As part of their efforts to increase U.S. market share, S&K Electronics, a well-known U.S. electronics contract manufacturer specialising in circuit boards, cabling, box builds and NBC heaters, has chosen Pillarhouse International as their manufacturing partner for selective soldering process equipment.
S&K Electronics offer products and services to government prime contractors across the U.S. and has done so for over 35 years. Placing a premium on quality and precision has long been key to SKE’s ethos, which is why they chose Pillarhouse—for their cutting-edge equipment and their process expertise. In keeping with their principles, they chose the Jade Pro, with its high level of process control, to benefit the expansion of their current production capabilities.
Evolving Technology
SKE has consistently delivered superior products nationwide and has done so with an emphasis on precision. Having produced backplane CCA’s using Selective Soldering machines for years, one particularly complex backplane provided a variety of issues for their manufacturing facility, especially with regards to meeting IPC Class 3 requirements. SKE applied significant engineering resources to remedy the situation, which included considerable rework time to make the backplanes compliant due to their complexity and thermal demands. Therefore, SKE decided to approach Pillarhouse and ultimately purchased their Jade Pro to alleviate this challenge—and this decision yielded outstanding results.
“Pillarhouse put significant effort in to developing the process for this initial project. We were using machines from elsewhere to conduct operations, but then our customers gave us a directive to use Pillarhouse. After not quite achieving the necessary results with other systems and listening to our customers, we eagerly commenced business with Pillarhouse to enhance our project and their Jade Pro has been the only successful machine in this regard. It performs exactly as the software tells it to and is simply the best machine for our needs and our customers’ needs,” says Brande Mergenthaler, Manufacturing Manager, SKE.
The Pillarhouse Jade Pro platform offers SKE the opportunity to provide their customers the latest Selective Soldering technology with the highly flexible, dual solder bath configuration, permitting two alternative solder nozzle sizes within a single machine program. Key to the success of the Jade Pro’s application in SKE’s case is the closed-loop pyrometer temperature control system. This feature provides a repeatable and consistent temperature profile for the Top and Bottom IR Preheating systems. This has proven essential to ensuring that SKE can achieve their critical Class 3 solder joint requirements across all their products.
SKE’s decision to invest in Pillarhouse was borne after conducting extensive market research, demonstrating to the company that the Jade Pro offered the most technologically capable Selective Soldering system, and backed up by positive feedback from customers across North America regarding Pillarhouse’s reputation for equipment technology and process expertise. “We and our customers are delighted with our decision to invest in Pillarhouse’s Jade Pro,” continues Mergenthaler. “The Jade Pro system, along with Pillarhouse’s expertise, helped us overcome our previous difficulties and the need for rework. Pillarhouse also helped us meet our commitments by securing us an early shipping agreement.”
Further Growth
As with many companies in the crowded EMS market, Selective Soldering has become a fundamental part of the circuit board assembly process. And with the increasing complexity, density, and thermal demands of today’s circuit boards—and particularly for SKE—a more precise and capable Selective Soldering process technology is a key to remaining competitive. Pillarhouse’s Jade Pro system has helped them do just that, with the precise process control parameters built into the software and advanced machine features, SKE has been able to establish a robust process, eliminating almost all rework and keep production on schedule. “Our main selective requirements were more advanced pre-heat capabilities, higher control and a more adaptable, accurate process throughout the operation,” adds Mergenthaler. “Pillarhouse’s Jade Pro met and exceeded these criteria, allowing us to turn a military operation that was proving a challenge into a project with at least 95% success and comfortably ahead of schedule. This brought great reassurance to our customers and to ourselves.”
Benefits of Selective Soldering
As a result of this investment in Pillarhouse’s selective soldering technology, SKE has seen a significant and vital improvement within their production capabilities, having all but eliminated costly rework and allowing them to meet the high standards their customers require. “After searching to find the right selective soldering solution, there’s no doubt we have found it with Pillarhouse’s equipment and their process expertise,” concludes Mergenthaler. “Their process knowledge has been valuable, and the equipment is straight forward to program while providing precise parameter control. We are very glad to continue our partnership with Pillarhouse going forward.”
Pillarhouse and S&K Electronics have developed a successful partnership with both parties sure it will continue for a long time to come.
