Investing in the X Factor
05 June 2007
SMS Electronics has invested £1million on Siemens Siplace X Series to future-proof their UK business
SMS Electronics has recently installed its seventh and eighth Siemens Siplace placement machines to support its growth and enhanced customer requirements in the present, and the future. The configuration of the Siplace X Series machines installed by SMS provides placement speed of up to 98,000 components per hour with increased flexibility and accuracy.
“The impact of adding the X Series based line alongside our existing Siplace lines is that it has significantly increased our placement capacity to over five million components per day, but capacity is not the only benefit,” comments Mike Harby, Managing Director of SMS Electronics. “The capabilities of the X Series allow us to place anything from 01005 through to 85mm square and odd shaped components up to 125mm long. The combination of its digital cameras and the ability for offline programming leading to fast New Product Introduction (NPI) gives us the capabilities and flexibility our customers need.”
An examination of the root causes that are behind this UK manufacturing expansion story is that SMS is a revealing story in terms of pros and cons of offshore manufacturing and the future for the UK assembly industry.
“Customers in our marketplace expect and value a high level of service and capability allied with fast turnaround,” continues Mike. “We are committed to offering the highest levels of manufacturing capabilities to our customers to ensure that they are able to design their products with the latest and most cost-effective component packages and take into account any upwards integration ni design. This latest investment allows us to remain at the forefront of manufacturing technology and ensures that we have the capabilities to offer our customer’s future proofed manufacturing from a UK base. Even if some of our customers do not need this capability today they will at some point in the future, and they can be sure that they will not be restricted by manufacturing capability wherever their new designs take them.
“Contrary to popular belief, UK manufacturing is growing for the kind of products our company specialises in. Our commitment to our customers old and new is to continue to provide them with what I believe is one of the highest levels of manufacturing capabilities available, not just in the UK but worldwide,” conclude Mike Harby.
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