With its new SIPLACE SX and its trailblazing “capacity-on-demand” concept, technology leader SIPLACE Electronics Assembly Systems (SEAS) opens the door to new, demand-driven and extremely economical manufacturing concepts, say the SIPLACE customers who were able to check out the new machine platform for several months in tough field tests. Market-leading electronics manufacturers like the BMK Group and Zollner Elektronik AG were impressed how quickly and flexible the SIPLACE SX can adapt to changing lot sizes and a steadily growing component spectrum in real-life environments. Part of the reason are the machine’s changeable gantries, which can be switched over in less than 30 minutes. Another great and unique advantage in combination with the SIPLACE SX is the new SIPLACE Multistar CPP (Collect & Pick & Place) head. This intelligent 12-nozzle head uses software to switch to the mode that’s most efficient for the current production requirements, making constant line reconfigurations a thing of the past. The field testers also praised the SIPLACE SX’s compact design and robust placement performance. Following the successful completion of the field tests, the new model will become officially available as scheduled on June 29. 
  
The BMK Group in Augsburg, Germany, tested the SIPLACE SX in a high-mix line that was designed especially for small lots and a broad component spectrum. Over a period of less than seven months, the company produced more than 400 different boards in lot sizes ranging mostly from 1 to 100 on the SMT line, which consisted of a SIPLACE SX2, a SIPLACE D1 and a SIPLACE D1S. In addition, the technicians occasionally produced jobs of up to 3,000 boards on the line.

Christian Lösche, BMK’s project manager, gives the new platform excellent grades: “The new SIPLACE SX is exactly the right machine for our high-mix/low-volume production requirements. We are finally able to invest exactly in what we need, because we can add feeder position capacity without having to add placement performance. The new SIPLACE SX with its true capacity-on-demand concept is the answer to the challenges facing electronics manufacturers of all sizes.”

Large feeder capacity provides setup flexibility

120 feeder positions - 60 8-mm slots per component cart on each side of the machine - provide plenty of capacity for flexible setup concepts. Even when a waffle-pack changer is used, there is enough room left for an adjacent smaller component cart with 30 8-mm feeder slots. Relative to its small footprint (1.5 meters long and 2.5 meters wide), the SIPLACE SX’s compact construction delivers exceptional feeder position capacity.

Additional flexibility is provided by the innovative exchangeable gantries. Moving on rails, the gantries can be exchanged by a single operator in as little as thirty minutes without changes in the line configuration or feeder capacity. Thanks to this concept, which is the first of its kind, users are for the first time able to scale placement performance and capacity independently of each other.

Ulrich Niklas, director of testing and manufacturing technology at Zollner Elektronik AG in Zandt, Germany, was impressed by the new machine’s flexibility: “The SIPLACE SX shows its strengths particularly in the small-lot/high-mix environment that is typical for contract manufacturers like us. With regard to quick, flexible setups it represents a perfect addition to many of our lines.”

Dual flexibility: SIPLACE SX with MultiStar CPP head

With only three placement heads, the SIPLACE SX covers the popular component spectrum in its entirety. In addition to the proven SIPLACE TwinHead and the 20-nozzle SIPLACE high-speed head, the SIPLACE SX uses the SIPLACE MultiStar head. With its unique CPP (Collect & Pick & Place) technology, this head employs the optimal mode for each component based on software commands. Three modes are available: the flexible Pick & Place mode for large components, the speedy Collect & Place mode for smaller components, and the mixed mode that combines the two.

With its replaceable gantries and the CPP head, the SIPLACE SX makes it much easier to operate with a perfectly balanced line at all times – and with a lot fewer and faster head changes and line reconfigurations.
 
All the field testers agreed that the new SIPLACE SX is ready for prime time. All test lines produced customer products after only a few days. The machine proved to be ready for its market introduction on June 29 under technical as well as economic aspects: “The new SIPLACE SX will enable us to further improve our just-in-time production concept. The field test of the SIPLACE SX showed us very quickly that the new machine perfectly meets all our tough requirements, especially with regards to economic efficiency,” summarizes Stephan Baur, CEO of the BMK Group.

For detailed information about :
New SIPLACE SX: www.siplace.com/SX
BMK Group: www.bmk-group.de
Zollner: www.zollner.de

Keywords : Industry News, World, SIPLACE SX: Market introduction follows successful field tests

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