Best Practice: Sudelec
Professional, human, good!
The French EMS service provider Sudelec is located in the south of the Département Loire, in the heart of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, only about 50 km from Saint-Étienne. The company was founded in 1982 and last year generated turnover of 2.5 million euros with 25 employees on a production area of 1,200 m². As a supplier of equipped printed circuit boards, complete electronics modules and conceptional development, the Sudelec team is involved in branches such as aviation, industry, transport and logistics. Umpteen thousand complex high-tech printed circuit boards are equipped in Usson-en-Forez using a modern high-end machine park.
Remy Lutz: Mr. Calmard, two years ago you bought a VERSAFLOW 4/55 selective soldering line with two pots from Ersa. What are you using the machine for?
Serge Calmard: The machine mainly processes double-sided printed circuit boards with several layers, which would be out of the question for a standard wave soldering machine – and manual soldering was not possible for this application either, since it would have taken too long and been too complicated.
Remy Lutz: What advantages does Sudelec have through the VERSAFLOW?
Serge Calmard: The advantages of this machine are quite clearly soldering quality, reproducibility, passage – not to mention its simple operation, of course. Another advantage is the dramatic gain in productivity compared with manual soldering thanks to significantly faster cycle times. Then of course there is the minimum rework after soldering and much shorter control times. For the future, we aim to stop the current standard wave soldering machine all together. Last but not least, the VERSAFLOW 4/55 impresses with its simple creation of soldering programs, fantastic flexibility through the two pots with y/z-variability and large capacity in line production. This machine is by far the best investment I have ever made for the company – both in terms of productivity and quality. The 4/55 is the high-performance basis we have for further developing Sudelec – which will primarily benefit our existing customers of course.
Remy Lutz: Why did you decide in favour of Ersa?
Serge Calmard: Quite simply because Ersa responded very quickly and was able to deliver immediately: Only one week passed between the first contact and the order. And then there was Ersa’s reputation as market and technology leader for selective soldering systems and system supplier with the most comprehensive portfolio for electronics manufacturing in the world.
Remy Lutz: Were you only interested in selective soldering?
Serge Calmard: No, we took the opportunity to buy an Ersa rework system HR 600/2 for Sudelec, too, for complex repairs which cannot be done by hand. The system passed its trials with flying colours: 5x desoldering and soldering of a BGA which was still functional afterwards. Another Ersa system in Sudelec production is the wave soldering machine EWS 330 which we have had good experience with.
The interview with Sudelec founder and Managing Director Serge Calmard was conducted by Rémy Lutz, Sales Manager Ersa France.
