Megger switches to Europlacer

Batch sizes at Megger’s UK factory in Dover mean its production facility must contend with up to 16 product changeovers per day on the surface mount lines. An analysis of first time yield on the company’s existing lines revealed issues that regularly impacted efficiency, prompting the company to look for a solution to resolve these issues. The flexibility to minimize downtime from changeovers was a key metric in any new investment to be made. An equation based on the total number of components placed per year across the hundreds of boards manufactured for all Megger products determined the placement rate required of any new equipment. The new machine would also need to handle 01005 parts that are increasingly prevalent in the company’s inventory of up to 5 million components per month. “At that point, Europlacer became the top candidate,” says Ronny Titeca, Manufacturing Director at Megger in a press release. “Other placement machines offered higher CPH rates but the iineo+ machines give us the flexibility we need to deal with over 1200 different component types and deliver maximum productivity across our two daily shifts.” Ultimately the choice fell on Europlacer and two new iineo+ machines were installed at Megger’s Dover facility at the beginning of February. One is the 600th iineo platform to roll off the Europlacer manufacturing line.