Speed and high placement quality in the placement process

Kelsterbach, October 4th, 2022 – PHOENIX CONTACT Electronics GmbH relies on high precision, quality and efficiency in placement. The company produces products and solutions for electrification, networking and automation and is experiencing growing demand – partly due to increasing digitization. In order to solve the requirements in placement, the company has been relying for several years on placement machines from FUJI EUROPE CORPORATION GmbH ( www.fuji-euro.de). Currently, there are 7 production lines with 63 modules from FUJI in operation. The modularity of the placement solutions enables PHOENIX CONTACT to react quickly to changing requirements.

PHOENIX CONTACT was founded in 1923 and has its headquarters in Blomberg in North Rhine-Westphalia. The group consists of fifteen German and four international companies. It maintains 11 manufacturing sites and 55 sales companies around the world. The company has around 20,300 employees worldwide. PHOENIX CONTACT specializes in products and solutions for electrification, networking and automation and supports companies on their way to the smart world.

Andreas Göbel at PHOENIX CONTACT, explains: “PHOENIX CONTACT products are used wherever processes have to run automatically. This can be in industrial production plants, in the field of renewable energies, in infrastructure or in complex device connections. The demands on our manufacturing processes are increasing, as more and more individual products are required, sometimes in small quantities, but mass production is also growing. So, especially in placement, we need very reliable machines that work quickly but at the same time with high precision. We have therefore been using FUJI machines for several years.”

FUJI EUROPE CORPORATION, headquartered in Kelsterbach, Germany, covers all areas of modern production in Greater Europe: from highly flexible placement systems in high-mix to complete placement lines in high-volume.

PHOENIX CONTACT primarily uses the scalable NXTIII placement platform. This is designed for speed and supports the smallest parts used in mass production with extreme positioning accuracy.

Automation for repetitive tasks

In addition to the multipurpose pick-and-place machines of the NXT III series, PHOENIX CONTACT, for example, has installed the Smart Setup Station from FUJI. It ensures quick and easy changeover work. The Smart Nozzle Cleaner ensures regular cleaning of the nozzles. This enables a smooth process and corresponding placement quality. The sItower SMD storage system from FUJI also increases process efficiency. It transports individual SMD reels to the storage locations via a robotic arm. Furthermore, the sItower can be used for universal storage of materials and components.

Andreas Göbel says: “Over the past years, FUJI has enabled more and more automation with its placement machines, for example in maintenance processes. This not only creates process reliability, but also valuable time savings and a reduction in the workload for our employees. Thanks to the modularity that FUJI offers, the placement solutions keep growing with our requirements. At the time, this was one of our decision-making criteria when selecting a partner in the field of placement, and it has proven its worth.”

Electronics systems supplier expands product portfolio in Austrian and neighbouring markets with highly flexible FUJI placement solutions

Kelsterbach, July 4th, 2022 – FUJI EUROPE CORPORATION GmbH (www.fuji-euro.de) and Stepan GmbH will cooperate in the future. The focus of this strategic partnership is, among other things, to strengthen the market presence of FUJI and its SMT placement solutions – especially in Austria and its neighbouring countries. This will result from the sales support provided by the Austrian electronics system supplier Stepan. FUJI users and interested parties are thus offered the best possible support, short response times and very high consulting quality.

FUJI EUROPE CORPORATION GmbH is a specialist for highly flexible placement systems in the high-mix/low-volume up to complete placement lines in the high-volume market. Stepan GmbH specializes in highly flexible solutions for the electronics industry. The electronics system supplier for SMT and THT production offers, among other things, high-tech machines and materials for the entire field of the electronics industry.

“We are represented by subsidiaries and sales partners in numerous countries around the world. We have been directly active in Austria for several years. Through the cooperation with Stepan GmbH, we will further increase our market coverage, especially in Austria and its neighbouring Eastern European countries. Our new partner has been active in the business of printed circuit boards, coilware and electronics production for more than 30 years and will give us access to the Austrian market, to companies from sectors such as automotive, industrial, EMS and mobile devices. I The existing market presence of Stepan GmbH, also in the neighbouring countries, creates synergy effects and thus a high market potential”, says Stefan Janssen, Managing Director of FUJI EUROPE CORPORATION GmbH.

In the course of the partnership, Stepan GmbH benefits from FUJI’s wide product portfolio and its increasing focus on Industry 4.0 and automation. Stefan Kessler, Managing Director of Stepan GmbH, says: “Electronics production is increasingly characterized by a variable combination of high placement performance and a versatile product mix with small batch sizes. Short changeover times and flexibility as well as more and more automated processes are essential requirements. FUJI’s placement solutions are designed to meet these requirements and increasingly focus on automation, thus fulfilling the demands of modern industry. They therefore fit ideally into our range of services.”

Specialist for electronic placement machines announces new Branch Manager UK & Ireland and new Area Sales Manager UK & Ireland

Kelsterbach, May 2d, 2022 – Many manufacturing companies, including those in the United Kingdom (UK) and Ireland, are moving towards producing PCBs they need for their production in-house. The European sales headoffice FUJI EUROPE CORPORATION GmbH, which sells own branded SMD placement machines for placement of various electrical and electronic components, is further expanding its activities in both European and UK markets. Martin Rennie is announced as the new Branch Manager UK & Ireland and Artur Tobolski as the new Area Sales Manager UK & Ireland.

“In the past, many customers had moved their production abroad due to lower labour costs and infrastructure. Now we are noticing a change. Partly due to the ongoing supply shortages and the resulting shortage of materials, more and more FUJI customers are currently shifting their focus towards in-house PCB production – most notably in the market of UK and Ireland. This is especially true for medical products, which represent a major growth area in global electronics,” explains Martin Rennie, Branch Manager UK & Ireland at FUJI EUROPE CORPORATION GmbH.

FUJI is therefore expanding its activities in the UK and Ireland and supporting manufacturing companies, for example, in setting up their own production lines. Martin Rennie is playing a key role in advancing this goal. A highly experienced engineer, he had worked for a Fuji customer as a SMD engineer before joining Fuji in 1999 as a service engineer. Before this step up to the Branch Manager role Martin Rennie had risen to senior field service engineer within Fuji.

Artur Tobolski, Area Sales Manager UK & Ireland at FUJI, recently joined the company and has set his goals high. Artur Tobolski is delighted to be part of the team and explains, “We are currently expanding structures and activities in many of our branches. We want to increase market share in the UK and Ireland by providing appropriate service and technical advice so that local manufacturing companies can set themselves up for the new challenges ahead.” Artur Tobolski has 19 years of experience in management positions in the SMT sector. He is an experienced manufacturing engineer with extensive knowledge of Fuji platforms from both hardware and software side.

FUJI EUROPE CORPORATION covers all areas of modern production in Europe: from highly flexible placement systems in high-mix to complete placement lines in high-volume. By providing the machines and supporting services, many manufacturing companies no longer need to procure from external EMS service providers. This means that the production flow is increased and possible supply shortages in times of crisis are prevented.

Kelsterbach, March 18th, 2022 – Klaus Gross, Managing Director of FUJI EUROPE CORPORATION, is taking his well-deserved retirement on March 31 and will leave the company after 30 years. On April 1, Mr. Stefan Janssen, until now Ass. Managing Director, will succeed him. The long-term corporate goals, first and foremost “Total Customer Satisfaction” – highest customer satisfaction and service – as well as healthy growth and reliability will remain in focus.

30 years ago, Klaus Gross changed from the customer side, then Motorola, to the supplier side in the still freshly founded subsidiary of FUJI. Since then, he has accompanied and guided the company in various positions up to the present day.

Great gratitude

“I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank our customers for their loyalty, faithfulness and extraordinary good cooperation over all these years. Furthermore, I would like to thank our partner companies who have supported us in our success over many years. I would also like to express my warmest thanks to my employees and colleagues. Their hard work and motivation have brought us to where we are today. Just as important is and was the global team spirit with the different cultures in Japan and all other FUJI subsidiaries worldwide. It is a tightly woven network, indeed you could say a multicultural family with a very large feel-good factor and very pleasant and effective communication,” explains Klaus Gross.

Ideal management position

FUJI stands for mastering customer requirements with technically revolutionary solutions, leading quality and outstanding service. “Against this background, Stefan Janssen is the ideal person to lead FUJI EUROPE,” explains Gross. “His many years of experience in international key accounts for automotive customers, as well as being the second man on the management board, will resolutely help us to successfully pursue our strategic goals in the long term,” says Klaus Gross.

Generation change

In place of the Ass. Managing Director is Mr. Jonas Ernst, who has already been with FUJI EUROPE CORPORATION GmbH since 2012 – recently as Export Sales Manager. “With the choice for Jonas Ernst, we will make a generational change, which will certainly blow a fresh wind into our structures, and will also position FUJI securely for the future,” says Klaus Gross.

Farewell to life’s work

After more than a Quarter Century, Mr. Gross’ farewell is not only a milestone for FUJI, but also for Gross himself. “The company has been an important part of my life,” he says, looking back on the last few years. “Letting go now is not easy. And yet I’m also looking forward to the new stage in my life, where many other things are waiting for me.” Gross will leave FUJI on March 31, 2022.

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.