PCB Assembly Equipment
Achieve quickest time to market. Enable innovation. Minimize inventory risk. Lower cost.
The reshoring of American Manufacturing is being driven by these factors. Automated PCB Assembly processes have little labor content per item produced, decreasing the effect of labor rates. Building prototypes, short runs and batch manufacturing internally saves time and money. Manufacturing close to your customer base makes your company more responsive to changes in product definition, whether driven by market or technology. Short supply lines reduce inventory and scrap risk, while supporting quick implementation of innovation. Internal PCB Assembly enables customer specific build and new market exploration quickly and with minimum inventory risk. Be fleet footed in your market.
The bad old days of PCB Assembly began with a million dollar price tag. The million dollar PCBA line, occupied several thousand square feet. A heavy production schedule was needed to justify and pay for the PCBA Line, often requiring multiple shifts. Engineering areas had to struggle for PCBA time to get prototypes built, encountering excessive delays. Corporate focus split between Market/Technology driven priorities and Production driven priorities. Given a few years, those million dollar PCBA lines, typically 0603 (0.06"x 0.03" chips) capable, could not place newer components. Trying to explain why the company's million dollar PCBA line cannot build the next generation of products contained no joy.
Welcome to the Present!
At the heart of a PCBA line is the Pick & Place machine. The Quadra by TWS Automation is the best Pick & Place machine on the market for batch or short run build. The Quadra uses PC based vision centering, which enables 0201 (0.02" x 0.01" chips) placement capability at low cost. For somewhere in the $75,000 ballpark, a complete PCB Assembly line can be purchased, including stencil printer, Pick & Place machine fully loaded with feeders, reflow oven, whisper air compressor, and fume extractor. The Quadra is rated for 3300 cph (component placements per hour), with up to 120 different parts on reel, stick and waffle tray. Actual run rate will probably be closer to 12,000 placements in an eight hour shift. If financed over 60 months, this is about $1250/month to turbocharge your entire organization. The Engineering advantages alone pay for the process. A Quadra centric PCB Assembly line, with working stock of reel storage, fits in 250 square feet! It is easy to operate, simple to program and rarely needs maintenance. Quadra maintenance is easily learned by most technician level personnel, all authorized TWS distributors are maintenance hubs, and TWS Automation keeps parts available at low cost.
VB Controls is an authorized distributor of TWS Automation products. We purchased a Quadra to build our solid state relays and that is how we started with TWS. The machine was so sweet to program, operate and maintain, we fell in love with it. So we contacted TWS Automation to be a distributor. VB Controls has a proven list of PCB Assembly related vendors and will provide training. To crank up your company's potential, contact VB Controls 540-822-9228.