MONTAUBAN, FRANCE - April, 2006
Headquartered in Montauban , France , Novatec is a research laboratory that develops new technologies for the electronics assembly industry. In the electronics assembly industry where sophistication and complexity reign, Novatec strives for simplicity. The company's technologies are robust, efficient and accessible worldwide.
Known as an electronics assembly process specialist, Novatec's technologies are developed based on the company's knowledge of the electronics industry and its capability to perceive the future needs of electronics manufacturers, whatever their specialty. A significant advantage of Novatec is that it does not propose incremental improvements but real breakthroughs, which have significant potential across a range of processes and applications.
One such breakthrough comes in the development of the VacuNest ¾ an advanced shape memory tool for board support that has industrialized the electronics industry on a worldwide basis.
Board support is critical within any printer, dispenser and pick-and-place machine in order to run a repeatable process. A custom dedicated machined tooling plate is the ideal solution but it must be planned well in advance because the plate must be designed and then manufactured, and even then it is expensive and only a custom fit for that version of the board. Magnetic tooling pin posts and auto pin tooling do offer a flexible solution, but are limited to their pitch and the area they can support. Additionally, these can cause stress and damage to components when the pins exert pressure on a device leg or body.
VacuNest meets these needs. The shape memory tool combines the benefits of a custom tooling plate with the versatility of pins. An antistatic membrane covers a foam former surrounded by polymer granules. VacuNest is simple and straightforward to use, allowing any operator success: simply place a golden board onto the modules, press down, pull a vacuum and the memory of the board shape profile is held. The chambers are profiled to the shape of the underside of the board ¾ on activation of the vacuum this shape is now held. Simple, secure and a custom board support is created within seconds. The shape will be held for weeks/days/months until the vacuum is released, whereupon the modules return to their original form, awaiting a new set up for the next version of board.
VacuNest offers users numerous advantages, including no risk damage to a component due to the pin/printing pressure, the support forces are evenly spread over the entire board, the tooling provides firm and precise support, ease of use, no dedicated tooling and short payback period, and the shape tool can be simply reset when a board version changes.
Additionally, this flexible tooling features many cost benefits. It eliminates the cost of a custom tooling plate as well as pin tooling by providing a single, user-friendly solution. VacuNest has the capability to handle high-density boards with ease and requires little to no lead-time.
With flexible pin arrangement tools, the support force is applied locally (components can be damaged under the joint action of the pins and the squeegee/transfer head). VacuNest solves this problem by applying firm force consistently to the entire board. Also, unlike pin arrangement tools, VacuNest guarantees board flatness and is not sensitive to solder paste contamination.
VacuNest offers extreme ease of use, and can be implemented in three simple steps:
· Position required number of modules to suit board width .
· Set up tooling plate. With board at print position, place tooling plate on conveyor rails, press down and switch on vacuum ¾ modules hold board profile.
· Run. Production provided vacuum is held (auto regulated) and the shape will hold indefinitely.
Many customers throughout Europe have implemented VacuNest in their facilities, and each has reported significant time and cost savings as a result. Three of them give their impressions below.
The first customer is CRDE, a French subcontracting company in state-of-the-art electronics. CRDE works for the air industry, bus transmissions, radio and powerline communications (PLC). CRDE offers numerous services including research, industrialization, component purchase, board assembly, test and control, integration of end product, as well as logistics and customer service. Providing ready-made high technology services, CRDE must be fast and flexible. The company turned to Novatec to help them meet these challenges.
CRDE has been using two VacuNest systems on its printer for more than a year. CRDE's technical manager is pleased with the time savings achieved during each production change (at least one change per shift). Several other flexible systems were tested, but only VacuNest offers a wide support area and, in that respect, generates no risk of damaging the components. Having recently celebrated the one-year installation of the VacuNest systems, CRDE is finding the tool to be both reliable and flexible, while resulting in significant time and cost savings.
The second customer, Sigmatek GmbH & Co KG, was founded in 1988 and is known as one of the leading suppliers of programmable logic controllers and visualization devices for industrial automation and machine construction. An Austrian enterprise that takes part in the global market, Sigmatek provides research and development (R&D), production, sales, and service centrally from one location. While the company's headquarters are based in Austria , it has offices throughout Europe and the United States .
The Austrian facility called upon Novatec and the VacuNest for help. The facility was running two Philips pick-and-place systems and needed a flexible resource that would result in both time savings and high support quality. The VacuNest was implemented on both systems. Sigmatek's manufacturing manager reported that both targets have been met and exceeded by the VacuNest.
The European headquarters of Dolby Laboratories Inc., the third customer, is based in Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire, U.K. Dolby Laboratories develops and delivers products and technologies that make the entertainment experience more realistic and immersive. For over four decades, Dolby has been at the forefront of defining high-quality audio and surround sound in cinema, broadcast, home audio systems, cars, DVDs, headphones, games, televisions and personal computers.
The facility in Wootton Bassett has its own SMT production manufacturing line producing Dolby's professional products. Having tried other flexible support tooling systems for their SMT paste printer, Dolby heard of Novatec's product and asked for a trial. After installing VacuNest, Gordon Lawless, the Senior Manufacturing Process Engineer at Dolby, was impressed by the support quality and the speed at which the operators adopted the tooling. "VacuNest has dramatically reduced setup at each production change, alleviating bottlenecks and increasing a ccuracy, " he said.
Novatec developments cover a broad spectrum of the electronics industry. Patented applications areas include paste products printing, liquid products printing, selective printing, PCB reworking, BGA and CSP balling, solder paste reflowing, and electronics assembly processes.
Novatec can be contacted at 350 Avenue d'Italie, ZA albasud, F-82 000 Montauban , France ; +33 (0)5 63 23 04 00; Fax: +33 (0)5 63 23 04 01; E-mail: novatec@novatec-eap.com, Web site: www.novatec-eap.com.
CRDE may be contacted at BP 9 - Z.I. des Grands Camps, 46090 Mercuès, France; +33(0)5 65 30 38 10; Fax : +33(0)5 65 20 09 17; Web site: www.crde.fr.
Sigmatek GmbH & Co KG's corporate headquarters may be contacted at Bürmooser Straße 10, A-5112 Lamprechtshausen; +43/6274/4321-0; Fax: +43/6274/4321-18; E-mail: office@sigmatek.at, Web site: www.sigmatek.at.
Dolby Laboratories Inc.'s European headquarters may be contacted at Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire SN4 8QJ England; (44) 1793-842100; Fax: (44) 1793-842101; Web site: www.dolby.com.
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