Electronics manufacturer produces printed circuit boards in-house for the first time with support from FUJI and minimizes dependence on EMS service providers

Kelsterbach, February 3, 2022 – Schubert System Elektronik GmbH has implemented a line concept for the independent production of printed circuit boards. Until now, these had been supplied by EMS service providers. The new production line was necessary to counter ongoing supply shortages in the procurement of printed circuit boards, but also to be independent for strategically important in-house developments. Production has already started successfully. The integrated line concept comes from FUJI EUROPE CORPORATION GmbH (www.fuji-euro.de) and enables Schubert System Elektronik to carry out prototyping as well as the production of medium series sizes.

Schubert System Elektronik GmbH, headquartered in Neuhausen ob Eck, offers solutions for the Industry 4.0 environment. The company has more than 50 years of development and application experience in the field of industrial computer systems. The portfolio includes sensor and monitoring systems as well as modular computer products and systems. The portfolio includes individual products for numerous industrial fields, such as mechanical engineering as well as food and medical technology.

Supply shortages of printed circuit boards disrupted production flow

For the production of its products and systems, Schubert System Elektronik depends, among other things, on the purchase of printed circuit boards, but this has proved increasingly problematic in the recent past.

Javier Aller Fuentes, Head of Production at Schubert System Elektronik GmbH, explains: “Up to now, we have had the PCBs required for our own production supplied by EMS service providers. However, purchasing from Asia in particular has been very difficult since the beginning of the pandemic. Due to the ongoing supply shortages and the resulting shortage of materials, we decided to produce some of our printed circuit boards from now on by ourselves. As a result, we contracted FUJI EUROPE CORPORATION as general contractor to set up a production line for this purpose.” Further reasons for the installation are the increase of the production depth as well as the additionally gained flexibility to react to customer requirements.

FUJI realizes complete production line

For the production line, FUJI supplied all the necessary components such as loader, printer, SPI, pick-and-place, oven, AOI, warehousing and washing. Consideration is given to hardware and software from FUJI as well as products from other manufacturers.

Jochen Krisch, Area Sales Manager at FUJI EUROPE CORPORATION GmbH, says: “Towards the end of 2021, we carried out the line construction, which consisted of delivery and installation. The line was then in service a few weeks later. The official line acceptance will take place in the next few days. However, the first printed circuit boards have already been successfully produced. This shows that the production of the printed circuit boards is running smoothly.”

Great flexibility in the high-mix range

For the production line, among other things, the sItower Various 930 is used as production supply storage for up to 1,300 SMD electronic component reels as well as two FUJI AIMEX III c with DynaHead. The AIMEX III c placement machine increases flexibility in the high-mix area and is designed for modern setup concepts such as batch changeover, fixed setup and AB mode.

“Our AIMEX III c enables prototyping up to the production of medium series sizes. The system can be equipped with different placement heads in just a few seconds, which further increases the machine’s capacity and enables optimal alignment with the respective product to be manufactured,” explains Jochen Krisch.

With the production line for printed circuit boards designed and installed by FUJI, Schubert System Elektronik has positioned itself as independent and future-oriented. It is no longer necessary to procure printed circuit boards from external EMS service providers, which increases the production flow and helps to avoid possible supply shortages in times of crisis.