MYNews 2015 01

MYNews 2015.01 BNLX-UK – page 1

MYNewsAn SMT magazine from Mycronic

2015.01 BNLX-UK

FEEDBACKthe key to improving performance

Be careful what you ask for!In 80% of companies, SMT machines are idle for 75% of the time

MYNews 2015.01 BNLX-UK – page 3

High-mix thinkingFor a higher volume world

JEt printing lEts You ADD solDEr pAstE 10 tiMEs FAstEr. Stop waiting for painfully slow solder-paste dispensers. With modern “touch-free” jet printing technology, you can move 10 times faster on complex add-on work – with absolutely no risk of human error. Whether you’re mounting PCBs for the space industry, doing pin-and-paste for new mobile broadband appli-cations, or producing highly populated boards, you can always be sure of getting perfect solder joints. How? The secret lies in a combination of advanced robotics and software that enables you to add paste where you need it, with precise volume control. You can also achieve faster, more accurate low-temp paste application, avoiding the need to expose costly components to a second reflow. So why not put our high-mix thinking to work in your higher volume environment?

Mycronic, MYDATA, MYDATA automation and MY; MY100, MY100DX, MY100SX, MY100LX, MY100e, MY100HXe, MY100DXe, MY100SXe, MY100LXe, MY200, MY200HX, MY200DX, MY200SX, MY200LX, MY500, MY600 and MYSynergy; T3, T4, T5 and T6; HYDRA Speedmount, Midas, ISIC; Agilis, Agilis Linear Magazine (ALM), Agilis Linear Magazine Flex (ALM FLEX), Agilis Stick Magazine (ASM), Mycronic Tray Exchanger (TEX), Mycronic Tape Magazine (TM), Mycronic Tray Wagon Magazine (TWM); Mycronic Dip unit (DPU); Mycronic Standard vision System (SVS), Mycronic Dual Vision System (DVS), Mycronic Linescan Vision System (LVS), Mycronic HYDRA Vision System (HVS); Mycronic Assembly Process Management (APM) including; JPSys, TPSys, MYLabel, MYPlan, MYCenter, MYTrace, MYCam, FlowLine and Cad Conversion are registered trademarks or trademarks of Mycronic AB. Mycronic is ISO 9001:2008 certified.

MYCRONIC BNLX: Building Mµ, P.O. Box 8026, 5601 KA Eindhoven - The Netherlands VIsIt: High Tech Campus 10, 5656 AE Eindhoven - The Netherlands teL: +31 40 262 06 67, FAX: +31 40 262 06 68

MYCRONIC UK: Unit 2, Concept Park, Innovation Close, Poole Dorset, BH12 4QT - England teL: +44 1 202 723 585, FAX: +44 1 202 723 269

www.mycronic.com, Publisher: Paul Rooimans, Editor: Keith Wilson. This newsletter is produced three times a year with the intention of providing information about Mycronic, our services and our products. Responsible under Dutch Law - Paul Rooimans

4 Be careful what you ask for!8 A passion for making a difference12 Product news14 Feedback – the key to improving performance20 Services that unlock profit24 Industry barometer for electronics manufacturing28 Doing what the others cannot32 MYCare Training33 Service upgrade34 MYKnowledge

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Contents 2015.01

page 4 – MYNews 2015.01 BNLX-UK MYNews 2015.01 BNLX-UK – page 5

Be careful what you ask for!paul rooimans explains why, after a superb year for sales in the uK, Mycronic has decided to stop selling machines.

uK sAlEs For MYCroniC During 2014 wErE

nothing short oF phEnoMEnAl – wE BroKE

EvErY rECorD sinCE thE CoMpAnY wAs sEt

up! This was a particularly welcome result after the rather weak year for UK sales we had in 2013 and flat sales during 2014 in the Benelux countries.

The UK upturn wasn’t entirely unexpected as the CEM market in the country is strong and is benefiting from the continuing trend toward onshoring. But I don’t think those are the only reasons for our success. In fact, I think the most important reason is that in 2014, we decided to stop selling machines. Yes, you read that right – we’ve stopped selling machines!

Before our competitors crack open the champagne, however, let me explain. We are no longer looking to supply machines alone; instead we’re looking to supply complete solutions that include machines and services. Of course, if you want to buy just a machine, we’ll sell it to you, but that’s not the type of business we’re actively seeking.

This may seem like a bold step, and it is, so let me tell you why we’ve taken it. We did a lot of research before we made our decision and what this uncovered may – and certainly should – stagger you. In 80% of the companies we surveyed, the SMT machines were standing idle for 75% of their potential running time. There were many reasons for this huge amount of downtime including, of course, stoppages for product changeovers.

This revelation provokes an interesting question. When a customer says that they need a new machine capable of placing, say, 40,000 cph in a high-mix environment, is that really what they want? Isn’t it much more likely that their real requirement is for a more efficient SMT line that will allow them not only to reach their production targets but also to make more profit?

Part of the reason that CEMs often ask the wrong questions when choosing new equipment is that many of our competitors

promote their machines on the basis of throughput (raw capacity) alone. After all, this is a simple sales approach, especially for sales people who don’t really understand our industry. “Our machine can do 40,000 cph, whereas theirs only does 20,000 cph, so ours must be the one you need.” It’s an easy claim to make, but it’s absolutely meaningless.

The truth is that if you’re a CEM, it’s not the raw capacity of your SMT line that makes you money, it’s the net output after you’ve figured in all of the machine downtime. That’s something very different and it’s something you can’t work out by thinking about raw capacity alone. To paraphrase our latest advertising, the top speed of a high-performance car is completely irrelevant when it’s stuck in a traffic jam.

In a nutshell, that’s why we’ve stopped selling machines and decided to concentrate on supplying comprehensive solutions that are designed to eliminate production “traffic jams”. Every element of our solutions has been developed to boost your productivity and profitability – in short, to send money straight to your bottom line. Surely that’s what every business really wants. The fastest placement machine on earth may be great to brag about, but you can’t bank a boast!

So what do our solutions offer? Great machines, of course, that are renowned for their fast changeovers, which is a key point in today’s high-mix world. But that’s by no means all. Our solutions also include access to our business expertise and our support services.

Raw capacity doesn’t make you money

We’ve stopped selling machines!You can’t bank a boast!

page 6 – MYNews 2015.01 BNLX-UK

We’ll apply our expertise first of all to analyse exactly what your business really needs, and then we’ll tailor our services to suit. We’ll look beyond the machine, at your planning and engineering operations and at every other relevant area of your business. We’ll support you in the integration of our machines with your CIM system, if you have one and, if you don’t, we will, if you wish, help you to implement one.

Once your machine is up and running, we’ll make sure you get the most from it with our training services, our 24/365 on-line

knowledge base, our remote monitoring and diagnostic services, and regular on-site audits to help you further optimise performance and profitability. In short, we’ll do everything within our power to help you operate efficiently and make more money. I hope you’ll agree that this is a rather better

business option than buying just a machine, however impressive its data sheet might at first appear.

So what has all this got to do with our excellent 2014 sales performance in the UK? Simply this: the majority of the orders we received in the UK during 2014 were repeat orders from existing customers. Why is that? Because experience has shown these customers that our total solution approach really does boost the profitability of their SMT operations. And because the versatility and reliability of our solutions has allowed them to grow their businesses to the point where they need more capacity to serve their expanding customer base.

There you have it. Our UK customers have discovered the secrets of successful high-mix, high to medium volume operation. So, when you next think of investing in SMT equipment, maybe you should pause for a while and ponder. Do you really want raw capacity or, like our successful UK customers, is it really net output and more profit that you’re seeking?

In 80% of companies, SMT machines are idle for 75% of the time

FACTS & FIGURES ABOUT OUR TERRITORYTotal installed base: 485 Pick and place machines, 74 Jetprinters and 71 SMD Towers, 22 AEGIS MES systems. 278 Mycronic clients.

RECENT NEW ORDERS

ARA MY200 LXE14 + MY500Axtron MY200 LX14Benchmark MY600CIL Ltd MY200SX14 + MY500Delta-Malta MY200LXe14 + MY600Dethon MY200DX14Gemini MY600 + MY200LX14 + MY200SX14M & M Qualtech Ltd MY200LX14MBDA MY200LX14 + 3 TowersMini Cam SMD Tower 200MoFlash MY9Newtech Cy NV MY600

Rommtech MY200SX14Protonic MY200DX14Tridonic 2 x SMD Towers 2000Trojen MY9West Control Solutions MY9eZED Tunnel MY9UK Company 2 x MY600 4 x MY200SX14 5 x SMD Towers Other accounts 6 x Jetprinters 5 x Pick & place machines 1 x SMD Tower

What does the top speed

of a high performance car

matter, when it’s standing still?

Raw line speed will take you nowhereLet us help you to get on trackTake a 360 degree approach


A passion for making a difference

how is your previous experience helping you in your current role?

You learn an awful lot in large companies. You get exposed to many different things. I have a career that spans pretty much everything; production, purchasing, direct consumption, development processes, marketing and sales, quality, finance. So I have a good understanding of all areas of the business.

I have also worked my whole career in companies with a heavy R&D focus. So I’ve learnt what sort of synergies you can extract from an R&D organization. And that’s exactly what we are doing at Mycronic. We are making sure we optimize our product development as much as possible using the resources we have.

Mycronic AB’s president and CEo lena olving is something of a high flyer within swedish industry. lena’s Cv includes two of the country’s most successful export companies and several years working in southeast Asia and China. After 25 years at volvo Cars, lena went on to become deputy CEo and Chief operating officer at saab AB, sweden’s largest defense and security company. twice in recent years, lena has received the distinction of being named sweden’s most influential businesswoman. For the last 18 months, lena has been charged with leveraging the com-bined strengths of Mycronic’s sMt and pattern generation business areas. here, lena answers some topical questions, providing some insight into the changes taking place at the company and how Mycronic plans to remain at the forefront of the electronics industry.

But aren’t sMt and pattern generation technologies very different?

Yes, and some elements within R&D are very specialized, of course. But a large proportion of R&D work can be used across the whole spectrum of development projects. R&D engineers are smart. They have the ability to learn how they can work with different products.

And strong R&D synergy was actually one of the key factors behind MYDATA joining Micronic in 2009.

In addition to radiating personal energy and

enthusiasm, Lena is also a champion of diversity and

gender equality – or rather, as Lena puts it, “simply making

the best use of the whole of the intellectual capital available.”


why have you brought everything under the new ‘Mycronic’ name?

The two business areas target different customer segments. But, otherwise, every-thing within the company is integrated: production, purchasing, R&D, finance, HR. So, it makes sense that we all work under the same name.

At the same time, what we are doing is not really changing the name, but rather to building a brand. We are looking to create an even stronger brand identity.

It’s not so much about describing products, or our position in the electronics industry supply chain. It’s more about creating brand values and expectations around our capabilities, our expertise, how we are as a company, and what we want to achieve.

how does the new company tag line “when passion meets innovation” fit in with this?

This is how we describe the huge number of encounters that take place between people – both internally and externally. Whenever we get together, we should be passionate about the task at hand and take advantage of the innovative forces available in order to contribute to our customers’ and our own success.

But the innovative power is not ours alone. It can also be the innovative power of our customers. So, it is not necessarily our passion that meets our innovation. It could be our passion that meets the customer’s innovation. Or, it could be our passion for innovation that meets the customer’s needs.

what do you see as the key challenges facing the industry?

It is quite obvious that miniaturization is going to remain with us. So, there is the challenge of how you can develop and pro-duce even smaller electronic components that can handle even more things, and sit in even smaller final products.

There is also the question of the continued impact of newer technologies and applica-tions as they are taken to the next level of development. Things like the Internet of things, mobile devices, and LED technology.

I think looking at the numbers is also interesting. What we know today is that the number of electronics components produced each year is estimated to increase from seven trillion up to ten trillion over a five-year period. At the same time, the electronics industry itself has a value growth of maybe three to four percent per year. What becomes obvious is that the cost per

➞ “We have the most flexible solution on the market. And this is at a time when the need for greater flexibility is increasing in all segments.”

component has to come down – which means production efficiency has got to go up.

That is a journey where we believe we can help.

how will Mycronic meet these challenges?

Viewing the industry as a whole, we are only a small player, of course. But we are a very important player – the market leader in fact – in our market segment. That is something we will work hard to maintain and increase.

Having a competitive offering is essential. So, we have to work with our product road map. And this needs to be based on an outside-in approach. We need to view things from our customer’s perspective, based on dialog and an understanding of their needs. The goal is to achieve continuous incremen-tal development, regularly interspersed with technical quantum leaps.

It is important to remember, as well, that it is just as much about services as it is about products. We are moving away from being sellers of hardware to becoming more of a business partner and solution provider.

We have the most flexible solution on the market. And this is at a time when the need for greater flexibility is increasing in all segments. So, we expect to be able to contribute significantly towards the future of the industry.

on a personal level, how do you approach such a huge task?

For me, it is about trying to make a differ-ence every day. I wake up each morning with enormous energy levels and a passion for wanting to move the company another small step forward on our journey.

My natural instinct is to try and do things better tomorrow than I did them today. In fact, I carry out a quick appraisal on my way home every evening. I ask myself two questions; ‘What have I achieved today?’ and ‘Knowing now what happened today, what could I have done better?’

I also think it is very important that people are happy at work. If you feel better, you perform better.

Not every task can be terribly exciting of course. But, on the whole, one should wake up in the morning and feel happy about going to work. That is something I want all of my colleagues to feel and I have a certain responsibility to try and ensure that by the way I lead the company.

You always do a better job if it’s fun!

My natural instinct is to try and do things

better tomorrow than I did them today.

page 12 – MYNews 2015.01 BNLX-UK

new 10-level buffer with cooling optionthE nEw 10-lEvEl BuFFEr unit is designed to balance station-capacity differences by offering board escape possibilities in case of stoppages or slow board flow in the connected systems. The FIFO/LIFO capability and the ‘pass through’ function, that disables board buffering and allows the boards to pass through the unit without being buffered, gives the unit a wide range of uses. Buffer full warning level, start slot, stepping and pass through slot are selectable via an easy-to-use operator’s panel. Motors, cables, PLC and associated control electronics are located behind steel covers, which gives the unit a clean look. A number of options are available, including automatic width adjustment, cooling fans for post-oven operation, and a ventilation hood for conformal coating applications. //

new holder unit for improved media verificationthE lAtEst vErsion of the MY600’s ejector holder unit is equipped with a unique electronic ID and a matching barcode label, making it possible to logically connect the solder paste syringe to the holder unit, using the barcode scanner on the MY600 Jet Printer. The connection allows the system software to keep track of what type of media is loaded on a specific holder unit, and makes it possible to securely verify that the correct media is used for each production order. MY600 users that have the previous version of holder units are recommended to upgrade to the latest version. The Holder Unit Upgrade Kit includes a set of five unique barcode labels and an instruction on how to upgrade the holder unit. //

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voluME to npi AnD BACK. without Missing A BEAt. thE nEw MY200 pErForMAnCE sEriEs. Now you can leapfrog between varied batch sizes in the blink of an eye. Having long developed flexible solutions for the demanding aerospace industry, we understand the needs for agile, high-quality placement of vital components. Success is not just a matter of machine speed, but how many boards you can mount at the end of the day.

This high-mix thinking translates well to today’s automotive and other higher volume industries where batch sizes are decreasing. Why? Because car electronics are becoming as diverse and advanced as the models themselves. So why not put the industry’s most agile solution to the test in a demo of our new, improved MY200 series? See how it can improve your production qual-ity, with zero mix-up of parts, streamlined material handling, and traceability down to individual placements. Give us a call to find out how our high-mix thinking could benefit you.



Feedback – the key to improving performance

how is your production line performing? how much downtime is there? And what are the reasons? the MYCare maintenance and service program now offers you greater feedback to support continuous improvement. Facts, insights, recommendations, and ongoing support – it’s all part of the new MYCare preventive maintenance routine.

“grEAt trAining sEssion, usAin! Your reaction times are the best this year. And your resistance-run times have improved by 3.5% over the last month. You’re in perfect shape for Saturday’s meet in Zurich.”

From sports psychology to nursery education, from healthcare to business management, positive feedback is a powerful motivational tool for improving performance.

But what about the flip side? Who wants to hear they are averaging 15% below their personal best? Or that they have high cholesterol levels? Or that their new work process could be more efficient? Or that their children need extra tuition at school?

All feedback has value, of course. Whether good or bad, it’s always better to know the truth. Having the information gives you the opportunity to act – to build on the things you do well, and to change the things you need to improve.

Beyond preventive maintenance

Electronics production is perfectly suited to the benefits of performance feedback. In SMT lines, repetitive tasks are carried out by balancing automation, the flow of data and materials, and operator intervention. Usually, there are opportunities to fine-tune these processes and improve the overall output.

Jason Gross, Group Technical Director at Mycronic, explains that this is an area where the company can now support its customers better than ever.

“We’ve broadened the scope of our MYCare program to include a summary of the performance of our pick-and-place machines. It’s part of a new preventive maintenance feedback procedure. Rather than the traditional approach of focusing only on the hardware, we are taking a much broader view of our customers’ production operations.

“Customers will benefit from new insights into how their production line is performing, as well as suggestions for improvement, and ongoing support,” says Jason.

Dynamic feedback loop

Equipment reliability and uninterrupted production remain key objectives for preventive maintenance. However, the new MYCare feedback loop fulfills a wider role that facilitates a continual cycle of improvement.

Work begins before the actual maintenance visit. The Mycronic service engineer reviews previous reports and recommendations, so they are fully prepared for the on-site visit.

At the customer’s plant, the engineer carries out maintenance and calibration tasks according to established protocols and schedules.


Being on the production floor gives the service engineer an insight into the customer’s operations. Through discussions and observations, the engineer gains an understanding of work processes, knowledge levels, and the tools and resources being used.

During the visit, the service engineer also downloads the production event log files stored in the TPSys machine software. These log files are used to create a production status report whilst on site.

“It’s at this point things start to get very interesting for the customer,” says Jason. The production status report is sent, along with any comments from the engineer, to the service manager. The service manager reviews it along with the previous year’s statistics and comments from the preventative maintenance visit.

“The service manager then contacts the customer to review the report and discuss the key points. This can lead to new

initiatives and improvements, which the service organization supports as needed.

“The reports themselves can also be added to the customer’s private area on Mycronic’s support webpage, so they can be accessed by others within the company. And, of course, all the information is saved – ready for the next preventive maintenance visit.”

user-friendly feedback

The production status report is the focal point for feedback. It includes three types of information: key performance indicators (KPIs), comments, and an equipment utilization chart.

The ‘Recent’ column in the KPI section corresponds to the latest production statistics. Usually these are calculated from log files covering the last three months of production. This setting can, however, be changed depending on production volumes and the amount of hard-drive storage available.

Scheduling andpreparation

Follow-upand improve

Analyze and report

Maintenanceand calibration

➞ Preventive maintenance feedback loop. KPIs include machine utilization, throughput (measured as components per hour), component reject rate, parts placed per year, and the number of changeovers per day. There is also an assessment of the machine’s overall health and the knowledge level of those operating the line.

Recent performance is easily compared with previous figures (usually from the year before), as well as with the customer’s target figures – if these goals have been set.

The KPI section shows the observations and comments noted by the service engineer during their visit. The service manager may also add additional notes or recommendations that might benefit the customer. The third area of the report provides a summary of machine utilization. The data is calculated to provide a graphical breakdown of available production time for an average day. The chart enables customers to see how much time is being spent building boards, and where time is going when not building boards.

➞ An example of a MYCare status Report. Reports are generated for pick-and-place machines covered by the MYCare program and running tPsys 2.5 or later.

where production time goes …Unused time. Free capacity – machine is operational but no jobs are loaded or running.Changeover time. The time the line stands still after the completion of one job before the start of the next job.Component wait time. Production downtime – waiting for components to be replaced/inserted.Operator stop time. Production downtime – due to the operator stopping the production line.Board load wait time. The time for boards to be moved into the machine.Board unload wait time. The time for boards to be removed from the machine.Board change time. The time for switching boards in the machine.Fid. search time. The time required for fiducial search to ensure accurate component placing.tool change time. The time required for switching between placement tools.Build time. Production time – the time spent placing components on boards.

page 18 – MYNews 2015.01

The new feedback routine is like having a health check.JAson gross GROUP TECHNICAL DIRECTOR FOR MYCRONIC BUK & RUSSIA

production health check

“The new feedback routine is like having a health check,” suggests Jason. “It measures the production line’s vital signs, and lets the customer know how their SMT operation is ‘feeling’.”

“I think the utilization chart in particular will provide very interesting reading for many customers. It’s not uncommon for people to overestimate their uptime. They may think their production build time is around 60–70%, but in reality it may be closer to 40–50%.

“The good thing about the utilization chart is that it shows exactly where available pro-duction time is going – including the areas people don’t normally take into account, such as board unloading and component wait time.

“The real value of this type of report, though, is that it highlights the areas that need look-ing at more closely. For example, investigat-ing the reasons behind excessive operator stop time could lead to improved work pro-cesses, and ultimately an increase in uptime and overall throughput.”

the path of continuous improvement

In today’s tough economic climate, having a continuous improvement business phi-losophy is the norm rather than the excep-tion. Most companies already work with some form of KPI tracking and equipment monitoring.

The new MYCare routine and status report provide a relatively basic level of production monitoring annually. For those customers who want more regular feedback, or a faster rate of improvement, Mycronic also offers a monthly MYRemote Performance service and quarterly performance reviews. Both of these services provide a greater level of analysis across a wider scope within the manufacturing cell. They also deliver more detailed reports and recommendations for improvement on a monthly or quarterly basis respectively.

More intensive support is also available through the MYOptimization Manufacturing Audit service. This includes in-depth auditing and analysis of Material Logistics, Planning and Scheduling, SMT line operations, tech-nologies, operator skills, resources, work-flows and quality. The aim is to eliminate bottlenecks and improve efficiency across all aspects of production.

“There are many ways companies can enhance their operations,” says Jason. “We believe the new MYCare feedback routine provides a new, useful tool which is now included in all MYCare preventative main-tenance contracts. Having an experienced Mycronic manager – who has knowledge of how hundreds of other Mycronic customers run their production – review your current production situation, offers you a unique outside-in perspective.

“It is a proactive approach to feedback that we hope will benefit all of our MYCare cus-tomers, making them more productive and more successful.”

Millions oF CoMponEnts. onE intElligEnt storAgE solution. looK into our sMD towEr For A BEttEr wAY. Whether you’re assembling PCBs for advanced smartphones or electronic systems for cars, maintaining seamless production is critical. It’s about more than just speed. You also need material handling solutions that enable the highest possible line utilization at the lowest possible cost. Full control. Easy MSD tracking. And smart storage of an endless array of indispensable components.

The answer is not adding more factory staff, storage space or trolleys, but embracing a smarter solution. Like our new SMD Storage System, which can handle thousands and thousands of part numbers without losing track of a single reel. So why not put our high-mix thinking to work in your higher volume environment?



services that unlock profitMaximise your efficiency and profitability by using the latest support services from Mycronic, says Benelux Customer support manager, Daan van hoogstraten.

Earlier in this issue, Paul Rooimans explains why we’ve stopped selling machines and instead decided to concentrate on offering complete productivity packages designed to ensure that users of Mycronic equipment get the best possible return on their investment. Our support services, from which hundreds of our customers have already benefited, form an essential part of those packages and, in 2015, those services are going to get even better.

We are, for example, enhancing our popular MYCare programme. Every new machine is already sold with MYCare Start during the first year and in 2015 we will also add our Quarterly Performance Review service. This will look at every aspect of our custom-ers’ SMT operations, not just those directly associated with our machine. We will typi-cally review front-end engineering, material storage and kitting, planning and schedul-ing, and SMT cell layout, as well as machine performance.

At these reviews we also discuss our cus-tomers’ productivity and business goals as well as looking at the challenges they are facing. In most cases, we can make sugges-tions that will help them move forward and, wherever possible, we try to set measurable targets for steps toward the goals. These targets are then examined at future meet-ings and, if necessary, the plans are further refined.

Already part of MYCare 2, 3 and 4 for our existing MYCare customers, our Quarterly Performance Review service has proved to be hugely successful. Almost all of the com-panies who use it are seeing significant gains in both efficiency and profitability which is why we believe it is now just as important for our new customers during their transition to ‘working the Mycronic way’!

Our software rental service is also rapidly growing in popularity, with many custom-ers finding this an attractive alternative to purchasing our software outright and then paying for updates as they become avail-

able. The benefits of rental are twofold. First, it makes budgeting easier because the rental fee is the same every month over a three-year term. Second, users of this service get the latest updates as soon as they are released, so they always benefit immedi-ately from the improvements that each new release invariably brings.

This second benefit is becoming more and more important, as today’s machines are highly software dependent. This means that software updates can and do lead to very big gains in performance whereas, in the past, achieving useful performance gains often also meant making significant hard-ware changes.

In our last issue we introduced MYKnowledge, our new on-line training resource that’s equally useful for customers who don’t have time to attend our class-room-based training courses and for those who simply want to refresh their memories about specific ‘how to’ procedures and tech-niques.

From the outset, MYKnowledge has been designed to be easy to use, and it now includes a large number of well-illustrated step-by-step guides showing how, for example, to replace parts on our machines and how to get the best from our software packages. MYKnowledge also provides an easy way for customers to access the user manuals for our equipment, without having to hunt for their printed copy.

MYKnowledge is expanding all the time as we add not only new material that we’ve produced, but also useful material that our customers have supplied. And another really big benefit is that, as MYKnowledge is an on-line service, it’s always available when it’s needed – 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

MYCare Start now includes Quarterly Performance Reviews


Because of the many benefits it offers, we’ve decided that in 2015 we’ll include access to MYKnowledge in all our MYCare service contracts, making them even better value for money. Every MYCare customer will be shortly receiving a newsletter with contact details on how to get their log in credentials to access this service and, after that, we’ll be sending out regular newsletters detailing all of the new updates we have made.

Even though our customers have access to MYKnowledge, however, there can come a time when they need some additional sup-port. This used to mean a complicated and often lengthy telephone conversation with our service department or even a site visit, but now we offer an alternative that’s often much more convenient and effective – the MYRemote support service.

This allows Mycronic engineers to log in to customers’ machines via an Internet connec-tion, without the need to physically visit the site. Once they’re logged in, the engineers can examine just about every aspect of the machine’s operation including the support-ing software packages – they can even

Access to MYKnowledge is now in all MYCare Service Contracts

access pictures from the vision system. With this data to hand, they can suggest solutions to all but the most intransigent of problems.

The benefits of this approach were high-lighted by a recent case where a customer was finding that a new package was con-tinually rejected by their machine. This was a big problem, as the deadline for delivery of the finished boards was just a few hours away. Normally a site visit would have been needed to sort out this problem, but because of the customer’s location this would have meant the loss of at least half a day’s production, and the delivery deadline would certainly have been missed.

What actually happened was that, with the help of MYRemote support, the Mycronic engineers were able to fix the problem in less than 15 minutes. The deadline was met, and all concerned were very happy!

Now that you’ve read this article, take a few moments to think about your own SMT opera-tions. Having the right machines is, of course, important, and you really can’t do better than Mycronic equipment, but what’s really going to help you to squeeze the most productivity and profit out of your equipment is the sup-port that complements it. And, once again, I can confidently say that you won’t find better support than that provided by Mycronic.


Chris Mulvihill - EMs MAnuFACturing -

Q4 2014 showed very different behaviours in our OEM and CEM markets. The CEM sales bucket showed a strong increase in customer enquiries and in order placement. Order commitments are being made for the early to mid part of 2015, which is giving us good visibility for the next six months. Customers are talking about the business prospects for 2015 with confidence.

Our OEM business has finished the quarter where we expected. Q4 is often a turbulent period when customers aim to manage the effects of the year-end and the Christmas

our friends in the industry are looking forward to 2015 with a high level of confidence in the potential for business growth.

shutdown. Manufacturing responsiveness has allowed us to capitalise on the opportunities we’ve captured.

Looking forward to the New Year, our OEM business often experiences a slow start in January with customers returning from the break. However, market forecasts indicate a strong first quarter driven by the demands of the financial year-end.

We expect to see high levels of activity from mid-February through to the end of March, with the emphasis being placed on fast turnaround of orders through to delivery. This will place a premium on manufacturers’ ability to work flexibly and responsively. Our CEM customers are forecasting business growth and an increase in activity in 2015, with order placement and despatches building momentum from the beginning of the year.

In Q2, our OEM business will be driven by longer-term product development turning into NPI and being released to the market. A number of the product and marketing initiatives that we’ve been working on are expected to deliver an increased level of export sales through Q2 onward. We are expecting to see continued order intake and stability in our CEM business, with growth being generated through existing customers and conversion of opportunities to new customers.

We are expecting to see continued order intake and stability

industry barometer for electronics manufacturing

Chris Johnson - JJs MAnuFACturing -(thE pArAgon ElECtroniCs group)

As we approach the end of Q4 it is pleasing to see that our aggressive forecast of over 20% growth on last year’s result is likely to be exceeded. This is the result of a number of our newer customers finally going into full production following some protracted development. We believe the final Q4 outcome could be as much as 25% up on last year. However the additional 5% is largely a result of a ‘year-end push’ from a few customers keen to extract maximum sales prior to the cut off, and it owes much to our fast-turnaround configure-to-order services. As we move in to Q1 2015, we expect the growth to be more modest compared with an excellent first quarter in 2014, so we are predicting a 5% increase. Looking further out to Q2 2015, we believe that further business

wins will begin to aid our growth and we anticipate closer to a 7% increase compared with the same quarter in the previous year.

Our growth continues to be primarily fuelled by our ability to supply highly complex, fully assembled and tested systems, managing the process from component sourcing and PCB assembly through to complex full cabinet or machine assembly, test and even commissioning. In addition, our multi-site facilities, resources and breadth of capabilities have allowed us to take several opportunistic sales from large OEM’s struggling with their internal capacity constraints.

we believe that further business wins will begin to

aid our growth


guiDo BErgMAn- MAtAs ElECtroniCs -

In October 2014, we celebrated our 30th anniversary by taking all of our staff on a five-day trip to Portugal. We looked back and discussed with each other what a pleasant market we operate in, and how many changes there have been in the last 30 years.

Returning to the present, at the end of 2014 we are seeing that the EMS industry has finally stabilised. In recent quarters we have even achieved a small amount of growth.

Looking into the future, these are the signals we’re getting from our partners:

• Moreaddedvalueisneeded; product life cycle management and earlier involvement in development (one-stop provider) • Distinctivenessbasedonquality and flexibility versus efficiency (production) costs is increasingly important. • Furtherintensificationofcooperation in the chain (partnerships) with clients is needed. It is important to be close to the customer. • Increasingtransparencyand commitment to modern communication capabilities strengthen close cooperation in the chain. There is growing demand for SMOI (Supplier Managed Owned Inventory)

We are confident that the future is bright!

We are confident that the future is bright!

Q3

123345678910SCORE

Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

ton plooY - tBp ElECtroniCs -

The order situation as we approach 2015 is comparable to that we saw at the beginning of 2014. The overall business environment is however considerably better than it was a year ago, so the prospects for the first half of 2015 are good.

We are, however, seeing some significant business trends. The first is increasing pressure on turnaround – the time from receiving an order to the time when we deliver the boards. This has decreased

significantly in recent years, and is now typically around one week. The goal for the future will be to reduce this to 48 hours and eventually to just 24 hours.

Another trend is that EMS providers are being forced to take financial risks away from their customers by holding more and more materials and components in stock. Overall, however, we are feeling positive about 2015. Business is back on track and there is good potential for growth compared with 2014.

We are, however, seeing some significant

business trends.

THE SCORES Q4 (2014) Q1 (2015) Q2 (2015) (actual) (predicted) (predicted)

Chris Mulvihill 8 8 8Chris Johnson 9 8 8Guido Bergman 8 7 8Ton Plooy 6 7 7

Average 7.75 7.5 7.75

We asked our customers to score business for Q4 of 2014, and give us their expectations for Q1 and Q2 of 2015.

These are the results, using a scale where 1 means terrible and 10 means fantastic.


Doing what the others cannot

Since it was set up in 1987, CIL has grown to become one of the UK’s most success-ful EMS companies, covering a broad range of technologies and employing the latest manufacturing methodologies in an award-winning factory.

Product areas in which we have achieved particular success include microwave RF boards for use in covert communications systems and boards for high-temperature oil and gas applications. We now also offer a rapid prototyping service with one of the fastest turnaround times available from any UK supplier.

As Managing Director John Boston explains, solder paste jet printing is making Custom interconnect limited (Cil) the go-to supplier for work that other EMs companies are forced to turn away.

For some time, we have been operating four SMT lines, none of which use equipment from Mycronic. About 18 months ago, how-ever, the growth of our business meant that it was time to add even more capacity, and we decided that this would be an excellent opportunity to check out the latest develop-ments in SMT equipment.

After carefully considering placement machines from all of the leading suppliers, we decided that a Mycronic MY100DX-14 was the best match for our requirements. In particular, we were impressed by its ability to efficiently to handle and precisely place almost any component, including 01005 and 0201 types as well as BGAs and land grid arrays.

“Because of the superb performance of the

equipment we’ve purchased from Mycronic and the excellent and comprehensive support the

company consistently provides, we will migrate all of our existing SMT

lines to Mycronic equipment. ”


These capabilities were very important to us because of the type of work we carry out. For example, a recent order, which is typical of the type we regularly handle, involved the placement of over 2 million 0201 components and many BGAs on almost 2,000 boards. It wasn’t only versatility that attracted us to the Mycronic machines, however. The very rapid changeovers pos-sible with the Agilis feeder system and the comprehensive service and support available from the UK Mycronic team were other big factors in our decision.

While our new Mycronic placement machine increased our production capacity and addressed many of our production issues we were still aware of limitations in other areas – specifically in the application of solder paste to complex boards. Modern microwave RF boards are notoriously difficult to produce as they incorporate components that are effectively “buried” in the board. To mount these components, it is necessary to dis-pense solder paste in to the aperture they will occupy, which can be as large as 30 x 10 mm.

While this is just about possible using conventional screen print solder dispens-ing techniques, our experience shows that achieving consistent results in this way certainly is not possible! It was, therefore, a logical step for us to look at the solder-jet printing equipment offered by Mycronic and,

after thoroughly investigating this compara-tively new technology, we decided to invest in a MY500 Jet Printer for solder…

This proved to be a complete revelation! Since solder-jet printing offers complete control over paste deposition – on a pad-by-pad or area-by-area basis, when necessary – all of our solder paste dispensing problems were solved at a stroke, even with the most “difficult” of components, including those buried RF devices.

Because of this, we can now produce com-plex boards that other EMS companies sim-ply can’t handle and, as you might expect, this is winning us a lot of new business. In fact, when we first purchased our solder paste Jet Printer, it was primarily to meet the needs of one particular customer. Since then we have won six more customers that need capabilities that can only be provided with solder-jet printing.

The ability to handle orders that other companies can’t is, however, not the only benefit we’re getting from our solder-jet printer. We have, for a long time, offered a rapid-prototyping service, but our speed of response was always limited by the time it took to design and produce stencils. And, particularly with complex boards, it was by no means unusual to find that the first batch of stencils needed modifying, leading to further delays.

In contrast, with solder-jet printing, there are no stencils! This means that as soon as we have programmed the printer with the details of the board, we can start applying paste immediately. And, if the first pass isn’t quite right, changes can be made in minutes or even seconds rather than the hours or days needed to produce a new stencil.As a result, our rapid-prototyping service now really lives up to its name and we can typically deliver even the most complex boards one to three days after kit clear-ance. This gives us an invaluable competi-tive advantage over our competitors and is another factor that’s contributing to the suc-cess and sustained growth of our business.

In fact, that success has already meant that we’ve needed to further expand our SMT production capacity and, in the last few months, we’ve taken delivery of one of the new generation Mycronic MY200SX-14 placement machines. This will work along-side our MY100DX-14 and will be used principally for the production of our most challenging boards.

Because of the superb performance of the equipment we’ve purchased from Mycronic and the excellent and comprehensive sup-port the company consistently provides, we’ve also taken another major decision: over the next few years, we will migrate all of our existing SMT lines to Mycronic equipment.

That’s a big commitment and a big invest-ment, but we are totally convinced that working with Mycronic will continue to pro-vide CIL with a huge competitive advantage, and will further strengthen the company’s position as the supplier that says yes when all the others say no.

In fact, that success has already meant that we’ve

needed to further expand our SMT production


MYCRONIC Training Dates

UK 2015

13-17 JulyOperator Training (5 days)

21-22 JulyPackage Training (2 days)

18-20 AugustProgrammer Training (3 days)

26-27 AugustMaintenance Training (2 days)

14-16 SeptemberOperator Training (5 days)

22-23 SeptemberAdvanced MYSMT (2 days)

24 SeptemberIntroduction to Electronics (1 day)

20-22 OctoberProgrammer Training (3 days)

27-28 OctoberPackage Training (2 days)

29 OctoberCalibration Training MY9-19 (1 day)

16-20 NovemberOperator Training (5 days)

24-25 NovemberMaintenance Training (2 days)

26 NovemberCalibration Training MY100-200 (1 day)

8-10 DecemberProgrammer Training (3 days)

15-16 DecemberSoftware Training (2 days)

MYCaretraining

MYCRONIC Training Dates

Benelux 2015

From basic to more advanced levels for ma-chine operators, programmers and service engineers, we can put the right training methods to work for you.

Part of our training offering includes class-room style tuition conducted at our bespoke learning facilities at the Mycronic offices in Poole, Dorset (the UK) and in Eindhoven (the Netherlands). We offer demonstra-tion areas with pick-and-place machines, jet printers and towers along with a training room with individual PC’s for candidates.

During the training both theoretical and practical exercises are used with an exami-nation at the end of each course. For can-didates who successfully pass the course, a MYCertificate is provided.

We are also pleased to be able to offer be-spoke training courses to suit your specific needs. Pricing will be dependent on the number of attendees and facilities available. Dates are subject to availability and mini-mum attendance levels.

03-04 September Maintenance Training (2 days)

09 SeptemberIntroduction to Electronics (1 day)

14-18 SeptemberOperator Training (5 days)

01-02 OctoberSoftware Training (2 days)

06-08 OctoberProgrammer Training (3 days)

14-15 OctoberMYSMT Advanced Training (2 days)

21 OctoberCalibration Training MY9-19 (1 day)

22-23 OctoberPackage Training (2 days)

02-06 NovemberOperator Training (5 days)

11 NovemberCalibration Training MY100-200 (1 day)

08-09 DecemberProgrammer Training (3 days)

service upgrade

With this in mind, we’ve recently reviewed our service operations, taking particular notice of customer feedback, and we’ve decided to make some changes. These will make it easier for us to continue to operate efficiently and effectively as more and more customers choose equipment from Mycronic.

One of the most significant changes is that Robert Houliston, our current UK customer support manager, is moving to a newly cre-ated post of Senior Application Engineer. In his new role, Robert will be able to make even better use of his outstanding technical expertise to support our customers and the service team.

We are also appointing Sara Chandler, who is new to Mycronic, as UK customer support manager. Sara has extensive experience of our industry in both materials and produc-tion management from previous roles she has held at CEM’s in the UK. We are confi-dent that she will provide a well-organized and effective interface between our custom-ers and the rest of the service team.

Sara has already joined the company. If you have not yet already spoken to her, we are sure you will in the coming months.

At Mycronic, we are totally committed to providing the best service and support in our industry and we’re delighted when our customers tell us, as they often do, that we’re succeeding. however, we need to make sure not only that we offer great service today, but also that we continue to do so in the future.


MYKnowledge – our online knowledge portal

MYKnowledgeTM allows your Operators and Engineers instant access to a variety of guides and training materials including; cali-bration guides, service menu guides, repair guides, software function guides as well as operator and programmer training packs.

Being online, this database eliminates the need to print out and review bulky manu-als as step-by-step guides provide a simple point of reference. And as a continuously growing database it will of course be up-dated with new guides when new software versions, new machines or new functions are released.

This is a truly great addition to all our MYCareTM packages and a real benefit to our customers

Please see below a list of the material which is currently available in the MYKnowledge database.

gEnErAlIntroduction to Electronics

MY500Gerber to Gencad converting in MYCenterService Menu overview

MY9-19 & MY100-200Calibration GuideMaintenance Guide Centering UnitMaintenance Guide HYDRAMaintenance Guide MIDASOperator TrainingProgrammer TrainingRepair Guide C-MotorRepair Guide Centering ElectrodesRepair Guide FFX CableRepair Guide HYDRA Theta BeltRepair Guide Steelbelts C60Repair Guide Vacuum Pump MY100-200Repair Guide Vacuum Pump MY9-19Repair Guide Z-motor MIDASRepair Guide Z-Locks

MYCEntErtM

MYCenter 1MYCenter 1 CAD import PCB exportMYCenter 1 Gerber import PCB exportMYCenter 2MYCenter 2 CAD import PCB exportMYCenter 2 Gerber import PCB exportMYCenter 3 Locations and Bins GuideMYCenter 3.1 New functions Guide

MYplAntM

MYPlan 4MYPlan 4 Family KitMYPlan 4 Minimize Assembly TimeMYPlan 4 Minimize Feeder LoadingMYPlan 4 Sequence

tpsYsTPSys 3.1 New Functions Guide

Paul RooimansCeO

Joanne YatesOffice Manager UK

Michel Marquesservice engineer

Sebastian v. HoutenInternal Marketing & sales UK Benelux

Jason Gross technical Director BUK & Russia

Constantia SchaapOffice ManagerBenelux

Michele PresuttoCustomer support Manager Russia

Jeremy HartillDir. Financial services

Robert Houlistonsenior Application engineer

Sergey Ivanovservice engineer

Rebecca Maceservice AdministratorUK

Una Lydonservice Coordinator UK

Twan Aldenzeestrategic Account Director

David Cowellservice engineer

Wesley van Diesenservice engineer

Bas v. Broekhoventraining engineerBenelux and UK

Edwin de BlauwNew Business Development Director

Warwick TempleHuman Resources Manager

Daan v. HoogstratenCustomer support Manager Benelux

Brian Andrews service engineer

John Rademakersservice engineer

Steve GiffenNew Business Manager UK

Sara ChandlerCustomer support Manager UK

Karin Beekmansservice CoordinatorBenelux

Alan Clarkeservice engineer

Kirill Panteleevservice engineer

Olga ZotovaBusiness Intelligence Manager BUK & Russia

Gennadiy MartynovApplication engineer

Steven Skeldingservice engineer

Paul Harveyservice engineer

Frank SourenCommunication

MYCRONIC TEAM

BeneluxUnited Kingdom

Russia

Please email your request for MYKnowledge login to:[email protected]

Mycronic Benelux has moved to a new building!

Our new visit address is: Gebouw Mµ

High Tech Campus 10 5656 AE Eindhoven

More details in our next magazine...

Documents

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