Investment in new assembly, marking and test technology means faster time to market and reduced costs when outsourcing South Wales-based Axiom Manufacturing Services has invested another 1/2m in three new pieces of equipment to increase its involvement in the low to medium volume specialist manufacture of high-end technology.
The machinery including a Fuji AIM surface mount technology line, Nutek Laser etching system and Takaya flying probe test system, helps Axiom fulfil its aim of providing customers with a total solution.
Investment in a second Fuji AIM SMT line has helped Axiom dramatically reduce change-over times, further improving first time quality yields. The SMT line can pick and place components from a 76mm connector down to a 01005 sized component (0.4 by 0.2mm). It is further enhanced with FujiTrax software providing component reel barcode verification and off-line component library generation and test.
The laser etching system eliminates the need for manual labelling. This reduces cost and, most importantly, provides a permanent ID, utilising alpha-numeric characters and barcodes, enabling full component traceability back to goods received number (GRN).
Investment in a fixtureless flying probe test system, a Takaya APT 9411CE, has strengthened Axioms overall test offering. In addition, the flying probes comprehensive test capabilities for prototypes adds an important confidence factor at early stages of product development.
These increased capabilities will help Axiom operate more efficiently, reduce time to market and help reduce customers total acquisition costs.