HOTFLOW: Designed in Germany, made in China

In China, the Ersa HOTFLOW series is often referred to as "the Mercedes amongst the reflow systems." Good for the image, but an obstacle for potential purchasers. "We would like to buy it, but our budget does not cover it" - to overcome this contradiction, Ersa is following since the middle of last year a new strategy.

Uncompromising high-end quality and performance from Germany combined with the advantages of local manufacturing - starting with this premise, since June 2013 Kurtz Ersa produces the HOTFLOW 3/20 in Zhuhai, Southern China. It was a well-received move. Yet there were high customer demands to be met. For this reason, we selected for the benchmark a customer who has in his production facility equipment of the competition as well as Ersa HOTFLOW systems made in Germany.

Ersa Systems in 24/7 Operation 

With Compal Com, a Taiwanese manufacturer in Nanjing, a user who places very high demands on his production equipment was selected for this benchmark: 26 fully automatic lines run in their production, equipped with 12 systems from the competition, 2 HOTFLOW 3/20 made in Germany, and, in the meantime, 10 further HOTFLOW 3/20 made in China.

In a 24/7 operation, smart phones for Sony, Nokia, Motorola and the brand with the apple are being processed on the systems. After two years of operation, Yisem Chang, Manager SMT Process Team, takes stock: "After the installation of the first two system 'Made in Germany' there were some process issues, which could be solved very expeditiously through our close cooperation with Ersa. The subsequently purchased ten systems 'Made in China' are in operation since last year, and they are, since then, in 24/7 operation without any problems or issues. Yisem Chang continues: "Ersa has understood the importance of a stable and failure-free process in a mass production environment, since any system down-time is disastrous and extremely expensive."

Competent After-Sales Support from Ersa
The purchase order was issued to Ersa because of the system - but also because of their competent and quick after-sales support team. This partnership has given rise to a true win-win situation! Compal Com will recommend Ersa to companies checking out references, and it will purchase further systems in the near future. Encouraged by the number of satisfied customers and the positive feedback from the market, Kurtz Ersa is already increasing its production facility in South China: A new production hall will be completed in Zhuhai in July of this year, increasing the production capacity by an additional 150 system per year. And: A further expansion is already under consideration.