Molex expands copper flex production

Molex relocated to the new facility from the former Century Circuits operation Molex acquired in 2006. The new, expanded facility offers improved manufacturing process flow and provides more than double the production capacity for Copper Flex Products. The company has also made significant investments in new equipment to ensure that the facility is both more efficient and capable of producing expanded product technologies for the future. The new facility features improved temperature and humidity controls that provide the capability to produce multi-layer flex products with more than 20 layers, which is more than a 10 percent increase in circuit density. Molex can now also prototype and manufacture rigid flex assemblies entirely under one roof. "Molex continues to invest in its operational facilities to provide the most efficient manufacturing processes and best possible products to our customers," said Todd Hester, general manager, printed circuit products group, Molex Incorporated. “Our new Copper Flex facility will not only increase our product output, but provide a better work environment for employees to manufacture the industry's leading product solutions." The location also employs new lean manufacturing processes that support progressive manufacturing techniques that will improve plant efficiency and overall product quality. The implementation of Class 10,000 clean room capabilities will also allow for future product directions for fine line flex products. Designed to be significantly lighter and thinner than traditional circuit boards, Copper Flex allows products to naturally be lighter without minimizing the product's high-speed integrity. The flexible design can be bent around hardware and even over itself in order to fit into much smaller device enclosures. Materials used in the construction of the circuit assemblies have closely matching thermal expansion rates that allow Copper Flex to be resistant to hot and cold temperatures, as well as large temperature fluctuations. This property is essential for situations where high speed, low loss and real estate are important to maintain a system's operational integrity. "Molex Copper Flex products meet the challenging needs of today's technology driven world and are able to replace a variety of electronic interconnects, simplifying the production process and making it more dependable," said Gary Manchester, marketing director, Molex Incorporated. “Molex has invested in its capabilities to ensure we produce Copper Flex materials that are superior, quality products." Available in single-sided, double-sided, multi-layer and rigid flex configurations, Molex Copper Flex materials can provide a high yield of circuits using the latest instruments, which can precisely design products to fit specifications. In addition, new facility machinery allows for the transportation of ultrathin materials used in the manufacturing of advanced multilayer and rigid-flex designs, ensuring that products will assure the integrity required in the most advanced designs.