New Odd-form/Surface Mount Production line goes in at WPS

A large crane, plenty of manpower, some careful planning and dry weather were called for as WPS upgraded the plant at their Fir Tree Road, Hastings, production facility.

They have added a fifth production line to their surface mount facility. The new line consists of an EKRA 4000 Serio iPAG enabled solderpaste printer, a Soltec 7038 reflow oven and a Universal Fuzion OF1-11 Odd-form assembly machine.

Not only does this increase their surface mount capacity to almost a quarter of a million placements per hour, it also adds the additional capability of odd-form assembly; the new Fusion machine has a surface mount capacity of 16,500 component placements per hour from 0201 up to 150mm sq, 25mm tall components, but also assembles a full array of through-hole components, including connectors, sockets, transformers, heatsinks and many other component types as a fully automated process.

The operation was overseen by Tim Wilson, joint MD of WPS and was accomplished in a single day.