MYSMT 2015 02

MYNews 2015.02 BNLX-UK – page 1

MYNewsAn SMT magazine from Mycronic

2015.02 BNLX-UK

PINBALLWIZARDchooses Mycronic

VALUEthat’s what we sell!

MYNews 2015.02 BNLX-UK – page 3

High-mix thinkingFor a higher volume world

JEt PRINtINg LEts YoU ADD soLDER PAstE 10 tIMEs FAstER. Stop waiting for painfully slow solder-paste dispensers. With modern “touch-free” jet printing technology, you can move 10 times faster on complex add-on work – with absolutely no risk of human error. Whether you’re mounting PCBs for the space industry, doing pin-and-paste for new mobile broadband appli-cations, or producing highly populated boards, you can always be sure of getting perfect solder joints. How? The secret lies in a combination of advanced robotics and software that enables you to add paste where you need it, with precise volume control. You can also achieve faster, more accurate low-temp paste application, avoiding the need to expose costly components to a second reflow. So why not put our high-mix thinking to work in your higher volume environment?

Mycronic, MYDATA, MYDATA automation and MY; MY100, MY100DX, MY100SX, MY100LX, MY100e, MY100HXe, MY100DXe, MY100SXe, MY100LXe, MY200, MY200HX, MY200DX, MY200SX, MY200LX, MY500, MY600 and MYSynergy; T3, T4, T5 and T6; HYDRA Speedmount, Midas, ISIC; Agilis, Agilis Linear Magazine (ALM), Agilis Linear Magazine Flex (ALM FLEX), Agilis Stick Magazine (ASM), Mycronic Tray Exchanger (TEX), Mycronic Tape Magazine (TM), Mycronic Tray Wagon Magazine (TWM); Mycronic Dip unit (DPU); Mycronic Standard vision System (SVS), Mycronic Dual Vision System (DVS), Mycronic Linescan Vision System (LVS), Mycronic HYDRA Vision System (HVS); Mycronic Assembly Process Management (APM) including; JPSys, TPSys, MYLabel, MYPlan, MYCenter, MYTrace, MYCam, FlowLine and Cad Conversion are registered trademarks or trademarks of Mycronic AB. Mycronic is ISO 9001:2008 certified.

MYCRONIC BNLX: Building Mµ, P.O. Box 8026, 5601 KA Eindhoven - The Netherlands VIsIt: High Tech Campus 10, 5656 AE Eindhoven - The Netherlands teL: +31 40 262 06 67, FAX: +31 40 262 06 68

MYCRONIC UK: Unit 2, Concept Park, Innovation Close, Poole Dorset, BH12 4QT - England teL: +44 1 202 723 585, FAX: +44 1 202 723 269

www.mycronic.com, Publisher: Paul Rooimans, Editor: Keith Wilson. This newsletter is produced three times a year with the intention of providing information about Mycronic, our services and our products. Responsible under Dutch Law - Paul Rooimans

4 Value: that’s what we sell!8 Mycronic partnership12 Pinball wizard chooses Mycronic16 Rommtech halves SMT capacity...20 Experience Centre24 Industry barometer for electronics manufacturing28 System integration32 Aegis and Mycronic...36 Hitting the ground running38 MYCare Training

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Contents 2015.02

MYNews 2015.02 BNLX-UK MYNews 2015.02 BNLX-UK – page 5

Value:that’s what we sell!Around a year ago, we announced that Mycronic would no longer be selling sMt machines; instead we would be selling value...

Around a year ago, we announced that Mycronic would no longer be selling SMT machines; instead we would be selling value. And now something very exciting is happening: potential clients are telling us that value – and not simply machines – is what they really want.

Over the six months since you received the last issue of MYNews, we have spent a lot of time presenting and explaining our new approach to the market. This hard work is starting to pay off. We are seeing more and more CEOs reviewing their benchmarks and accepting that the machine is only a small part of the challenge they face when optimising profitability.

To put it another way, our industry is making a big paradigm shift and, when it comes to SMT equipment, it is now putting value at the top of the list of its requirements, rather than simply looking for raw capacity and a low price tag.

I have personally met with a lot of CEOs, both in our Experience Centres and also outside them. I’ve also met with CEOs abroad in low labour countries. With all of them, I’ve discussed this big shift and, in every case, their response has been the same. They are happy with the innovative approach we’re offering because it gives them new insights – which they didn’t have before – into a profitable operation in any-mix, any-volume environments.

The CEOs I’ve spoken to are also starting to understand that the Mycronic 360° Industry Benchmark Approach aligns with key initiatives such as Smart Industry and Industry 4.0, and that it will ultimately help to boost their bottom line.

Even those who were initially reluctant to visit our Experience Centre to see a live simulation of their entire factory were pleasantly surprised and impressed by the middle of the day. They started to see the bigger picture, and became engaged with the process of creating new strategic

initiatives with the potential to transform their operations and create more profit for their companies.

Isn’t that fantastic? For us, being able to help companies that typically have a bottom line of less than 5% to move forward is like a dream come true! That’s why we’ve stopped selling machines and why we NOW sell value that enables our clients to become more profitable and to enhance their competitive edge so that, at last, they can start to compete successfully with low labour countries.

WhAt’s hAPPENINg At MYCRoNIC

I’m not, of course, going to tell you everything! However, I do strongly recommend that you, as a reader of MYNews, should attend a workshop in one of our brand new Experience Centres. One is in Poole in Dorset in the UK, and the other is in Eindhoven in the Netherlands.

The benefits that you’ll get in return for investing four hours of your time with us are that you’ll gain new and useful insights into your operations, and you’ll also be able to see for yourself the exciting potential of our 360° Industry Benchmark Approach. During the workshop, we simulate a real-life case study where we increase the bottom line by 100%.

I really hope that this challenges you to visit us, and I would be very happy to personally discuss with you the best way forward for your organisation. And please remember that we’re not looking for short-term relationships, but for lasting strategic partnerships that will be beneficial for both of us.

it is now putting value at the top of the list of its requirements...

...rather than simply looking for raw capacity and a low price tag


To give you a heads up on the business we’ve done recently and our outlook for 2015, I can share with you that our business in the UK to date has been at a similar level to 2014. That may not sound exciting, but please don’t forget that 2014 was our best year ever in the UK by a wide margin, so this is, in fact excellent news. We have received a steady flow of orders for advanced SMT lines, many with full integration of our solder jet printers.

In the Benelux countries, the trend is very positive compared with 2014. Business has increased substantially, utilisation of CEMs is now much higher, and we’re seeing more and bigger investments. This is bringing us back to par with 2012 levels of business, which is good news. Most of the new investment has, in fact, been a result of the higher utilisation of CEMs, but some is also a response to the challenge of boosting productivity and, of course, that all-important bottom line.

Productronica is coming in November and we are again launching new exciting products, software and exploring our 360° Industry Benchmark Approach, that will enable you to reach the next level in factory automation and will increase your profitability. During the show our team will be on hand and happy to show you our new solutions and continue discussing our 360° Industry Benchmark Approach.

We are all looking forward to meeting you soon at Productronica Hall A3 Booth 341.

I do strongly recommend that you should attend a workshop in one of our brand new Experience Centres

FACTS & FIGURES ABOUT OUR TERRITORY

Total installed base: 496 Pick and place machines, 77 Jetprinters and 71 SMD Towers, 22 AEGIS MES systems. 284 Mycronic clients.

RECENT NEW ORDERS Axtron MY200LX-14 CIL MY500 DVR MY200SX-14 Elect MY200DX-14 Pascall MY200LX-10 + MY200LX-14 Protonic MY200DX-14 SMB Design MY200LX14 Other accounts 4 x MY200SX-10 + MY500


Mycronic partnership

UNDERstANDINg BUsINEss MoDEL

As being an entrepreneur, we have also discovered differences between our suppliers, and who understands our values in the business model. A particular issue faced by EMS companies is low margins, and this has a huge impact on the health of the company.

With the bottom line results under constant pressure, it is harder for companies to invest, or even to run their businesses on a day-by-day basis. But what about a supplier who also helps its customers to improve their bottom line results? Wouldn’t it be great to find a supplier that takes the time to fully understand your business and also considers what is needed to improve your financial results as part of the solution they offer?

My experience in marketing tells me that it’s very important to track trends in your own market, in related industries and also monitor potential and future developments. What does the customer want and what’s important to them? these are valid questions if we are to provide customers with the best solution for their current requirements. But is this enough?

In our fast-changing industry, which is driven by rapid developments, flexibility is becoming more and more important – in fact, we believe that flexibility is essential for the future success of your company. Terms like ‘Wall-to-Wall’ and ‘Just In Time’ are examples of descriptions that very likely apply to the internal supply chain in your company. While the majority of OEM companies have the good fortune to work with reasonably accurate forecasts, EMS companies are, in the main, forced to work with unpredictable and very short time schedules. And that’s before you consider the challenge of trying to align your material supply to this schedule.

As you can imagine this is only one of the many influences on the processes inside your company, processes that are critical because of their impact on profitability – on your bottom line.

It’s not our task to challenge you with a completely new business model, but we do believe that by sharing our extensive knowledge, we can support this model more extensively. This template can be used for guidance and we are also able to facilitate its implementation by using external specialists where necessary.

Is YoUR CoMPANY FUtURE PRooF?

The management of a company can create the most comprehensive strategy, but it’s equally important to ask whether the company structure is aligned and able to support this strategy. Does the company have the knowl-edge, expertise, processes, business systems, equipment and software in place to achieve the milestones and stay on the scheduled

Twan AldenzeeDirector Strategic Accounts

UK, Ireland and Russia


growth path? Financial aspects such as return on Investment, depreciation and cost of ownership certainly have a big impact on the current situation, but they are even more important for the future.

stRAtEgIC PARtNEshIP

In business, it’s usual to speak about cus-tomers. Customers are people or organiza-tions that buy goods, products, services or ideas from a seller, vendor or supplier for a monetary or other valuable consider-ation. Conventionally, after the customer has received the product or service, there is no commitment for extending the relationship/momentum and no specific intention to build a healthy business together.

The Mycronic perspective, however, is that the relationship between Mycronic and its cus-

tomers is a partnership – a tailored business relationship based on mutual trust, openness, shared risk and shared rewards that result in business performance greater than would be achieved by the two parties working together in the absence of partnership.

Mycronic has a totally different approach to finding the right partners. It’s of crucial importance to understand the drivers before making a decision about partnership. By having a personal and open dialogue, both companies can explain and explore their driv-ers like values (current, needed and preferred), future plans (business model, strategy, finan-cials, etc), and empathy/understanding of the business.

Mycronic has created the first step toward partnership by developing its novel 360°

Industry Benchmark Approach. As part of the benchmark process, from wall to wall, we examine all elements of the business processes inside the company. As well as having a clear view of the production facility, it’s also vital to understand the five-year plan to see that it’s properly aligned and future-proof. The next step is to have an open dialogue where we discuss/share/advise our thoughts on the ini-tiatives for potential partnership. Our primary goal is to help you to make a healthier bottom line for your company.

If you would like to find out more about our 360° Industry Benchmark Approach – and, for the sake of your bottom line, we strongly suggest that you should – you are invited to spend a day with us in one of our new Experience Centres, which are described else-where in this issue, or to contact me direct.

Are you open for a future proof partnership?If so, we’re ready to talk!


René Versteeg Director

ARA

Pinball wizard chooses Mycronic

For ARA (www.ara-aalten.nl), a long established and very successful developer and manufacturer of electronic systems and mechatronic sub-assemblies, deciding to go with Mycronic was an excellent business decision that is helping to boost the company’s profitability, flexibility and customer satisfaction.

“We used to be heavily focussed on machine functionality,” said ARA Director, René Versteeg, “but Mycronic created new insights for us with its brand new 360º Industry Benchmark Approach.”

“This novel approach meant greatly increased involvement for all of the different depart-ments in our factory, leading not only to bet-ter understanding and awareness of our pro-cesses, but also to effective solutions for a number of key challenges. Working together with Mycronic, we developed a transforma-tion plan that enabled us to rapidly optimise our efficiency. It was a great experience that created excellent value for our company.”

Established in 1961 with the initial aim of developing and producing electronic alter-natives to the relay-based systems then widely used for machine control, ARA, in the Netherlands, has a distinguished record of delivering innovative mechatronic solu-tions for even the most unusual applications – including, recently, a new European pinball machine to compete with machines from the established US suppliers. Other areas in which ARA provides modules for OEM customers include medical, semiconductor, metalworking and agriculture industries.

Because of its outstanding in-house exper-tise and experience, ARA’s growth has been strong and consistent, especially over the last five years when there has been, in many machine control applications, a significant trend moving away from the use of general-purpose programmable controllers (PLCs) to more intelligent and more cost-effective custom-designed control solutions.

During this period, ARA has doubled both its turnover and its number of employees. As a result of this growth, the company recently decided that it needed an up-to-date, state-of-the-art, efficient, cost-effective and above all versatile in-house SMT line.

“Ours is a low- to medium-volume high-mix manufacturing environment,” said René Versteeg. “In fact, because we do a lot of development work, we often need to manufacture prototypes in very small numbers. With this in mind, we looked at solutions from several manufacturers, but we very soon realised that the Mycronic approach was by far the best match for our needs. Among the factors that influenced us was the renowned Mycronic reputation for delivering excellent productivity in high mix environments. Advanced quality control


checks during the production cycles and the integrated board inspection system on the jet printer were other big plusses.”

Having made this decision to purchase Mycronic equipment, ARA invested in one of the latest MY200 series pick-and-place machines, and an MY500 solder jet printer.

The MY200 machine was chosen for its very fast changeover times, which are essential if efficiency is to be achieved with short production runs, and its ability to handle an enormous range of component types effi-ciently, whether they are presented as tape on reels, as component sticks or even loose.

ARA has found the ability of the MY200 to work with loose components particularly useful, as it eliminates the need for time-consuming manual reworking to fit compo-nents that, when prototyping, may only be available in quantities of one or two.“Our Mycronic pick-and-place machine is exceptionally fast and easy to set up,” said René Versteeg. “For example, with one fairly typical product we make, where a feeder changeover of more than 120 components is needed, we’ve been able to reduce set up time by a factor of three, from six hours to two hours. As you’ll appreciate, that’s a big efficiency gain and a big cost saving.”

Ours is a low- to medium-volume high-mix manufacturing environment

The MY500 solder-jet printer purchased by ARA, which eliminates the need to use stencils for solder paste application, is also providing big benefits. Not only does it allow fast turnaround on products and prototypes, since there is no delay while stencils are manufactured, it also allows precise control over solder paste deposition, on a pad-by-pad basis, if necessary.

This precise control means that even “dif-ficult” components that would have lead to high rework rates with traditional methods of solder application, can be mounted and soldered consistently and reliably. Costs are therefore reduced and, at the same time, product quality is optimised.

Recently, ARA’s Mycronic machines have amply proved their worth in a rather unusual project – the development and manufacture of a pinball machine. In the late 1980s, the market for these machines shrank rapidly. This was principally because of the com-petition from video games but also partly because pinball machines of that era needed regular and costly maintenance.

New technology has largely eliminated the maintenance issue, and there is a large group of enthusiasts, often described as pinheads, who prefer to play a real pinball machine rather than a video simulation. To capitalise on this resurgence in interest, a new venture, Dutch Pinball, has devised a machine based on “The Big Lebowski”™ theme.

Dutch Pinball approached ARA to help with the development of this machine and ultimately to manufacture it under contract. Since the machine is a consumer product, it was a new departure for ARA, as the other products it manufactures are for industrial applications. Nevertheless, a pinball-machine is an electronic/electro-mechanical machine just like any other and ARA’s expertise makes a big contribution to the success of the project.

At all stages of development, from proto-types onward, the printed circuit boards for

the pinball machine have been produced using ARA’s Mycronic SMT production line.

This has given ARA the flexibility needed to work with all types of components so that an optimised design could be developed without restrictions as to component choice. It has also allowed the company to cost-effectively manufacture the small batches of boards needed for the first production run of the pinball machine, which is just about to reach the market.

“We are not a typical electronics subcontract manufacturer,” said René Versteeg, “because we seek out projects that involve a lot of design and development and where we can ultimately supply either ready-to-use mod-ules or complete machines. Because of this philosophy, the Mycronic machines are an excellent fit for our needs. They allow us to evaluate new designs quickly and cost effec-tively, and they give us complete freedom of component choice. They also deliver consis-tent high quality results”

“Not only are the machines excellent, we also receive superb service and support from Mycronic. The company has done much more than simply selling us equipment, it has also invested time and effort in making sure the whole SMT production site is organised and optimised in the most efficient way. In short, deciding to go with Mycronic was an excellent business decision that is helping us to boost our profitability, flexibility and customer satisfaction.”

Our Mycronic pick-and-place machine is exceptionally fast

and easy to set up


Rommtech halves sMt capacity to boost throughput by 50%

having made a major investment in 3D electrical and mechanical design facilities, Rommtech was achieving gratifying growth in its customer base but was nevertheless finding that its operating profits were disappointing. After executing the Mycronic’s 360° Industry Benchmark audit, the problem appeared to be a production bottleneck in the company’s sMt line, for which a remedy was urgently sought. Much to the surprise of Rommtech’s directors, Mycronic was able to show that the right solution was to halve the nominal capacity of the line!

Rommtech prides itself on offering a wide range of innovative design and manufactur-ing services for electronic products, and has production facilities in the Netherlands and Bulgaria. Although it has been operating successfully for more than 25 years, in 2008 Rommtech’s directors took the decision to restructure and reinvigorate the company to ready it for even greater success in the future.

The restructuring programme largely achieved its aims and saw a significant sustained growth in the demand for Rommtech’s services. The anticipated levels of profit were, however, not achieved. The underlying reason for this is the very com-petitive nature of the EMS market in Europe, which means that any source of inefficiency in manufacturing operations will significantly impact a company’s bottom line.

Rommtech determined that the most impor-tant negative influence was lack of capacity

in the company’s SMT line, which was based around two pick-and-place machines that had given good service over many years. The company decided that these should be replaced, not only to improve throughput, but also because modern machines can efficiently handle a much wider range of component types.

The company was looking for a single replacement machine with a capacity more than twice that of the existing machines, so that the present-day SMT bottleneck would be eliminated and spare capacity would be available for future growth.

With this thought in mind, the Rommtech directors contacted Mycronic, their pre-ferred European supplier of SMT equip-ment. Their initial reaction, however, was that the Mycronic machines were too slow and too expensive. Instead, they would trial an Asian machine with a much higher IPC 9850 capacity.

“You might imagine that I would be con-cerned about this,” said Paul Rooimans, Managing Director of Mycronic UK, Benelux and Russia, “but I wasn’t. Our experience shows that raw capacity figures are only really meaningful in high volume production environments with few product changeovers. In the high mix environments that are typical of Europe, the net throughput of an SMT line depends much more on other factors, such as the supporting processes and the speed of changeovers.”

To demonstrate this point of view, Mycronic offered Rommtech a 360° Industry Benchmark audit on its production pro-cesses, which revealed that the existing SMT machines had an uptime of just 25% of their total possible operating time. This meant that if Rommtech switched to a new machine that was nominally twice as fast, but made no other changes, the end result was likely to be that the uptime would fall even further, and the real-world capacity

Mycronic was able to show that the

right solution was to halve the nominal capacity of the line!


of the line would change very little. In other words, a costly investment would yield little or nothing in the way of gains.

“After looking at the results of the Mycronic audit, we could see that the key to remov-ing our SMT bottleneck was not buying a new machine that worked twice as fast, but making better use of the available assembly time,” said Erik Rommens, Managing Director of Rommtech.

“The audit showed that one of the main rea-sons our two old machines were so poorly utilised was that each had its own operator, who was responsible for order picking for each project, loading the components into the feeders, putting them into the machine and running the job. Afterwards, the opera-tor also had to de-kit the feeders before starting the next job.”

On the basis of these findings, Rommtech decided to purchase a single new machine – a Mycronic MY100SX14 that on paper has only a slightly higher throughput than each of the old machines. At a stroke, this meant that only one operator was needed instead of two. A more significant changes, how-ever, were that the operator would receive fully prepared kitted projects, so would be able to keep a closer eye on optimal system operation.

Rommtech also realised that running with two machines gave rise to other efficiency problems.

With two machines, what do you do if you only have one component reel available for a component that is needed in both machines? And what if one of the machines can mount a specific component faster than the other? If both machines share one library,

changes that positively influence the speed on one machine could create additional errors and losses on the other machine. System-specific libraries, however, have the disadvantage that data must be maintained in two locations, which is extra hassle and hassle costs money!

“We were totally honest with Rommtech and told the company that the 100% uptime that some suppliers claim to be possible is totally unrealistic,” said Paul Rooimans. “There is always some loss of time caused by set up and operator intervention. The best that can be achieved is somewhere between 80% and 90% for long runs of the same product. In a high-mix environment like Rommtech’s, a target of around 60% was reasonable, and would still easily deliver the throughput gains the company needed.”

It did not take long for the Rommtech direc-

tors to conclude that they had made the right decision about updating and increas-ing the efficiency of the company’s SMT facilities.

“After just four months of working with our new Mycronic MY100SX14, we had already exceeded our 60% utilisation target and were, in fact, consistently achieving almost 65%,” said Erik Rommens.

“As you can imagine, our SMT bottleneck problems have been completely solved. We’re having no difficulty in keeping up with present customer requirements and we have capacity in hand for future expansion. This really is a remarkable result when you remember that what we’ve actually done is to halve the raw capacity of our SMT line! In fact, our experience demonstrates beyond all doubt that raw capacity is almost irrel-evant when comparing SMT solutions.”


Experience Centre

Our 360° Industry Benchmark Approach has revealed that EMS companies around the world have issues in their processes that impact machine efficiency. Our biggest chal-lenge was how to get this message across to our customers and prospects in a positive way. How do we show them that the machine is just a part – and not even the most impor-tant part – of the overall production process?

Our solution was to develop our new Experience Centres. The move from our for-mer Flight Forum location to our new prem-ises on the High Tech Campus in Eindhoven gave us a great opportunity and the free-dom to develop our first Experience Centre exactly as we wanted it.

Experience Centre is not just a new name for a demo room; in the Experience Centre we no longer focus on equipment. Of course you will find a fully operational production line, as it is a vital part of your production process, but more important are the work-stations, each of which corresponds to a specific department in your organisation.

Experience Centre is not just a new name for a demo room

Michele PresuttoCustomer Support Manager

Mycronic


In the Experience Centre we simulate your entire production process, starting with incoming goods and purchasing, and going all the way through to actual production. Every department has an influence on the overall machine utilisation and, in the Experience Centre environment, we can show our customers the way their processes should be organised to get the most out of their production facility.

We have adapted our internal training to match our new concept. Of course, we train operators how to run and operate machines, but we also now invite other key personnel to attend our courses, and we train each of them on their own processes with one com-mon goal: to utilise their machine in the most effective way.

The Experience Centre is also an integral part of our 360° Industry Benchmark Approach. Having collected a lot of information from the benchmark assessment we then invite the customer into our Experience Centre to allow us to really show how our solutions will add value to their business.

Feedback already given by the visitors to our Experience Centre in BV – we will also have our new one in the UK up and running in November – shows that we made the right decision and that the centres work effec-tively. We are confident that the Experience Centres will give our customers a better understanding of the peripheral processes and their impact on production capacity. It is, after all, not just about the machine!

It is, after all, not just about the machine!


ChRIs MULVIhILL - EMs MANUFACtURINg -

Q3 has been very good for us as the business has performed and delivered to the headline operating plan. Our OEM sales are strengthening through adoption of a number of the product developments that we released during 2015. Strong OEM sales to UK and non-European customers allowed us to cover slow quarterly activity in our CEM order book. Our CEM customers reported very good order intake, and are expecting this to translate into supply chain activity during Q4 and into 2016.

our friends in electronics manufacturing give us their view on recent trends in our industry, and their thoughts about the future.

We expect Q4 to deliver to plan, with CEM sales featuring strongly. Some key CEM projects will start delivery during the latter part of Q4 which will create very high levels of factory activity. The OEM order book is expected to deliver its results before the Christmas break, as customers in the fire-detection industry reduce their activity levels over the year-end period. The forecast for factory activity will place a premium on the flexibility of the manufacturing system and the workforce. We have invested widely in flexible systems and multi-skilling within the workforce over the past 12 months, and we expect these assets will allow us to deliver to our customers’ expectations.

In Q1, activity levels are always high due to the imminent end of the financial year. The OEM order book is characterised by high activity during February and March as customers close out their year-end budgets. The CEM order book is expected to maintain Q4 activity levels throughout, promising high activity levels. Q1 is significant for EMS as we will be releasing a major new product line that allows us to access different sectors of the fire detection market. The mix of activity will make for exciting times for everyone within the company!

We expect Q4 to deliver to plan, with CEM sales featuring strongly

Industry barometer for electronics manufacturing

ChRIs JohNsoN - JJs MANUFACtURINg -(thE PARAgoN ELECtRoNICs gRoUP)

Despite trading conditions continuing to be tough, we have just completed another financial year where we achieved substantial growth including a record final quarter. In addition we have a number of significant and realistic opportunities that should enable us to continue growth in 2015-16.

Our predictions for the next twelve months therefore are more of the same; we see no dramatic increases, but conversely no major blips. If we are able to win one or two of the new opportunities mentioned above we could see a return to double-digit growth.

Our growth continues to be fuelled by our ability to support complex, highly configured and tested systems. Our capabilities in managing processes from component

sourcing and validation, through PCB assembly and on to complex full cabinet wiring, machine assembly, test and even commissioning, stand us apart from most of our peers. As one of only four UK EMS companies with a wholly owned offshore facility, we offer OEMs the capacity, flexibility and control they need to support their outsourcing strategy.

We continue to work hard to develop and enhance the skills of our work force through continuous personal development, apprentice schemes and commercial graduate programmes to ensure we continue to compete in the global market place.

Our predictions for next year; we see no dramatic increases, but conversely no major blips


We asked our customers to score business for Q3 of 2015, and give us their expectations for Q4 2015 and Q1 of 2016. These are the results, using a scale where 1 means terrible and 10 means fantastic.

gUIDo BERgMAN- MAtAs ELECtRoNICs -

For mainstream non-investment products we are still being put under pressure by competition. We believe that the best type of business to focus on is business for the added value sector – specialization is the key.

That’s why we chose to go for ISO 13485 medical certification. In September 2015, it was finally in place!

The predictability of mainstream and forecast orders is satisfactory. In Q1 to Q3 we saw growth of 20%. We believe the final Q4 outcome could be as much as 25% up on last year.

Because of Mycronic’s new approach, we have changed our internal logistics and production systems to minimize the idle time and to meet the growing requirements for flexibility, and we are see the benefits from this.

We see that our customers are bringing business back from the East, as they like the way we treat them. Throughput times, flexibility and transparency are the things they are looking for. The business is back on track and there is good potential for growth in 2016!

123345678910SCORE

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

toN PLooY - tBP ELECtRoNICs -

The second half of 2015 is showing some decrease in business, largely due to the fluctuations in the dollar and oil prices. Customers are, however, looking for more proactive partners in business, and this is where our focus is at the moment. The predictions we made last year seem to be quite in-line with what is actually happening in the EMS world.

Customers are, however, looking for more proactive

partners in business

THE SCORES Q3 (2015) Q4 (2015) Q1 (2016) (actual) (predicted) (predicted)

Chris Mulvihill 8 8 9Chris Johnson 9 8 8Guido Bergman 8 7 8Ton Plooy 7 6 7

Average 8 7.25 8

We believe the Q4 outcome could be as much as 25% up on last year


system integration

You will have read elsewhere in this issue about the success we have already had with our 360° Industry Benchmark Approach. During the visits we make to implement this, we often find that customers are using sev-eral software-based business systems.

Each of these software systems has its own local database and, in many cases, each database holds a lot of useful data that could advantageously be shared with the other software systems in the business. Unfortunately, these ‘islands of information’ are usually isolated from one another.

It is clear that effective implementation of software is becoming more and more impor-tant as a means of improving business effi-ciency. However, in most cases the real issue is not so much implementation, but integra-tion between systems. When benchmarking customers, we often find very little integra-tion or connectivity, but with so many differ-ent manufacturers and suppliers of software we recognize that achieving integration is a major challenge.

This is why we have taken the decision to define a new role in our organization: our Business Systems Integration Manager, who will play an important part in the 360° Industry Benchmark Approach process. John Rademakers has recently taken on the role and, alongside the other members of the team, will focus purely on the cur-rent business systems our customers have in place, the information contained within these systems, and how the systems can be integrated with our own software as part of our overall solution.

By creating links and sharing database infor-mation we will be able not only to further enhance the efficiency of our own solution but also that of our customers’ other business systems.

This will enable, for example: •LocationofMRPissuedstockinWIP updated in MRP/ERP •Realtimestockquantityincluding attrition back flushed in MRP/ERP •Salesquotationsbasedonrealtime machine performance •PCBleveltraceabilitylinkedtoQMS •Lineperformanceandutilisation integrated into production planning and scheduling systems By connecting the ‘islands of information’ we create a better and more accurate flow of information. As a result, the business functions more efficiently in all areas, which enhances the value that we provide with our solution. With more accurate information flowing in real time, there is also the possibil-ity of reducing the value of stock and WIP. These kinds of initiatives are aligned with the fundamentals of Industry 4.0 and Smart Industry.

Jason GrossGroup Technical DirectorMycronic UK, Benelux and Russia

MYNews 2015.02 BNLX-UK

In a future issue of MYNews, John will high-light some real customer examples of how Mycronic has enhanced the integration of systems.

Here is a quote from Rolf Nagtzaam, IT Manager, tbp electronics bv

“At tbp electronics, we are convinced that putting more effort into connecting applica-tions with machines is the best way to go. Doing this will enable Mycronic to create more value for its customers and help them to maximize their overall potential. The connections we have implemented in our factory are giving us a much better view of the production process. This means we

can ensure that efficiency is increased on all levels: management, logistics and quality. It’s not just the machine itself that is of interest – the data the machine generates is equally important. So instead of merely asking what is the machine capable of, we now also ask what data can we use from the machine?”

With this in mind, you should ask yourself this question: How well are my systems integrated today and what would be the benefits to the business if they were bet-ter integrated? If you’ve not considered the integration of your business systems yourself and you have our 360° Industry Benchmark Approach, one thing is for sure, John will have!

By connecting the ‘islands of information’ we create a better and more accurate flow of information

MILLIoNs oF CoMPoNENts. oNE INtELLIgENt stoRAgE soLUtIoN. Look INto oUR sMD toWER FoR A BEttER WAY. Whether you’re assembling PCBs for advanced smartphones or electronic systems for cars, maintaining seamless production is critical. It’s about more than just speed. You also need material handling solutions that enable the highest possible line utilization at the lowest possible cost. Full control. Easy MSD tracking. And smart storage of an endless array of indispensable components.

The answer is not adding more factory staff, storage space or trolleys, but embracing a smarter solution. Like our new SMD Storage System, which can handle thousands and thousands of part numbers without losing track of a single reel. So why not put our high-mix thinking to work in your higher volume environment?

High-mix thinkingFor a higher volume world


Aegis and Mycronic show how data transparency can improve your manufacturing operations

If you can’t see it, you can’t measure it, and if you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it! This is the simple mantra of successful manu-facturers the world over. Manufacturing excellence can only come from manufactur-ing visibility across the enterprise. That’s the ethos that has driven Mycronic and Aegis to deliver simpler programming, greater trace-ability and better performance.

WhAt MYCRoNIC AND AEgIs CoLLABoRAtIoN

MEANs FoR YoU

This collaboration for success starts with machine programming supports. Users can program all of their placement equipment using one interface Aegis provides for the Mycronic equipment with direct interaction with machine libraries.

Then Aegis software also integrates with Mycronic’s Material Handling software and with eventlog information from their MY200 series placement machines. That way Aegis software extracts all required data to provide Level 4 traceability, down to the component level and process level.

For data conversion, Aegis uses their xLink technology, developed to IPC’s CAMX stan-dard. This collaboration not only provides simplicity and traceability, it can improve performance, by extracting real-time uptime and downtime data, as well as event data like mis-picks through xLink, allowing better productions analysis and management.

MEANINgFUL AND tIMELY VIsIBILItY FoR thE

WhoLE CoMPANY IN oNE PLACE

Visibility is key and that visibility needs to be clear, precise and timely. The best manu-facturers have simple, instant visibility to product, process, quality, test, and materials information factory-wide.

Dr.-Ing. Friedrich W. NoltingManaging Director

Aegis Germany


The benefits of such visibility are well known to the manufacturing community, and yet achieving it has proven elusive for many.

Data is at the core of every successful manu-facturing process, so it is essential to start with the assumption that all the systems and operations within the factory gather and maintain information in a meaningful and timely fashion. This means connecting all the data from inbound materials through materials management, production, test, quality control, packing and all the way to dispatch, and even into after market services.

VIsIBILItY FAR BEYoND FACtoRY WALLs

When talking about visibility, the debate is often restricted to the processes within the factory walls, but the greatest benefit is always achieved when a holistic visible supply chain approach is adopted. Indeed applying disciplines like six sigma, Industry 4.0, paperless factory or lean techniques always works best when applied throughout the supply chain.

tWo soLUtIoNs, tWo oUtCoMEs –

CUstoMIZAtIoN oR EMPoWERMENt

When it comes to resolving all the issues that the transparent factory generates, there are two polarized approaches: one solution is customization and the other is empowerment.

While the customization model may appeal at first, offering multiple solutions that deliver a unique dashboard or report for every eventuality perceived during the installation of the solution, it will clearly be the most rigid in the long term, and as a result the one that requires the most interac-tion with IT, the integrator and the vendor.

The approach of empowerment of the fac-tory personnel to create their own data out-

beyond the cost of the initial implementa-tion. More empowered staff are likely to be more proactive in resolving challenges within the business and from the customer. They are also likely to be proactive and enabled in improving the processes they work on, potentially increasing yield, reduc-ing scrap or waste and lowering costs.

Visibility and transparency mean the world to customers. The ability to retain and grow customer business can be directly associ-ated with their perception of a vendor as open and honest as well as flexible, agile and quick to react to their needs.

Choosing the correct approach to data can be transformational to a business and its ability to serve its marketplace. Collaborations like those between Aegis and Mycronic deliver that data with ease and simplicity supporting those operational and business transformations.

puts and dashboards brings so much more than the custom or tailored solutions. First, it does not require a detailed plan that needs to be applied without deviation, which in itself takes time and resource to research and build. That plan can only reflect the demands of that moment, regardless of how detailed and complete it is.

Second, by empowering those using the system to configure the system, buy in from the operators is obtained. They each have their own version of the system, on their own platform and they are invested into its successful deployment.

Third, the system is as dynamic as your busi-ness is, changing when business or customer demand dictates.

The latter more empowered approach doesn’t make great demands on the IT team and does not expect coding or SQL skills from the user.

FREEDoM oF FURthER gRoWth

It is not reasonable to consider both options without weighing the costs of deployment. A custom solution may initially seem to offer the best value, but it is without doubt a path to endless costs of additional customiza-tion and updates. This may mean the loss of time and agility to the business way beyond the basic cost of programing time.

The empowered solution delivers user cus-tomizable dashboards and reports as well as intuitive data mining. It offers a system that is as flexible and agile as any enterprise and reacts to changes in the same way a suc-cessful enterprise does.

Transparency, traceability, visibility, agility and the ability to mine data and deliver it in a way that allows for the prompt response to every issue will set successful enterprises apart as we continue to move into a world where rapid change is the norm.

A fully transparent approach can have an impact on the business that goes well

oPERAtIoNAL DAshBoARDs

Digitize and automate the daily, hourly, weekly or monthly charts and analysis for the entire factory.

INtERACtIVE REPoRts

Drag-and-drop your data sets to create unlimited reports, interro-gate the data in meetings and in real-time, and automatically email reports on schedule or based on process conditions.

REPoRt sChEDULINg & ALARMs

Link any report to a schedule or a process condition-based alarm. Have reports arrive based on con-ditions in the factory, improving reaction time to serious situations.

We continue to move into a world where rapid change is the norm


hitting the ground running

My start with Mycronic UK really was a case of “hitting the ground running” – to use a well-known phrase. Within the first weeks I found myself attending the company’s Global Sales Training event and I have to confess, sitting amongst managers from around the globe, with years of company experience was a little daunting. However, this proved to be a most valuable introduc-tion to a wealth of knowledge and experi-ence for our industry, which I‘m now happy to call upon when needed.

After a number of other slightly more fun social events in the early weeks, includ-ing the UK/BV team building event in Maastricht that found us all out on bikes in 30° heat and then a torrential thunderstorm, and meeting a number of our UK customers at the Goodwood Festival of Speed - it was time for me to knuckle down to my new role.

For many years, my background has been with a number of CEMs in the UK, so Mycronic isn’t a completely new chapter in my career. Even so, it is certainly a big change. Having worked in roles that include production management, sales, account management and purchasing, my broad knowledge of our customers’ businesses is definitely my strength.

The service management role has recently been divided into two areas: commercial and technical. This means that I will be working closely with our newly appointed Senior Applications Engineer, Robert Houliston, and I strongly believe between us we have exactly the right mix of knowledge and experience to offer the best possible service for our customers.

I’ve initially taken an ‘observing’ approach to assess the trends we see from customers, the issues they are dealing with, and the pressures the UK Service team is up against in keeping our customers informed, their machines running efficiently and their staff properly trained.

I’ve monitored the QPR reports we sub-mit, participated in customer visits to carry out our new 360° Industry Benchmark Approach, and attended preventative main-tenance visits with our engineers to under-stand what support and knowledge we can provide. This has given me a great insight into where Mycronic UK’s strengths and weaknesses lie.

The next phase of my Mycronic story is to meet as many of our UK customers as pos-sible over the coming months and to hear what they have to say. It’s definitely not a good idea to assume we know what our customers think without asking them! I have the feedback and results from our recent customer survey to rely upon, so I’m not heading into this blindly, but it’s invaluable for us to know the details, warts and all.What are the changes so far? A few actions

are underway already and you’ll see more being rolled out soon. As I’ve already mentioned, the immedi-ate effect of my arrival is that we are able to use the skills and time of our Senior Applications Engineer, Robert Houliston, more effectively.

The knowledge he has is invaluable, if only we could download it in a format we could all understand (and I don’t just mean with-out the Scottish accent). This means we have increased our capacity by 20% and we now have a team of six engineers available to support the UK customers.

The other exciting change is our new approach to sales. As I‘m sure you have read in past issues, we’re now putting much more emphasis on total placements over a year than on the raw throughput of our machines.

This emphasis, which is at the heart of our 360° Industry Benchmark Approach, pro-duces gains that go directly to the bot-tom line. You can find out more at our new Experience Centres. The UK Experience Centre is soon to be ready, and I very much look forward to welcoming many of you to our Poole Office to visit one of our work-shops it in the coming months.

Sara ChandlerCustomer Support ManagerMycronic UK

This proved to be a most valuable introduction to our industry


Paul RooimansCeO

Joanne YatesOffice Manager UK

Michel Marquesservice engineer

Sebastian v. HoutenInternal Marketing & sales UK Benelux

Jason Gross technical Director BUK & Russia

Constantia SchaapOffice ManagerBenelux

Michele PresuttoCustomer support Manager Russia

Jeremy HartillDir. Financial services

Robert Houlistonsenior Application engineer

Sergey Ivanovservice engineer

Rebecca Maceservice AdministratorUK

Una Lydonservice Coordinator UK

Twan Aldenzeestrategic Account Director

David Cowellservice engineer

Wesley van Diesenservice engineer

Bas v. Broekhoventraining engineerBenelux and UK

Edwin de BlauwNew Business Development Director

Warwick TempleHuman Resources Manager

Daan v. HoogstratenCustomer support Manager Benelux

Brian Andrews service engineer

John RademakersBusiness systems Integration Manager

Sara ChandlerCustomer support Manager UK

Karin Beekmansservice CoordinatorBenelux

Alan Clarkeservice engineer

Kirill Panteleevservice engineer

Olga ZotovaBusiness Intelligence Manager BUK & Russia

Gennadiy MartynovApplication engineer

Steven Skeldingservice engineer

Paul Harveyservice engineer

Frank SourenCommunication

MYCRONIC Training Dates

UK 2015

16-20 NovemberOperator Training (5 days)

24-25 NovemberMaintenance Training (2 days)

26 NovemberCalibration Training MY100-200 (1 day)

8-10 DecemberProgrammer Training (3 days)

15-16 DecemberSoftware Training (2 days)

MYCaretraining

Mycronic team MYCRONIC Training Dates

Benelux 2015

From basic to more advanced levels for ma-chine operators, programmers and service engineers, we can put the right training methods to work for you.

Part of our training offering includes class-room style tuition conducted at our bespoke learning facilities at the Mycronic offices in Poole, Dorset (the UK) and in Eindhoven (the Netherlands). We offer demonstra-tion areas with pick-and-place machines, jet printers and towers along with a training room with individual PC’s for candidates.

During the training both theoretical and practical exercises are used with an exami-nation at the end of each course. For can-didates who successfully pass the course, a MYCertificate is provided.

We are also pleased to be able to offer be-spoke training courses to suit your specific needs. Pricing will be dependent on the number of attendees and facilities available. Dates are subject to availability and mini-mum attendance levels.

02-06 NovemberOperator Training (5 days)

11 NovemberCalibration Training MY100-200 (1 day)

08-09 DecemberProgrammer Training (3 days)

Benelux - United Kingdom - Russia

At Mycronic, we are committed to developing solutions that improve efficiency for your entire operation.We go beyond the assembly line and eliminate bottlenecks throughout the factory. With our 360 degree approach to SMT manufacturing, we can help bridge your performance gaps and bring real value to your business.

We call this Mycronic 4.0 - a highly automated, intelligent factory for just-in-time production. Let’s meet and discuss your production challenges, and how we create the factory of the future - already today.

We are looking forward to seeing you at booth A3 341 at Productronica 2015.

Find outwhat happenswhen passionmeets innovation

MYSMT 2015 02

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