Manz: A Total Process Solution

Estimated reading time: 9 minutes

Liu: For me, it would be technology because I started in PCBs as an engineer. I have seen a big change in engineering capabilities. For example, during my engineering time we were dealing with 6 mils, which is 150 microns. At that time it was considered fine line and it was very difficult to create. But now we are talking about 15 microns, so that’s one-tenth. This is really surprising me and it's really fun.

Matties: Are you surprised at how large the PCB manufacturing sector has become in China? In 1989 there weren't that many fabricators in China, and now there are more than 2,000.

Liu: Yes, I am surprised. If you're talking about the market size, I think China would definitely be number one. If you're talking production, China is also number one. If you're talking about China and Taiwan together, I think that probably more than two-thirds of the PCBs in the world are manufactured and/or assembled in these two countries. So I think these two countries still lead this market. Technology-wise, I think Taiwan is a bit more advanced than China. I personally believe that these two places will be the future for PCBs. In Japan and Korea the production cost is getting higher.

Matties: We're seeing a lot of automation in China. Are your machines fully automated?

Liu: Yes, and we have a new concept that we call CIM—computer integrated manufacturing. We're starting with Korean customers because they want to produce the same standard PCB in all their worldwide factories, so want a standard procedure and process for all machines. They actually download a process/procedure from their headquarters in Busan to all connected equipment and then adjust the parameters and settings. They produce the boards and send feedback quality information to the central computers, which can give another instruction if something needs to be adjusted.

The reason why we're doing this is because in China we see the labor cost increasing, and the turnover rate of employees is high. That means if you rely on intensive-training of employees for some process, it will be a big problem because people are changing jobs so frequently. So in the future we have to stabilize production recipes. I still believe that this kind of high-end automation will be the future. Not only island solutions, but we have loading, unloading, and buffering systems. It should be all the data exchange; full in-line connection will be the future.

Matties: How do you see the Chinese market over the next year? Does it look as strong as in the past, or do you think it's going to be stronger?

Liu: I think for PCBs, it will remain very stable. I think it might see a 3–5% growth.

Matties: That's not very much for China, is it?

Liu: They need to get used to that. Not everything can grow double digits for the long-term. This year, though, they will modify the growth of the GDP to less than two digits. The industry is the same, but I believe that the product structure will be changing because some low-end products are not produced in China anymore, so they need to upgrade themselves. This will give opportunities for high-end equipment suppliers.

Matties: How did you design all your equipment? Do you have a team of engineers in your facility that design the equipment? Tell me about that process.

Liu: The PCB business in Manz Group is 100% located in China. That means we're taking orders and we're developing everything here. We have an R&D department, and we have about 70 people. We have three sections: mechanical, electrical, and programming. They are in charge of developing the new equipment for future demand. Also, they need to do the testing, we have another ten people in the lab. The lab facility checks the results: testing, microsections, photographs, etc., there's a whole process.

Matties: In terms of your service department, how many people do you have for customer service out in the field?

Liu: About 45 people and I believe that two-thirds of them are spread out in China.

Matties: One of the things I'm seeing in the LDI race is print time. It's getting faster and faster. What is the cycle time for your print process?

Liu: We can do 180 panels per hour, both sides. That means 360 sides are exposed every hour—probably the fastest in the world. And these are large panels, about 675 mm [26 inches].

Matties: Well, Alex, thank you so much for your time and your insights.

Liu: You're welcome. Thank you so much. 

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