Service ... that’s esw GmbH’s thing!
Stolberg EMS service provider relies on Ersa again
Founded in 1985, electronic service willms GmbH & Co. KG (ESW for short), based in the border triangle of Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, offers sophisticated SMD and THT assembly for medium-sized companies. Over the course of its history, ESW has developed from a simple manufacturing service provider to a competent system supplier for sectors such as industrial electronics, medical and radio technology. Most recently, the Rhinelanders expanded their machine park with an Ersa POWERFLOW PRO wave soldering system.

Metal processing has a long tradition in the copper town of Stolberg. electronic service willms GmbH & Co. KG joins this history with modern electronics production. With a team of 100 employees, esw GmbH focuses on comprehensive service in electronics manufacturing and provides its customers a head start in the market by using latest manufacturing technologies.
Outstanding support from Ersa Service
Andreas Korr, Head of Conventional Manufacturing, Final Inspection and Shipping at esw GmbH, joined the company in 1995 and quickly had to deal with the purchase of a new wave soldering system. As usual, the market was sounded out, inquiries were made and machines were inspected – also at Ersa in Wertheim, where an N-WAVE 400 was ordered in the end. Two more Ersa soldering machines followed in 2015 – a HOTFLOW 4/08 reflow oven and an ECOSELECT 350 selective soldering system. “The procedure was different with the POWERFLOW PRO. Firstly, we were already familiar with the Ersa machines, especially the wave soldering technology. We knew that we were doing very well with Ersa Service because we always have known contacts for different technologies. Ersa does a good job here and responds quickly – even when it comes to procuring spare parts for older, but still 100% functional systems,” says Andreas Korr.



All it took for the POWERFLOW PRO was a visit from an Ersa Sales Manager in Stolberg-Breinig followed by a few calls. “The ESW team contacted us in May to discuss details for the planned wave soldering machine. The most critical issue was the connection of the new machine to the existing transport system with corresponding frames and aperture pallets, the transfer points were a challenge. Two of our Ersa service technicians solved this problem perfectly on site. Current transport systems run via their own control system and are no longer connected to the control cabinet of the soldering system as they were in the past. The machine at ESW was newly married – without its own control cabinet for the peripherals,” says Ersa Sales Manager Daniel Haubenreich.
Compact full-tunnel wave soldering system
in a confined production environment
With the POWERFLOW PRO, ESW opted for a full nitrogen tunnel wave soldering system. Thanks to its compact dimensions of 4,450 x 1,400 x 1,600 mm (L x W x H) it impresses even in tight production spaces. Its spray fluxer with intelligent spray pattern programming ensures minimum flux consumption at high processing speeds. Flexible configuration of the IR emitters combined with convection heating enable perfect machine settings. This allows the user to reliably solder high-mass or temperature-sensitive components. The soldering module relies on the proven Ersa double wave soldering technology which can realize long wetting times and high wave heights. ESW has upgraded the POWERFLOW PRO compared to its predecessor, for example with a more powerful heating system. Thanks to its modular design, the POWERFLOW PRO could be retrofitted in all process sections. After two months, ESW can state: quality is up, process is stable with reduced consumption values. “Our new wave soldering system covers the wide product spectrum of our customers – we run a complete mix; we get the jobs on track quickly and flexibly with the soldering programs, batches comprising sometimes 4,000, sometimes 100 pieces. If the new machine runs for 20 years like the old one, we have done everything right with our investment,” says Production Manager Andreas Korr.
ESW has already received several inquiries for new projects and prototypes with the potential for series production. “Our capacity is 70 million components per month at full steam. We are running two shifts at the moment, but we can increase this any time. With the POWERFLOW PRO wave soldering system and Ersa as a partner at our side, we are ideally equipped for future tasks and projects,” says Jörg Kreus, Head of Sales & Supply Chain Management and member of the Executive Board.