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Nothing can be more illuminating than discovering how other companies have developed their manufacturing strategies. This section contains a number of articles about companies who have had to solve problems by investing in new equipment or developing new techniques.
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Latest Case Study
Product repair at a fraction of the cost
When faced with servicing electronic products, some manufacturer’s first reaction is to either replace the product or repair it in-house by establishing a dedicated internal repair centre. Steven Olson puts the case for a third way. ...FULL STORY
15 July 2010
Why AOI suits smaller manufacturers
Control system manufacturer Stonegate Instruments has found that their recently installed Automated Optical Inspection system gave the inspection flexibility essential to small, responsive production operations – and some added benefits besides. ...FULL STORY
30 June 2010
JTAG – what can it do for you? (06 April 2010)
Boundary scan technology has had to evolve quickly. Mario Berger takes us on a whistle-stop tour of the the past, the present and what is now emerging for the future....FULL STORY
Supplier gets ready for the future (15 March 2010)
Preh GmbH, with headquarters in Bad Neustadt a.d. Saale, Germany, develops and manufactures driver control and vehicle sensor systems as well as controllers and assembly systems for the automobile industry, and recently upgraded production with a SIPLACE SX 2/SX 1 combination....FULL STORY
Counting the costs of contamination (11 March 2010)
For over 40 years, the electronics industry has been seeking ways to determine an answer to the thorny question of ‘how clean is clean?’ Graham Naisbitt, Managing Director of Gen3 Systems investigates....FULL STORY
3D solder paste inspection (08 March 2010)
EMS provider, NBS, has announced the acquisition of four VI Technology post-print automatic Solder Paste Inspection systems for its manufacturing facility in Santa Clara, California....FULL STORY
The ‘holy grail’ for optical computing (26 February 2010)
Aerotech is providing enabling positioning technology for nanometre precision direct-write laser applications....FULL STORY
Working faster with wireless help (19 February 2010)
An industrial wireless network has revolutionised the working day for warehouse workers at the electronics manufacturer, Elko....FULL STORY
Harnessing the sun (15 February 2010)
In what has to date been the world's most modern solar module factory, Conergy in Frankfurt has merged all three production steps, from wafer to cell to module....FULL STORY
Faster prototyping with fewer frustrations (20 January 2010)
A new MY500 solder-jet printer from MyData is helping Thales to meet its requirements for rapid prototype production and achieve first–time right soldering on boards that incorporate difficult components....FULL STORY
Three options for success (08 December 2009)
A supplier of short-range radio solutions, LPRS, has been selected by SaBre-Innovation to provide wireless control links as part of a manufacturing performance system in use at a major UK aircraft manufacturer....FULL STORY
Wired for sound (02 December 2009)
Sonifex streamlines its UK manufacturing operation with help from Prism Sound’s dScope Series III audio analyser....FULL STORY
Extra performance from remote control (09 September 2009)
After becoming one of the first UK users of MYDATA’s MYRemote Performance SMT process optimisation service, EMS provider Axis Electronics is consistently achieving productivity gains of 10% and more from its MYDATA MY9 and MY12 pick-and-place machines....FULL STORY
Jaltek pushes barriers (08 September 2009)
Jaltek IDMS has made significant investments in new equipment to support continued business growth....FULL STORY
They relaxed, they did it (01 September 2009)
In the year when Frankie said ‘relax’, and hip young things were clicking their fingers to Wham!, a small operation opened on Poole Quay to develop the fledgling art of surface-mount technology....FULL STORY
Cash injection for RF technology (14 August 2009)
Around 18 months ago, Nujira was in the process of planning for Series C funding as the company transitioned from being a technology development company into a commercial organisation....FULL STORY
Saving solder dross (08 May 2009)
EMS provider Celestica teamed up with EVS International to support their ISO14001 accreditation, reduce solder consumption and cut costs at their European hub in Spain. ...FULL STORY
JTAG AAP adds value to ICT programs (17 April 2009)
JTAG Technologies’ AAP (Approved Application Provider) Blue Technology based in Reading, UK, has a long history of ATE problem-solving and customising applications to suit customer needs. When it added boundary-scan testing to its portfolio four years ago, the company sourced the technology from JTAG Technologies....FULL STORY
Indispensible knowledge on the dispensing process! (18 March 2009)
Steve Collier, European Sales Manager for the OEM Division of Techcon Systems guides us through the equipment and priocesses used for fluid dispensing....FULL STORY
Counting the changes (17 March 2009)
In today's electronics industry, the reduced geometries of high-volume components, coupled with increasing demand for faster customer turnaround times, has led to a growing need for automated packaging solutions...FULL STORY
Trends in test part 2 – Multicore: From 1 to n cores (17 March 2009)
In the second of five instalments, National Instruments looks at trends in test. This month focuses on parallel programming and multicore....FULL STORY
Protection for harsh environments (13 March 2009)
Designer and manufacturer of precision variable speed drives, Control Techniques, is improving product performance with a dedicated conformal coating line and a UV curable coating chemistry from HumiSeal; UV40....FULL STORY
RPS deploys selective soldering system at US Navy Centre of Excellence (09 March 2009)
Global supplier of selective soldering, lead tinning and solder test equipment, RPS Automation, has announced that it has deployed an advanced robotic selective soldering system at ACI Technologies; a research corporation serving the US Navy Centre of Excellence....FULL STORY
Trends in test – the software advantage (12 February 2009)
In the first of five instalments, National Instruments looks at trends in test. This month focuses on software-defined instrumentation....FULL STORY
Engineers working together to get it right first time (12 February 2009)
Whilst design engineering is ultimately about producing a design that works, production engineering is primarily about managing risk, state Kelvin Clayton and Nigel Palmer....FULL STORY
Sharp-eyed AOI (09 February 2009)
Because of the continual miniaturisation of electronic components, there are challenging requirements in the production process as well as quality assurance. Since electric test technologies are harder to utilise, Automated Optical Inspection becomes more important as a qualitative test method....FULL STORY
Intelligent data acquisition for BER Test (19 January 2009)
Harris RF Communications was looking to replace traditional box instrumentation. Stephen Kulakowski, Test Engineer at Harris, reports on how the company used National Instruments LabVIEW FPGA and R Series intelligent data acquisition to develop a more flexible system to test real-life file transfers while reducing cost per unit by 4X....FULL STORY
What makes RF test so fast with PXI? (16 January 2009)
If you’ve ever considered using a PXI RF measurement system, you may have wondered: what makes the measurements faster? Is it the data bus? Is it the CPU? Is it the instantaneous bandwidth of the RF analyser? While each of these factors can affect overall measurement time, the CPU has the biggest impact, as David Hall investigates....FULL STORY
Over in a flash – if you get it right during manufacturing (12 January 2009)
The flash Test (also known as High Voltage (HV), Dielectric Strength or HiPot) is one of the more controversial electrical safety tests and has provoked a lot of discussion and debate in recent years. Stewart Haile, Business Manager at electrical safety testing specialists Clare Instruments, looks at new developments in flash testing and why it’s important....FULL STORY
Quick change in stencil-free factory (16 December 2008)
The introduction of Mydata’s ‘jet printer’ was met with a degree of curiosity and scepticism – was it too expensive for the type of job it was intended for? But the latest generation of the MY500 can more than pay its way, as one EMS company is finding to its benefit....FULL STORY
Instrumentel role in high speed record (21 November 2008)
Engineers from University of Leeds spinout company Instrumentel Ltd have played a crucial role in the next attempt to break the land speed record. ...FULL STORY
Expansion meets the customers’ needs (10 November 2008)
Tim Fryer went to visit Nemco primarily to see its latest acquisitions – a clutch of Samsung’s placement machines – but found that the company was investing in several other areas as well....FULL STORY
Sounding out flip chip analysis (03 October 2008)
The long-term reliability of a flip chip assembly strongly depends on the condition of the solder bumps, the solder bump bonds, and the underfill material....FULL STORY
Oddform route through A to Z of control (27 August 2008)
A huge investment in an oddform line is delivering a massive difference in throughput. Tim Fryer went to visit Danfoss Randall’s factory to see the line in action....FULL STORY
Think you are out of REACH? – Think again (11 August 2008)
Colin Martin looks at how REACH is of concern to the whole electronics manufacturing supply chain. ...FULL STORY
Inspecting the way to progress (30 June 2008)
As progress is key to every company, new technology continuously needs to be appraised and reviewed. This is true for Deep Sea Electronics (DSE); designer, manufacturer, and vendor of control systems for generators. ...FULL STORY
UK’s First iineo installed (29 April 2008)
AMS Neve, a manufacturer of professional audio equipment, are the first UK company to install the all-new iineo pick-and-place machine from Europlacer, so that it can keep pace with its rapid growth plans....FULL STORY
Bead probe implementation on a large complex PCB (21 April 2008)
Prodrive, a European company based in the Netherlands, has traditionally used a test strategy that combines in-line automated inspection and functional test. However, for sometime there has been some concerns about the functional test approach, due to its inherent complexity, cost and poor maintainability. Elfried Keers reports...FULL STORY
Rewards show supplier strength (07 April 2008)
Paul Wolfe attended Plexus’ Supplier Awards to meet some of the big names supplying the electronic manufacturing services industry, before taking a look at developments at the Kelso site. ...FULL STORY
Medically fit for the purpose (26 March 2008)
PartnerTech’s Paul Gill and Eldon Lindsay talk to Tim Fryer about the company’s increasing focus on the medical and biotechnology sectors – and argue that while price is still important, proven sector experience, design & development capability, proximity to the customer, and meeting regulatory demands are the real critical success factors...FULL STORY
Siplace Future Proofs TTems UK Growth (26 March 2008)
Siemens Automation & Drives – EA announces that one of the UK’s leading EMS providers, TT electronic manufacturing services (TTems) has made a significant investment in its future with Siplace. ...FULL STORY
Using PXI for spectral monitoring in China (18 March 2008)
Huari Telecom developed a software-defined wideband radio receiver and monitoring system based on the NI PXI-5660 RF vector signal analyser. Daotian Yang of the Chengdu Huari Telecommunications Company reports...FULL STORY
Centre helping Yorkshire grow (18 March 2008)
Since establishing its headquarters in Leeds in 2004, Electronics Yorkshire’s technology centre has proven itself to be a vital element in helping electronics companies in the Yorkshire and Humber region to grow. EM&T takes a look at what the Technology Centre brings to the region...FULL STORY
Camera takes the audio test (25 February 2008)
Contract manufacturer Briton EMS has invested in a Prism Sound dScope Series III audio analyzer, which is being used for production line testing on a key new product (a wireless camera system) from Link Research....FULL STORY
Cabin lights take the heat off (03 December 2007)
The power of the LED has been harnessed by Beadlight to make a bright light that was easy on the eye – but what to do with the heat? RTVs were the answer....FULL STORY
Sensor film holds tighter product tolerances (04 October 2007)
As an innovator of film capacitor technology, SB Electronics designs and manufactures products that are on the cutting edge of today’s demanding electronics applications. To maintain continuous improvement of its manufacturing processes, David Bryan, manufacturing engineering manager for SB Electronics, recently specified Pressurex, a tactile surface pressure-indicating film from Sensor Products....FULL STORY
Designs on medical experts (18 September 2007)
Contract manufacturing came into, and fell out of, fashion in the last decade. However, many indigenous companies, and those with a sense of local identity, have flourished. Plexus, with its accent on design expertise and its Scottish roots, is such a company, as Tim Fryer discovered....FULL STORY
Gas-free glue put in a simple mix (22 August 2007)
It seems to the adhesives specialists at Intertronics that the whole point of technology in industry is to raise quality and/or reduce costs – in other words, to do a job better - often by simplifying multiple tasks or functions into one single operation....FULL STORY
Defences all at sea (06 August 2007)
Beware the terrorist in swimming shorts! A new system has been designed to counter this threat and has relied on some high-spec PCBs to achieve it....FULL STORY
Corintech increases capacity and capability (05 July 2007)
One contract manufacturer has recently expanded its capabilities with a new lead-free line...FULL STORY
Complete assembly line provided (05 June 2007)
Contax Ltd has supplied and installed a third surface mount assembly line for In-Line Electronics....FULL STORY
JTAG extends test capabilities (05 June 2007)
Bedford-based contract electronics manufacturer MRP has added boundary-scan test to its portfolio of test capabilities following its selection of JTAG Technologies and its range of well-proven application development and runtime solutions....FULL STORY
Investing in the X Factor (05 June 2007)
SMS Electronics has invested £1million on Siemens Siplace X Series to future-proof their UK business...FULL STORY
Envisioning long term benefits (29 May 2007)
When Parker SSD Drives in Littlehampton, England, embarked on a £320K investment in their SMT process with Siemens Automation & Drives – EAS, the aim was to improve the reliability of aging machines and increase productivity. What they did not envisage was the benefits this project would have on their entire manufacturing process....FULL STORY
Future success depending on innovation (29 May 2007)
Dr Hywel, Senior Researcher and Consultant at the Materials and Engineering Research Institute (MERI) at Sheffield Hallam University, looks at new Roxton Coated Nozzles from Metro Technologies...FULL STORY
Hardware test to reduce software problems (26 February 2007)
Boundary Scan technology is allowing one third-party manufacturer to verify the hardware on its complex boards, before software integration....FULL STORY
Tail wags the dog no longer (07 February 2007)
Contract Manufacturers typically focus on manufacturing - the clue is in the name. In their search for cost effectiveness and efficiency they should be more attentive to other aspects of the supply chain. That is the view of Paragon – originally a kitting company who has evolved in to something far more comprehensive....FULL STORY
Revolution in the soldering processes (07 January 2007)
EM&T looked at one application of X-ray 'nanotechnology' and went on to examine what the term actually means. ...FULL STORY
Increasing production capacity (07 November 2006)
Brantham Engineering Ltd purchased in 2006 two new 2050L chip shooters and one new 2060L high speed fine pitch assembler in order to increase their production capacity. The three machines plus other equipment make a total investment amount of œ500,000. The placement rate of the new line is in excess of 20k components per hour. ...FULL STORY
Biggest name in musical mixing (07 November 2006)
The company Allen & Heath, situated in Falmouth, has been creating, developing and manufacturing audio mixers and soundboards for 35 years. Many of the big names in today's music rely on the company's systems - and the company's systems' quality is assured by a state of the art AOI system. ...FULL STORY
Reuse and redesign (07 October 2006)
Steve Lane, Commercial Director of Triteq, explains how customer BlueFinger Ltd sought a fast and economic solution to reusing a proven embedded hardware platform, while increasing its functionality and reducing costs to meet the demands of increasingly price sensitive end user markets. ...FULL STORY
Electronics from coal (07 October 2006)
Scottish coal mines were replaced by Silicon Glen in the 70s and 80s, only for a large part of the electronics industry to migrate east during the last decade. However, the electronics industry is far from dead. Tim Fryer went to visit one company whose background has a foot firmly planted in both the coal and electronics industries. ...FULL STORY
Coat for space (07 October 2006)
Due for launch in August 2008, the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) is a mission to be launched for NASA's Living With a Star Program, aiming to help scientists understand the causes of solar variability and its impacts on Earth. Many names in science, aerospace and electronics, among them Lockheed Martin and Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, are heavily involved in this project. Chiltern Connections are also playing a key role in the project. ...FULL STORY
Boundary scan leads lead-free redesign (07 July 2006)
SMS Electronics has invested in the XJTAG boundary scan development system to speed up fault diagnosis on complex boards with multiple JTAG devices such as ball grid arrays (BGAs) and limited test points - and to assist with a flurry of RoHS-led redesign work ...FULL STORY
X-ray stars in the ancient sky (07 July 2006)
Some electronics assembly equipment can be of use to the wider world. In a deviation from our usual subject matter on EM&T, we take a look at how an x-ray machine is being used to unearth the secrets of the ancients. ...FULL STORY
Fresh air for babies (07 July 2006)
Development of a new healthcare product has been achieved with help from a contract manufacturer to provide the intelligent controls...FULL STORY
Chinese success brings benefits to UK (07 May 2006)
We are used to hearing how the runaway growth of Chinese manufacturing is hitting the UK's Contract Electronics Manufacturing (CEM) sector. It was therefore a pleasant surprise to be interviewing a company that has not only found a profitable niche in today's market but has also found a way of directly benefiting from China's success story. ...FULL STORY
Control test is ahead of the game (07 February 2006)
Microsoft has selected National Instruments' LabVIEW and PXI to test the controllers for the new Xbox 360, resulting in a 50% improvement in test time. ...FULL STORY
Siemens set-up on Singapore's doorstep (07 January 2006)
As many manufacturers move East it is not surprising that their suppliers follow. The latest is Siemens, who has added to its service capabilities with the recent launch of a anufacturing centre in Singapore. Tim Fryer was invited to go and see the new centre and visit a couple of very different customers. ...FULL STORY
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