-
- News
- Books
Featured Books
- smt007 Magazine
Latest Issues
Current IssueTechnical Resources
Key industry organizations–all with knowledge sharing as a part of their mission–share their technical repositories in this issue of SMT007 Magazine. Where can you find information critical to your work? Odds are, right here.
The Path Ahead
What are you paying the most attention to as we enter 2025? Find out what we learned when we asked that question. Join us as we explore five main themes in the new year.
Soldering Technologies
Soldering is the heartbeat of assembly, and new developments are taking place to match the rest of the innovation in electronics. There are tried-and-true technologies for soldering. But new challenges in packaging, materials, and sustainability may be putting this key step in flux.
- Articles
- Columns
Search Console
- Links
- Media kit
||| MENU - smt007 Magazine
Pillarhouse International's Allan Jiang Discusses Selective Soldering Developments
July 28, 2017 | Stephen Las Marias, I-Connect007Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

Pillarhouse International is a selective soldering equipment manufacturer based in Chelmsford, UK. It offers sales and service, with a supplementary manufacturing facility in Suzhou, China, and a sales and service support office in Chicago, Illinois, in the United States.
Last year, the company set up its second China office in Guangzhou, according to Sales Manager Allan Jiang. "Over the past three to four years, our business has grown really fast in this market," he says in an interview during the recent NEPCON China event in Shanghai. In line with this, the company has also increased its maintenance team in China to provide customer support.
"The market is growing, and we are getting more and more inquiries from the market. Therefore, more equipment manufacturers are entering this area. The bigger brands are still there, but you can see a lot of local brands entering the selective soldering market," says Jiang.
Jiang notes that, while there are a lot of suppliers in the market now, most of them also build wave soldering and reflow soldering systems. Only Pillarhouse is focused solely on selective soldering machines. "Therefore, we have a lot of technologies that others do not have. And we keep on innovating to develop new technologies for this market," Jiang says.
According to Jiang, one of the technology challenges right now is the requirement by customers to have 100% hole fills. This is compared to the minimum 75% hole fill based on IPC standards. "A lot of customers want 100% of the holes filled with solder. This is difficult, especially for thick boards," he says.
To address this issue, Jiang says they developed a 1.5mm nozzle—which he claims to be the smallest nozzle in the world. Not only does this help to completely fill through-holes with solder, it can also help customers solder fine-pitch areas.
As far as reliability issues, Jiang blames many failures on the process, particularly due to improper machine settings. He says the machines are stable; it’s just a matter of defining the proper parameters.
"We help customers find the correct flux, set up the preheat, the soldering speed, soldering time, and soldering height, etc. The customers should understand the machines very well so they can make the proper program," says Jiang. He adds that they always provide customer training.
When choosing a selective soldering system, Jiang says the cost, throughput and solder quality are among the key factors to consider. One of the latest developments from Pillarhouse is PILOT, an entry-level, hand-loaded, benchtop selective soldering system for small- to medium-batch manufacturers.
"A lot of customers still consider selective soldering very expensive, so we developed an entry level machine so that they will have a chance to use our products," says Jiang.
Suggested Items
SEHO to Highlight Cutting-Edge Soldering Technology at IPC APEX Expo 2025
02/17/2025 | SEHOSEHO, a worldwide leading manufacturer of complete solutions for soldering processes and automated production lines, is thrilled to present its best-selling selective soldering system SEHO SelectLine-C at the IPC APEX Expo 2025 in Anaheim.
Bridging the Gap: Workforce Collaboration in East Texas
02/13/2025 | Cory Blaylock, IPCIPC has partnered with Stephen F. Austin State University's (SFASU) Center for Applied Research and Rural Innovation (CARRI) and the IPC Education Foundation on a transformative project aimed at aligning academic training with real-world demands in electronics manufacturing.
Rehm Thermal Systems Brings Pioneering Manufacturing Technologies to productronica China 2025
02/11/2025 | Rehm Thermal SystemsRehm Thermal Systems will be presenting its further developments in areas such as convection soldering under vacuum, condensation soldering, coating and dispensing in Hall E4 of the Shanghai New International Expo Centre from 26 to 28 March.
Incap Slovakia Enhances SMT Quality with Automated Paste Inspection
02/07/2025 | IncapAt Incap Slovakia, quality and efficiency are at the core of our Surface Mount Technology (SMT) production. To further strengthen process control and minimise defects, we have implemented Automated Paste Inspection (API)—a high-precision system that ensures the accuracy and consistency of solder paste printing.
AIM Solder Acquires the Assets of Canfield Technologies
02/07/2025 | AIM SolderAIM Solder, a leading global manufacturer of solder assembly materials, is pleased to announce the acquisition of the assets of Canfield Technologies, a renowned producer of high-quality solders and fluxes since 1844.