US Digital Selects ASM Assembly Systems’ E by SIPLACE Platform

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Continuing its nearly 15-year partnership with ASM Assembly Systems (ASM), Vancouver, WA-based OEM US Digital has selected an ASM E by SIPLACE system to modernize its placement capability with a faster, feature-rich platform. The new addition to its SMT line replaces a SIPLACE CF system, which the company has utilized successfully for the last 14 years but is not equipped with the advanced technology needed for greater capacity and today’s broader component range.

“It is imperative that our optical and magnetic encoder products are produced with the highest quality for superior performance,” says Neal Donowitz, chief operating officer, US Digital. “Uniquely, we manage the majority of our processes in-house, including our own metal work, injection molding, as well as film imaging and cutting, cleanroom applications and more. This attention to detail has fueled our solid and steady growth, and we needed a faster placement system that could enable higher production rates, place odd shaped components and simplify programming and changeover. E by SIPLACE ticks all the boxes.”

Used in a wide variety of applications, US Digital’s encoder products provide precise positional feedback for dependable operation of stepper motors, robotics, medical and lab diagnostic equipment and additive manufacturing systems. While much of the industry has turned to outsourcing, US Digital leverages highly-automated processes to engineer cost-competitive products and provide customers with reliable supply through vertically integrated design and manufacture. This approach underscores why ASM’s E by SIPLACE system was selected. Equipped with SIPLACE Pro software, which offers the ability to teach components on the machine, programming is simple and more streamlined. In addition, the mid-speed platform’s Smartfeeder E Feeders make set up and changeover fast and easy with straightforward loading and machine-directed location guidance. 

“The gains in efficiency we’ve realized since the system’s installation have been notable,” says Mike Pomerinke, US Digital’s operations manager. “One of our products contains quite a variety of components and we were able to cut placement time by nearly 60% versus our previous solution – that’s a lot of added productivity! Plus, with E by SIPLACE, we actually get the production volumes we were quoted. With almost every other system we’ve purchased – for any process – the actual UPH falls way short of the promised capability. That’s not the case with E by SIPLACE. The placement head technology delivers truer component per hour (cph) performance and doesn’t de-rate as much as other systems. Honestly, the cph we were quoted by ASM master distributor Technica is what E by SIPLACE is producing. That’s a first!”

ASM’s E by SIPLACE was designed specifically to address the complexities of the mid-speed market, where high-mix, multi-product production is the norm and cost-effective advanced placement performance is required. Drawing on many of the technologically sophisticated features of ASM’s high-speed systems, E by SIPLACE delivers the speed and operational simplicity necessary for current and future market requirements in the mid-speed sector. 

“We are getting more than twice the productivity, the ability to troubleshoot any set-up or maintenance tasks ourselves with ASM’s easy-to-follow online instructions and videos, and our engineers are delighted with its ease-of-use. They appreciate how simple it is to program off-line and how quickly they can teach new components and placement position,” Donowitz says in conclusion. “E by SIPLACE was the right decision for US Digital and our goals of increased speed, quality and capacity for today’s requirements and future growth.”

About SIPLACE

ASM solutions such as SIPLACE placement systems and DEK printing systems support the networking, automation and optimization of central workflows with hardware, software and services that enable electronics manufacturers to transition to the smart SMT factory in stages and enjoy dramatic improvements in productivity, flexibility and quality.

Since maintaining close relationships with customers and partners is a central component of ASM’s strategy, the company has established the SMT Smart Network as a global forum for the active exchange of information between and with smart champions. In addition to being a founding member of the ADAMOS joint venture for the development of an IIoT platform for manufacturing companies, ASM is establishing together with other SMT manufacturers the open HERMES standard as a successor to the SMEMA standard for M2M communication in SMT lines.

For more information about ASM, click here.

ASM Pacific Technology Limited

ASMPT, founded in 1975, is the only company in the world that can offer high-quality equipment for all major steps in the electronics manufacturing process - from carrier for chip interconnection to chip assembly and packaging to SMT. No other supplier offers a comparable range and depth of process expertise.

ASMPT’s Back-end Equipment Business offers a diverse product range from bonding to molding and

trim & form to the integration of these activities into complete in-line systems for the microelectronics, semiconductor, photonics, and optoelectronics industries. Its Materials Business provides customers with a variety of leadframes such as etched and stamping as well as advanced packaging materials. ASMPT SMT Solutions develops and sells best-in-class DEK printers for the SMT, semiconductor and solar markets as well as best-in-class SIPLACE SMT placement solutions.

ASMPT is listed in the Hong Kong Stock Exchange since 1989.

For more information about ASMPT, click here.