Product category:
PCB Assembly Equipment and Tools
News Release from: DEK | Subject: Machine performance upgrades
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial
Team on 13 January 2003
When less is more
Capital-equipment vendors can do their part in ensuring the long-term growth of manufacturing industry, says Richard Heimsch, VP and President of DEK International.
History tells us that selling capital equipment has long been a case of adding more and more features as suppliers compete on technology and the ability to deliver more functionality to customers This "more is better" philosophy has driven the marketing and sales of almost all equipment
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 8 Nov 2004 at 8.00am (UK)
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Certainly the addition of new features, more manufacturing flexibility, and improvements in performance continues to be important.
Changes in the technologies our customers use (the incredible continuing drive toward smaller geometries, for example) and changes in manufacturing demand new capabilities from our equipment, whether it is faster throughput or more accuracy at improved tolerances.
Furthermore, the leaders among equipment vendors will continue to make improvements in functionality simply because new technologies or designs make it possible to do so.
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If the equipment can be improved to offer more and better performance, then it makes sense to incorporate those improvements.
As we do so, naturally we want to tell the world that our newest models now do more, better etc.
Yet, this "more is better" approach can create a situation where vendors offer a range of products which, although they are members of the same family, are completely separate in terms of how customers can navigate upwards (or downwards) to cost effectively achieve the functionality they need at a given point in time.
The implication of this approach is that customers may have to make repeated investments in new machines to upgrade their manufacturing capability.
But there is an alternative.
Essentially the difference is between a vendor offering a range of products with the same label and a company implementing a specific product philosophy that customers can use to evolve their manufacturing capability.
For example, consider a manufacturer who is looking to buy no-frills preplacement technology, but who realises that the near future the company will be looking at manufacturing challenges that require the advanced features of more capable machines.
The optimum solution is to partner with a vendor that offers an attractive price/feature mix for the basic machine - but then offers a technology and process migration path through the availability of cost-effective upgrades until the time is right to invest in the next machine model.
DEK has evolved a coherent product philosophy that links the different models we offer.
A customer who invests in the base-line model can take advantage of numerous machine performance upgrades to extend the performance and ROI of the equipment.
Features such as ProFlow direct imaging technology permit equipment to play a broader, more flexible role in manufacturing can be added to machines initially equipped with more basic technologies.
Stencil cleaning is another area where advancements such as Vortex Plus can be added to extend the performance envelope of the equipment increasing line yield and throughput by reducing stencil contamination.
Tooling has also benefited from significant advancements, for example take the situation where a manufacturer has to deal with singulated rather than panelised substrates, virtual panel tooling enables a machine to mass-image multiple substrates in the same cycle where previously only one substrate was processed, delivering productivity gains and cost savings.
This ability to combine enabling technologies delivers new manufacturing solutions - even capable of replacing existing technologies such as dispensing.
So, in the future capital equipment suppliers in the electronics manufacturing industry must offer customers machines with a variety of performance levels and features, all of the same high quality and with the ability to mix and match upgrades to maximise ROI and usability.
This will allow customers to get as much performance as they need, yet not make financial or quality sacrifices.
It is important for customers to know this, for if they are going to survive and thrive in manufacturing, while they may need to settle for equipment with fewer features, they cannot afford to settle for less when it comes to developing their manufacturing resources.
So we remind customers that, as equipment technology has advanced, as we have improved our top of the line equipment, the baseline machines have benefited from the developments too.
The other side of the procurement equation, finance, has also seen substantial re-engineering.
The days of "PO net 30 days" are receding rapidly.
Capital equipment companies need to be as innovative in their financial modelling as they are with their technology.
Solutions such as "capacity purchasing", which supports a manufacturing process from pilot to full scale production, is an attractive option alongside the more traditional lease and rental alternatives to direct capital investment.
The cost/performance issue will always be a challenge for electronics manufacturers and their supplier partners.
However, as we emerge from the current rugged economic climate we feel that the manufacturing model that emerges will reward those companies that have adhered to a flexible product marketing strategy.
When we ensure they can get quality equipment to meet their needs at various price points, and have future flexibility through technology upgrades, we serve them well.
They keep manufacturing costs down, yet without sacrificing the quality or performance of the manufacturing equipment they buy.
Simply by making these alternatives clear to our customers, capital-equipment vendors can do their part in ensuring the long-term growth of the manufacturing industry.
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