Sales Agent for PCB Market
Seica Inc. recently announced that Zero Defects International (ZDI) has been chosen the North American sales agent for its line of bare board flying probers. David Sigillo, General Manager of Seica Inc. commented, Seica has been working with ZDI since 2001; they have shown and demonstrated successful sales in this market place in the western region. Along with their success in promoting Seica's other products in their local territory and with over 25+ years in bare board and substrate market place, this new sales channel will offer Seica additional growth nationally. We look forward to increasing Seica's share of the flying-probe tester market for a number of significant reasons, noted Paul Benke, CEO of Zero Defects.
HCD adds extra capacity to handle increased business and extra services
HCD, the Letchworth-based contract electronics manufacturer, has recently completed the installation of a mezzanine floor at its Letchworth facility, increasing operational floor space by 50 per cent. The move is in response to increased sales and also to enable the company to deliver more services.
Laird Technologies Releases Enhanced Tlam SS LLD Thermally Conductive PCB Substrate
Laird Technologies announced the release of its enhanced Tlam SS LLD for use as a thermally conductive printed circuit board (PCB) substrate. The Tlam SS LLD is a versatile, thermally-enhanced PCB substrate system specifically designed for heat dissipation in bright and ultra-bright LED module applications. The thermally conductive PCB substrate provides 8-10 times the heat dissipation as compared to conventional FR4-based PCBs; a key ability in keeping components cool.
MYDATA's pick and place machine helps ZOT to do the lot
For ZOT Engineering, a leading supplier of advanced manufacturing solutions to the UK electronics industry, a new MYDATA MY100SX14 pick-and-place machine has extended the company's PCB assembly facilities to cover virtually every type of component currently available, including the latest tiny 01005 devices.
Essemtec’s Pick-and-Place System Equipped with Advanced Drive System
While developing the Paraquda, the new SMD placement machine from Essemtec, the engineers have built in the best and most accurate components that today's drive and measurement technology has to offer. The result is a machine that sets new industry standards with its speed, ease of use, reliability and application range.
Tower SMD storage Saves More Than 15mins per Job
At Schindler Elettronica SA and Microdul AG, the Tower SMD storage system saves significant machine setup time. The automatic storage not only reduces storage and transfer times, but also simplifies logistics and always can locate components. Regardless if the Tower is used in a production or a development environment, component storage is well organized.
Assembléon is place first in three major pick & place awards for 2010.
Royal Philips Electronics subsidiary Assembléon has won three major pick & place awards for 2010. Besides collecting Circuits Assembly's Service Excellence Award for the seventh year running and the tenth since 2000, Assembléon has picked up two awards for its MC-24X modular placement machine. That has won both SMT's VISION pick & place award and Circuits Assembly's New Product Introduction award, making the MC-24X the hottest pick & place introduction in 2010.
SIPLACE Operations Information Broker (OIB): Efficient software integration across the entire SMT process chain
The new version of its SIPLACE OIB, Siemens Electronics Assembly System now offers an optimized multi-vendor integration platform for electronics production. With SIPLACE OIB, applications from different vendors can exchange data with each other in order to completely and transparently map the SMT process chains in heterogeneous IT infrastructures. SIPLACE OIB can link previously isolated applications both horizontally across different machines and lines as well as vertically from the machine controller to MES and ERP systems.
SIPLACE X-Series: Maximum efficiency in LED placement
With new options and software functionalities, the SIPLACE team continues to expand its leadership in the rapidly growing market for LED placement technology. This kind of investment protection means that electronics manufacturers are able to populate current and future generations of large-area backlight units (BLUs) with LEDs in order to meet the rising demand for ever larger television sets, PC monitors and notebook screens. In combination with the powerful SIPLACE 20 segment Collect and Place heads and the vision systems of the SIPLACE X-Series, today's SIPLACE machines are already able to place many different sizes of LEDs with dimensions of up to 6 x 6 mm from tapes and other feeder modules in high densities and with exceptionally high speeds. In addition, the conveyors of SIPLACE X-Series machines will be adjustable to handle PCBs with lengths of up to 800 mm in the future.
The new SIPLACE SX: Groundbreaking capacity-on-demand business models for breathing electronics production
With its technical innovations, its gantries that can be exchanged within minutes and the SIPLACE Multistar CPP placement head with its very large component spectrum, the SIPLACE SX placement platform sets new standards in electronics production. Beyond these more technical aspects, the capacity-on-demand concept of the SX Series uses Rent-a-Gantry to open the door to groundbreaking new business models, which are becoming increasingly important for electronics manufacturers in today's business environment. With the help of these models, short-term seasonal as well as medium-term utilization volatilities can be easily absorbed to achieve a production that breathes in line with demand. This makes them an exceptionally interesting alternative to traditional purchasing or rigid leasing.
New SIPLACE import function for irregular BGAs
To help electronics manufacturers be more productive and successful, the high complexity of the various steps in the SMT process chain requires that all participants develop innovative solutions jointly and as early as possible so that workflows can be simplified and improved. This applies in particular to the placement of irregular BGA components. Until now the irregular ball distances have made them difficult and time-consuming to describe and program. For these components, Norbert Heilmann, SIPLACE technology scout, and the SIPLACE team in close cooperation with Todd Harris and the Intel Customer Manufacturing Enabling Team have developed a new solution which enables the SIPLACE Vision Teaching Station to import the Intel design data directly. This avoids transmission errors and significantly reduces the time required to process irregular BGAs. SIPLACE technology expert Norbert Heilmann is thrilled: Our close and successful cooperation with Intel makes the BGA programming process d
Ncell Systems Modernizes Manufacturing Automation with ManageLinx Remote Access Server from Lantronix
Lantronix, Inc. today announced Ncell Systems, provider of enterprise and manufacturing automation solutions for the precision metalworking industry, has deployed its ManageLinx Remote Access solution. ManageLinx provides secure access to any IP-enabled equipment, even behind firewalls. Integrated with Ncell's manufacturing software, ManageLinx enables Ncell to remotely monitor systems and analysis tools at multiple customer sites from one central location. The integrated solution reduces truckrolls, decreasing Ncell's response time and reducing customer service costs.
Altechna's AltSCA femtosecond laser micromachining system uses Aerotech nanopositioning mechanics and motion controls
Laser technology solutions specialist Altechna Co. Ltd is basing its Alt-SCA femtosecond laser micromachining system around Aerotech's ANT130 series linear motor driven nanopositioning stages in a customised 3-axis XYZ configuration that includes a granite bridge support structure and a unique pneumatically counterbalanced vertical axis. The synchronisation between the one nanometre resolution positioning system and the laser's firing pattern is precisely and crucially controlled with the advanced PSO (Position Synchronised Output) command from Aerotech's software based A3200 motion controller which is built into Altechna's SCA (System Control Application) front end software using .NET class libraries.
Aerotech's new Airlift 115 elevates vertical positioning to new levels of precision
Aerotech's new AirLift 115 is a unique submicron resolution vertical translation stage which maintains an almost perfect straight line performance over a travel range up to 150 mm at speeds to 50 mm/sec. Aimed at demanding application areas such as semiconductor testing, nanoscale metrology, optical inspection and laser micromachining, the stage features a fully preloaded vertical air bearing in combination with a servomotor driven precision ground ballscrew in a compact design that includes an innovative drive mechanism without the need for a load counterbalance system.
Assembleon Is Announcing Another Industry First At Nepcon China Shanghai
Assembléon is announcing another industry first at Nepcon China in Shanghai (Booth 1C02, April 20 to 22), with the company's A-Series pick & place machines now placing ICs at the same speed and accuracy as chip components using its new Twin Placement Robot (TPR). The TPR eliminates the need for the extra line balancers that are needed by other pick & place machine manufacturers, making the A-Series with TPR an all –in-one solution, especially for DRAM module placements. The breakthrough is the latest of Assembléon's 'Smart Solutions', which includes the MCP screen printer – the first to deliver the exact amount of solder paste needed by each component – which is also on show at Nepcon.
UV cure silicone for high temperature environments
Intertronics announced Dymax Cure-Point 9440-A/B silicone, which cures to depth in seconds upon exposure to UV/visible light to provide protection to electronic components and circuitry. It is a UV/visible light-curable silicone potting and sealing material designed for applications where fast cure, enhanced thermal performance and room-temperature shadowed-area cure are required. Cure-Point 9440-A/B has a ›90 day room temperature mix life.
AWS Electronics offers quick turn cable assembly service
AWS Group - one of the UK's leading independent Electronic Manufacturing Solutions (EMS) providers – is now offering a quick turn around service from its AWS Electronics manufacturing site in Newcastle-under-Lyme. Whereas the standard production leadtime offered is 15 working days, AWS offers a three-five day turn around for prototype or Fast Track requests.
Effective, low cost encapsulation process from WPS adds to environmental and intellectual protection services
Wilson Process Systems (WPS), the leading contract manufacturer, is seeing an increase in the use of resin encapsulation as a quick, simple and cost-effective method of protecting against shock, vibration, moisture ingress and intellectual property theft. The company has also developed a low cost production method of permanently incorporating company or product names into the finished encapsulated product without resorting to expensive moulds.
Assembléon Converts A-Series Into IC Shooter, Shows At Nepcon
Assembléon is announcing another industry first at Nepcon China in Shanghai (Booth 1C02, April 20 to 22), with the company's A-Series pick & place machines now placing ICs at the same speed and accuracy as chip components using its new Twin Placement Robot (TPR).
New UV cure system from Intertronics
For UV curing adhesives the BlueWave 200 UV curing spot lamp offers the highest intensity and the most user-friendly operation in the industry. A new, patent pending Intensity Adjustment feature also allows simple, manual intensity adjustment during initial UV process validation and production.
Chomerics présente la nouvelle version de son matériau plastique conducteur PREMIER avec des propriétés améliorées aux niveaux thermique, mécanique et blindage
Chomerics Europe, une division de Parker Hannifin, introduit une nouvelle version de son matériau de blindage en plastique conducteur PREMIER qui offre des spécifications de résistance aux carburants et de rejet thermique en charge (HDUL). Ce nouveau dérivé, qui vient compléter la gamme existante des matériaux de type polycarbonate/ABS, se compose d'une résine PEI (imide de polyéther). Il est parfaitement adapté aux applications les plus critiques, notamment dans les secteurs professionnels comme le militaire et l'aéronautique.
Chomerics offers PREMIER conductive plastic material with enhanced thermal, shielding and mechanical properties
Chomerics Europe, a division of Parker Hannifin, has introduced a new version of its PREMIER conductive plastic shielding material that offers enhanced fuel resistance and heat deflection under load (HDUL) specifications. Complementing the existing range of Polycarbonate / ABS based materials, the new derivative uses a Polyether Imide (PEI) resin and is ideal for use in the most demanding applications such as those found in military and aerospace designs.
IMAPS-UK “Beyond Solder” Technical Seminar Announced
IMAPS-UK, the UK Microelectronics Packaging Society has announced details of their one day technical seminar "Beyond Solder" being held at the National Physics Laboratory, London on the 30 June 2010, in conjunction with the Innovative electronics Manufacturing Research Centre (IeMRC).
Further investment from CIL with purchase of additional selective soldering machine
CIL continues its policy of increasing both capacity and capability by on-going investment in new equipment by purchasing a Handex selective soldering machine from Pillarhouse International. This will provide greater production throughput with the benefits of greater controls over positional accuracy and the benefit of dual solder pots.
Zhejiang Hongchen purchases more solar metallization lines from DEK
Following last year's purchase of several PV1200 photovoltaic metallization lines from DEK Solar in 2009, Zhejiang Hongchen has started the New Year extremely positively by purchasing more lines from the screen printing specialist. Selected as part of Hongchen's drive to substantially increase cell production through 2010 and beyond, the DEK lines are renowned for their ability to offer a productivity, cost and lead-time advantage.
Pick and place identifies PCB
SMD Placement machines from Essemtec can identify the PCB using a bar-code label. This feature allows the assignment of placement and component data which is unique to a product. Thus quality assurance and traceability of an in-line production can get much easier.
