Innovations in PCB Processing
Published on : Monday 07-09-2020
How Taiwan Excellence Award winning companies are helping manufacturers with innovations in PCB processing.
As the world tries to anchor itself in the midst of the Covid-19 crisis, industries are poised to recover from the impact of the pandemic. The PCB industry is expected to turn decline into growth with the development of 5G, electric cars and AIoT. In response to increased demand, PCB manufacturers are expanding production as a response measure, which drives demand for PCB equipment.
Recently Taiwan Excellence held the 'Taiwan Excellence PCB Equipment' Online Press Conference with the aim of familiarising global buyers with Taiwanese PCB equipment. Taiwan Excellence is an international campaign to promote Taiwan's superior products. The e-conference saw four of Taiwan's most prominent PCB equipment companies demonstrate their advanced solutions for upgrading PCB processes by importing digitalisation and automation, creating a flexible production line, and achieving ‘small amount, large variety’ production. Brands include iconic names such as C-Sun, Aurotek, ATMA and SAA.
With the rapid development of advanced technologies, the electronics industry is again in the spotlight. The world is hoping to develop its local industries with the help of the electronics industry. And PCB manufacturing is the foundation. Taiwan, well known for its PCB manufacturing process, is globally recognised for its precision machinery techniques and manufacturing experience. To meet clients’ needs, Taiwan has come up with solutions for PCB production by assembling a high-end and flexible production line, and plays a vital role in advancing the technology.
Speaking about the conference, TAITRA President and CEO Mr Walter Yeh said “Taiwan has a wealth of experience and mature techniques in PCB processes and precise machine production skills, which are the advantages of Taiwan's PCB equipment makers. Along with the development of new technologies such as 5G, PCB demand continues to grow and is driving the demands of PCB equipment.”
Mr Guann-Jyh Lee, Deputy Director-General, Bureau of Foreign Trade commented “After more than 50 years of development, Taiwan's PCB industry has set up a mature and complete supply chain that includes PCB equipment. In response to the global import industry 4.0 trend,
Taiwanese PCB equipment manufacturers submitted smart solutions and helped customers set up energy-efficient and eco-friendly PCB production lines. Taiwan PCB equipment is the best partner for countries and companies intending to develop PCB manufacturing industries.”
The highlight of the online conference were the presentations made by representatives of four Taiwan Excellence award-winning companies, who introduced their latest offerings and technologies.
Bryant Cheng, International Trade Commissioner, C-Sun Mfg Ltd elaborated upon the company’s cost saving and smart manufacturing solutions with innovations like Auto Mylar Peeler, UV LED Exposure System and Smart Manufacturing of the PCB equipment. C-Sun is Asia's No.1 exposure system maker. The Auto Mylar Peeler drastically reduces human intervention and hence errors from the process with automated Mylar separation of substrates, including blown separation film, film welding and winding, film checking and intelligent detection to ensure film separation quality and energy-saving production. The patented UV LED exposure system saves up to 90% energy compared to mercury lights, making the exposure procedures more efficient and eco-friendlier.
Aurotek Corporation is a well-known PCB depaneling router maker from Taiwan. Ms Natalia Chang, Sales Manager, in her presentation showcased the new Aurotek Depaneling System, 2020 model, with unique mechanical design and easy-to-operate software that improves production efficiency and accuracy in the depaneling procedure. The highlights of the machine include high efficiency with dual table, dual carrier head and dual spindle configuration; dust suction system to clear the residual dust on the PCB; high accuracy with 7-axis motion control and fined-Edge function; and high accuracy with visual interface software and real time production monitoring. The software integration is optimised to record the production information by video monitoring. As Natalia emphasised, this helps in case some production engineer quits the job and the new person has to understand the process. The new depaneling system is much preferred by smartphone manufacturers thanks to these advantages.
ATMA Champ Enterprises Corporation is the largest PCB screen printing system maker in the world. In his presentation, Innovation and breakthrough in PCB Plug-via process, Alun Huang, Sales Specialist, introduced the company’s ATMALINE PC68 printing line. The system integrates the plug-through, screen printing and drying procedure into an automatic line, which massively saves human resources and improves the yield rate to over 97 per cent. The machine overcomes the conventional problems faced by manufacturers like more manpower, high energy consumption, difficulties with higher aspect ratios, alignment difficulties and low productivity by automating most functions. For example the process that needed printing and curing 3 times each in the past is now reduced to three times printing and just one time curing. Besides this fully automatic model, ATMA also offers several other semi-automatic and automatic models.
Symtek Automation Asia Co Ltd (SAA) is a leading company in automation equipment on PCB production lines. James Chien, Manager, explained how SAA helps PCB manufacturers import automation and Industry 4.0 concepts into a PCB factory, including production lines, facilities and logistics systems, for a stable and efficient operation. Established in 1999, SAA in just 21 years has made impressive strides in innovation with 190 patents and during this course twice wining the R&D Creative Award in Taiwan. SAA’s Electronic Business Unit manufactures machines for applications in printed circuit board (PCB), flexible board (FPC), IC substrate and packaging, High Density Interconnects board (HDI) and ceramic substrate. The company specialises in automation equipment with whole plant logistics design and intelligent automation integration service. SAA also works with user to customise the machines and automation to suit their layout and develop special applications.
After the presentations were over, the ‘Taiwan Excellence Smart Machinery Virtual Pavilion’ was introduced at the conference, where buyers are offered up-to-date information on equipment and facilities for PCB processes. The virtual pavilion has displays from 50 Taiwan Excellence brands showcasing 60 award winning products. Divided into 5 zones according to product types, the pavilion offers visitors a walkthrough around all exhibits with all the information available at a click, as well as the contact details for seeking expert help.
