APEX EXPO / USA
Ersa wins 4 NPI Awards
On 15 March Ersa was honoured with four NPI Awards at the IPC APEX EXPO electronics trade fair in Las Vegas – a historic victory in the history of the awards! Until this year, no company has ever won more than two awards at any one time – and in 2016 no fewer than four awards went to system supplier Ersa!
A wonderful achievement, and one which should be made the most of. The perfect opportunity to do so came soon afterwards, when all the awards were featured as central aspects of the “Festival of Innovation”, presented by system supplier Ersa at the SMT Hybrid Packaging microelectronics trade fair in Nuremberg at the end of April. From outstanding innovation to intelligent technological highlights: machines, systems and manual soldering tools bearing the Ersa logo offer real added value in their respective electronic production sectors – the award-winners are simply the spearheads for a uniquely comprehensive range for electronics manufacturers.
Award-winning categories: “Component Placement”, “Soldering” (x2) and “Software”
We give here a brief overview of the awards given to Ersa at the IPC APEX EXPO in the USA. Ersa won the “Component Placement” category with its multifunctional, collaborative ROBOPLACE, which provides automated selective soldering with its flexible 2-arm technology to free up the operator to perform more demanding tasks. This is one way in which the lean concept, which smooths the way towards the SMART FACTORY in conjunction with Industry 4.0, can be implemented.
One of the “Soldering” awards went to the VERSAFLOW 4/55, the new flagship of the worldwide leading selective soldering systems. This has many new features giving ever greater process flexibility, including the ERSASOFT 5.0 intuitive control panel, motorised adjustable Y-axis for flux and solder modules, Y and Z variability, full convection preheating and 508 x 508 mm process area for inline production.
A second award in the “Soldering” category was won by the HOTFLOW 3/20 VOIDLESS reflow soldering system. This is an efficient solution for minimising voids which gives top results with inline operation, ensuring allround satisfaction with fast, high-volume throughput, short process times and low operating costs. The VOIDLESS module, which can be activated or deactivated at any time, reduces the void rate by about 98 % compared with standard soldering processes.
The fourth award, in the “Process Control” category, went to the Ersa IMAGESOFT software. This new augmented reality tool, run via tablet, is the first to provide 3D views inside the whole machine, thus opening up a whole new form of process control. It gives machine operators, service engineers and technicians direct access to the inside of the machine from outside, without manual intervention or having to open the machine housing. By enlarging the individual components, IMAGESOFT enables the part numbers to be displayed automatically. Since their inauguration in 2008, the NPI Awards have been held annually at the IPC APEX EXPO trade fair in the USA. This was the ninth occasion on which a panel of distinguished experts awarded the prizes for the best innovations in the industry. There only remains one thing to say: Congratulations, Ersa!