Repairing with purpose: Kurtz Ersa making assembly repair mainstream
At Evertiq Expo Berlin 2025, Jörg Nolte, Product Manager at Kurtz Ersa, delivered a clear message: sustainable assembly repair is no longer a niche topic — it’s becoming mainstream.
Following Nolte's presentation on “Sustainable assembly repair – technology and trends” during the Expo, Evertiq wanted to discuss the topic further to understand the drivers and challenges shaping this shift toward repairability.
Nolte explained that Kurtz Ersa has been working on assembly repair for 25 years, and demand is growing across the electronics industry.
The driver is simple: with some 60 million tons of electronic waste generated annually, manufacturers and EMS providers alike are looking to keep products operational, repairable, and reusable.
“Everybody who is involved in electronics production starts to think about the processes to keep their products in operation, to make them repairable, to make them reusable. So this is a widespread trend and we see this all over the entire industry, no matter where you look."
The technical challenge is evolving in two directions. On one side, large components – especially in AI applications – pose a significant rework challenge.
“What we see in the section of artificial intelligence, we see more components coming up, larger components coming up, especially on the BGA side. We are talking about component sizes like 100 by 100 millimetres in size. These large BGA components are really challenging for a rework process,” Nolte said.
On the other side, miniaturisation continues, and ultra-small SMDs are almost impossible to manage manually.
“What we will see is that a more automated process will come in the next years because the handling of these components is almost impossible. So we have to work on more automated processes, more precise processes to get all types of components in the same manner, treated in the same way to have a good result in the end.”
Ersa’s approach combines gentle thermal desoldering and soldering, contactless residual solder removal, and careful preparation with flux or fresh solder. Reworking electronic assemblies helps preserve the value already created – and reduces resource consumption by minimising electronic waste
Make sure not to miss the next edition of Evertiq Expo – which is scheduled on October 23, 2025, in Warsaw.
