Nov 27, 2011 
ICCO EMT is reporting good first experience with Assembléon’s new iFlex pick & place solution. ICCO EMT represents some of the most important electronic equipment suppliers in Romania, Bulgaria and Ukraine. Its Demo Center has an NPI (New Product Introduction) and Ramp-up service. ICCO’s Marius Stepanescu explains how his company likes its new iFlex.
ICCO EMT’s production is diverse and includes automotive, industrial, medical and mobile electronics. With mainly NPIs and low volume production, they have orders from five to 1000 boards/month. They also use many types of components. For example, they need to work with 0201 chips, but also with BGAs, μBGAs, QFCs and large connectors. And they occasionally need to produce small batches of cutting-edge devices like Package-on-Package. So they need machines able to cope with this. “We have long used A-series machines,” Stepanescu responded “and are very happy with them. So we were eager to see the new iFlex. After working with it, we are enthusiastic.”
“We particularly like the accuracy of the machines and their scalability – you can configure the production line based on your real needs and hence stagger your investment. We also found the machines easy to use. The software is pretty intuitive and graphics based, so it’s easy for operators to learn and use in production. Another strong point is the ability to prepare the changeover of new products offline. The time spent with NPIs on the production lines is always an issue when organizing production, because the line isn’t producing during this period and you are losing money.“
“The inside of iFlex machines is also easily accessible - a great advantage for both operation and especially maintenance. And, because the machine requires very limited maintenance, that too is leaving us more time for production. The flexibility of iFlex and its offline capabilities make iFlex a perfect fit for our type of high-mix production up to medium volumes. And in our view, the high speed and scalability of the machine would also make iFlex suitable right through to low-mix/high-volume.“
Assembléon is a world leader in surface-mount pick & place solutions for the electronics industry, designing and manufacturing equipment for the global market. Based in Veldhoven, The Netherlands, Assembléon has an extensive global sales and support network. The company was founded by Royal Philips Electronics.
