© Assembléon
Electronics Production |
Thirty years' experience
In the early eighties, a project team at Philips was asked to design an advanced SMD placement machine. This machine, called MCM, was in 1982 the first in a line of modular solutions that eventually placed up to half a million components per hour. Guess what; it was so successful that a new business was born and with it, a new company: Assembléon.
Innovation partnerships with key industry players have enabled the Veldhoven-based equipment manufacturer to develop a complete range of integrated solutions, designed and built around Assembléon’s own single-pick/single-place placement technology. In 1987 a separate Compact Surface Mounter (CSM) department was set up to concentrate on product development together with Yamaha. Resulting in the industry’s longest partnership between two electronics assembly suppliers.
“In 1997 the FCM was launched as the world’s fastest machine at 96'000 cph real output. It used nozzles in the placement heads instead of pipettes."The FCM range– introduced in 1993 – met the needs of the global electronics boom driven by PCs and mobile phones, which were produced by non-Japanese companies and therefore more open to Assembléon. What followed was – in quite predictable intervals (it seems with hindsight) – an arsenal of electronics manufacturing solutions: - In 1995 the ACM was introduced as the odd form component placer completing a full Assembléon branded assembly line. - In 1997 the TriScan was launched, next to the fast FCM-II and the FCM Multiflex. TriScan was a station positioned between the solder paste screen printer and Pick & Place machine to check solder height. - In 2002, the ACM was followed up by the AQ-1 placer. - In 2003 the AX-5 and AX-3 were launched as modular systems for True Capacity on Demand, with scalable line output while maintaining the highest accuracy. - In 2006 followed by the AX-201 as successor of the AQ solutions. This was also the moment that the AX-501 and AX-301 were introduced to complete the range for medium and large batch production in high product mix environments. - In the mean time, the partnership with Yamaha resulted in the launch of the X-Series, consisting of the successful Opal, Topaz and Emerald machines (2004). - In 2005 the M-Series (MG-1, MG-2 and MG-8) was launched as a range optimized for manufacturing flexibility in medium and large batch, high product mix environments. - In 2006/2007 Installed Base Solutions and Assembléon Manufacturing Suite (AMS) were introduced. From 2007 to 2011, the M-Series was expanded by the MC-portfolio, ranging from products like the MC-1, MC-5, MC-8, MC-12 and MC-24. - In 2009,Assembléon’s software portfolio was expanded with the partnership with Mentor Graphics’ Valor division for NPI and MES suites. - Recently, in 2011 the MC-5X was added to the gamma for high mix PCB assembly. The Twin Placement Robot (TPR) is the latest product innovation for Assembléon’s A-Series, making it possible to place chips and IC’s on one machine. An that at the highest accuracy in the market: 10 micron, tells us Assembléon. It will also be the last in-house development under the flag of Royal Philips Electronics. April 2011, Assembléon was taken over by investment company H2 Equity Partners. But – we are assured – the fire work of innovation for the electronics manufacturing industry will continue. And as management and R&D staff have already told us – Productronica is just a mere month away. Image gallery
----- Note: All images © Assembléon
