18/02/2021

Trend for comprehensive contract manufacturing services

Contract manufacturing in Russia, and probably all over the world, can be divided into two groups based on how they appeared. One group consists of companies that initially created production facilities for the manufacturing of their own products, and later began to offer contract assembly services, since their capacities were underutilized. The second group consists of companies that initially focused on contract assembly and, sometimes, related services. 

Rezonit belongs to the second group. Moreover, the company's range of services is unique for the domestic market: in addition to the traditional PCBA, the company produces printed circuit boards at its own facilities, as well as stencils for applying solder paste. 

Beyond that, this company is interesting because of its specialization in the express production of prototypes, as well as in mass production. Not only can it work with both types of orders, but it also has specially selected equipment for each of these options and appropriately built technical processes. 

One of the sites of Rezonit is located in the village of Zubovo in the Moscow region and its main focus is on mass production. This site has recently acquired new equipment: advanced Kulicke & Soffa component-assembly machines and a new selective soldering unit. 

Vyacheslav Pushkarev, Head of Assembly Production at the Rezonit Technology Park in the village of Zubovo, told us about the assembly production at this site, as well as how the company is developing in general.

Vyacheslav, Rezonit is well known in our market not only as a contract manufacturer, but also as a PCB supplier. Which direction appeared first?

Initially, Rezonit, founded in 1997, was engaged in placing orders for the PCB manufacturing at the production facilities of Russia, the Republic of Belarus, the Baltic States and, in the early 2000s, China.

After some experience was accumulated and a pool of customers was formed, within a few years we opened the first assembly sites and launched our own PCB production in Zelenograd.

At the end of 2008, we started the reconstruction of the factory building in Zubovo, where a more modern and technologically advanced PCB production was launched in 2013. At the moment, the Technology Park in the village of Zubovo is our main site. There is a PCB production plant and assembly shop, focused primarily on medium and mass production. At the moment, at the site of Zelenograd, we mainly produce small express orders. In St. Petersburg, there is an office and assembly shop mainly for customers of the North-Western region. Since 2019, we have been building a new plant at the Alabushevo site, where we plan to focus on urgent services for the PCB production, assembly and production of stencils, as well as to provide comprehensive solutions for the production of express electronic assemblies for our customers. First release at this site is planned for 2022.

Thus, you have some specialization of sites in terms of production series. What order volume do you consider to be large, so that you produce it on a serial site?

It is difficult to name a specific figure here: it depends not only on the number of boards that need to be assembled, but also on their complexity, the number of assembled part types, and other factors. All these factors have to be considered together. But if we take the average values, then, probably, starting with 1,000 products of average complexity we can consider an order to be large.

How common are such orders? Is the production load in Zubovo high?

There are quite a lot of such orders. At this site, we have three automatic assembly lines with a total capacity of more than 175 thousand computers per hour, while the production, working in two shifts, is usually loaded by about 80%.

Is the performance you named real or passport?

When we talk about throughput, we always call the real values that we get from our statistics. The passport performance of the equipment is usually significantly overestimated.

So, there is still a reserve of capacity to increase the production? After all, you can increase the number of shifts to three.

Under contract production conditions, it is always necessary to have a reserve in case of peak load. Therefore, it is undesirable to constantly work in three shifts. In addition, when assembling printed circuit boards, manual operations remain anyway, and they are difficult to perform at night.

How often are changeovers made on these lines?

Sure, contract manufacturing is associated with quite frequent changeovers. On the flagship, the most productive line, where the assembly of large series is carried out, the transition to a new product is carried out approximately once in two shifts. Оn the line, where relatively small series are assembled, changeovers are performed more than twice a shift.

How did you choose the equipment for surface assembly lines? What were the main requirements for it?

We position our contract manufacturing as universal. There is no electronics sector that we consider our specialty. We collect devices for the automotive industry, medicine, industrial automation, telecommunications, security, fire equipment, and other products. The only thing that we don't produce is military orders. In the civilian market we do not have any restrictions on the final use of the assembled devices.

Therefore, one of our main requirements for the equipment is versatility and ensuring consistently high quality when working with almost all existing designs of printed circuit assemblies and types of components.

For example, if a company specializes in lighting products, it might need equipment that can work with large panels, special feeders, attachments for capturing LEDs, which have high performance, but the assembly accuracy may not be so high.

We have a different situation: we receive very different orders, every time new ones.

I think that in any production, one of the highest expenses is the revision and reparation of manufactured products. The higher the quality of the equipment, the greater the yield of the first pass, the smaller the repair volume, and therefore the lower the cost of manufacturing. That is why it is very important for us to make sure that the equipment provides a consistently high quality of assembly, regardless of the complexity and characteristics of the products.

The assembly equipment in our production ensures one of the best qualities on the market. On the newest machines the dpm (number of defects per million possibilities) is less than one.

Another important requirement is the flexibility of the equipment. We have already discussed the number of changeovers on our lines. Since it is quite large in contract manufacturing, we need the equipment to guarantee simplicity and minimal changeover time.

How long does it take to reset the line?

Again, this depends heavily on the complexity of the product and on the component base used. On average, the changeover takes about 50 minutes, but if there are a lot of specific components on the board, this process may take longer. 

Here it is very important that everyone should do their own thing. We have a department that prepares programs for equipment; there is a Component Warehouse where ECB (Electronic Component Base) is received, recalculated and marked; there is a section for PCB marking. Each board has its barcode, and if the assembly is two-sided, then there is a barcode on each side. This is necessary for the correct operation of inspection equipment and statistical process control (SPC) and production (MES).

These barcodes are subsequently read not only by automated equipment, but also at workplaces, including quality control supervisors. This ensures complete traceability of the manufacturing process, and we can always provide customers with data on how their products were assembled.

As a result, the components and the board are delivered to the production with a unique marking, and all that remains is to charge the feeders and link them to the corresponding part types by reading the barcodes from the package. This is done outside the line, in a dedicated area, so this operation does not require stopping the automatic equipment. Finally, the feeders are arranged in feeder trolleys, with the help of which they are quickly assembled on automatic machines. All the pick&place machines in the lines allow for replacing the feeders in batch. In other words, everything is being done to minimize line downtime.

During launching a new product into production most of the time is spent on preparing programs for assembly equipment?

Perhaps, the preparation of programs for the AOI is the lengthiest process. But since this work is performed off-line, it does not have a significant impact on the changeover time.

As for the programs for pick&place machines, if we receive files from modern CAD systems, it happens quite quickly. However, some customers send projects in outdated or exclusive formats, which, of course, makes the process more difficult. The same applies to the paper documentation: there are customers who provide drawings and specifications in accordance with the Unified system for design documentation, but sometimes they give us scanned sketches or even drafts. However, the second is usually typical for prototype production.

In general, a perfectly prepared project is the dream of any manufacturer. This applies not only to the file format and the quality of documentation, but also to taking into account the requirements of automated assembly in the design of the product, especially for mass production.

So, does the Design for Manufacturing remain a problem?

I have to say that recently there has been a tendency for designers to be more guided by the principles of DfM and DfA in their projects, and their competence in this shpere is growing. But the problem still exists.

Therefore, we are actively engaged in educational activities. Until 2020, we held large seminars, the first part of which consisted of reports on the PCB design, the choice of materials, the design of stencils and assembly. Within this part, you could ask questions and get answers from our specialists. The second part was an excursion to the production site, where the participants of the event could see the production processes live and also get answers to their questions.

Last year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we turned these events into webinars.

In addition, we have published a number of videos about the technologies used in our production and how to prepare projects for production on our YouTube channel. These videos are very popular, and we receive a lot of great feedback from our customers for the information.

You mentioned the ESDD documentation. Is it still necessary for an automated assembly?

We work with a wide range of documentation formats; we do not have a requirement that it should be issued exactly according to the ESDD. It is important for us that the kit includes a CAD file, an circuit board diagram or an assembly drawing and a specification, and most importantly - that they are clearly readable and they do not contradict each other. Unfortunately, sometimes this is not the case.

Are there any cases when, due to errors in the design of the product, you are forced to refuse the customer to assemble it?

These are isolated cases. In fact, there is nothing particularly difficult about designing a product considering the requirements of automated assembly.

If we talk about surface assembly on the line, there are only three key points: the multiplicated panel preparation, the technological fields at the edges of the panel for the possibility of moving it along the conveyor and the reference marks. Compliance with these rules is sufficient in most cases. Moreover, as a rule, we can perform multiplication and add fields and reference marks on our own.

Products that are not prepared for automatic assembly have to be produced manually, and this greatly increases both the production time and the cost. If we are talking about a prototype, this might be acceptable. But, unfortunately, some customers do not take these requirements into account when putting the product into mass production, and do not make the appropriate changes after the successful assembly of the prototype.

In some cases, failure to comply with these requirements makes the process extremely difficult. For example, after manually assembling the components, the board enters the oven, and if there are no fields on it, you need to use a mesh-belt conveyor, and this imposes restrictions on the assembly of components on both sides. If the assembly is two-sided, the board can be soldered in an oven with a mesh conveyor, but specialized equipment is required. And this is not only difficult and expensive: the use of tooling inevitably affects the quality of soldering.

Automation of processes allows for significantly improving quality and repeatability, and we strive to avoid manual operations in our production as much as possible. We are looking towards a complete rejection of manual manipulators for surface assembly. We have already made some significant steps to automate the THT assembly: in 2019, we launched the first selective soldering unit, and in 2020, we added another one. The use of selective soldering improves the quality and reduces the production time, but also imposes certain requirements on the project.

Good project preparation is the key to the quality and reliability of products. Therefore, we are actively trying to convey relevant requirements to customers, always emphasizing that these are not our unique requirements. Their compliance is necessary for high-quality automated assembly. The price, assembly time and, most importantly, the quality of the product will depend on how the project is prepared.

We are ready to provide comprehensive assistance to customers in preparing projects for production and we strongly recommend that you contact us as soon as possible. If you have any questions, it is better to ask the manufacturer rather then truing to find the answer on the Internet.

In addition to training, our specialists are ready to help with the components selection: we offer component supply for orders from one item to a mass production. The specialized department works with the largest distributors and manufacturers to help the designer select the necessary components and optimize the assembly. When ordering a kitting from us, the customer doesn't have to worry about the shortage: the components will be fully purchased, taking into account all the assembly requirements. If the customer has a special, exclusive component it is not a problem: customer's or combined supply of the order is also possible. For example, the customer can supply microchips, and we will complete the order with passive components from our own warehouse. Naturally, in case of our delivery, we assume all risks regarding the lead time and quality of the components.

Is optimization performed when preparing programs for pick&place machines?

Yes, optimization is performed using special software. We use software that allows for preparing the project for assembly, so that you can check the board and component parameters. Program optimization is performed by integrated tools created by the manufacturers of pick&place machines.

The important point is that modern software allows you to predict the operations time with high accuracy. The deviation of the real time of the PCBA cycle from the calculated one in practice is only about 5%.

Do you have to perform thermal profiling when launching a new product? Or do you use a certain set of standard profiles?

In production facilities where the assembly of their own products is carried out, you can do with a certain number of standard profiles. But we have a contract production. The products that we collect may differ significantly in design, in the ECB used and in weight and heat capacity. We don’t choose a single scheme that is suitable for any order. Therefore, we perform thermal profiling quite often.

However, the use of modern profiling tools makes this process less complicated. We can say that there are two leading companies in the market that offer such solutions. From the point of view of the hardware, the differences are insignificant: in fact, these are devices that measure temperature using thermocouples. The difference between the solutions of different manufacturers is mainly in the software that analyzes the received data and optimizes the thermal profile. We chose the solution from KIC company because of the functionality of the software. Its software allows not only to measure the temperature and optimize the profile, but also to build a profile virtually based on the dimensions and weight of the product, which reduces the changeover time.

So, when all the programs are prepared, the boards are marked, and the feeders are loaded, the assembly process begins. How is the SMT assembly organized in your lines?

The application of solder paste is carried out by screen printing. The lines of this platform are equipped with automatic printers of the same manufacturer, but of different generations: MPM Momentum, MPM Momentum Plus and MPM 100. In the near future, we plan to replace our oldest MPM with a new Yamaha machine, which we have already ordered from AssemRus. We already have one Yamaha printer, which works at the Zelenograd site, and we are quite happy with it. A new printer is on the way.

At the sites where we make prototypes, we also use printers, but manual and semi-automatic ones. We use the dosage only in special cases.

We can provide stencils of our own production, because we our own stencils laser cutting site. This is one of the advantages of the company, especially given the trend towards complex services. Rezonit is one of the few contract manufacturers in Russia that can not only assemble printed circuit boards, but also produce boards and stencils for them, and, as a manufacturer of stencils, we are one of the leaders in the domestic market.

This is very convenient for customers: first, they do not need to look for manufacturers of boards and stencils before transferring the product to assembly, and secondly, we can take into account all the nuances of assembly in preparation for the PCB production, design, stencils manufacturing, and we take all the risks. Often there are situations when the board is ordered in pannels, and the stencil is required for a single PCB and vice versa. If the order for the stencil is "linked" to the board order, then the probability of such a situation tends to zero, since we prepare the files for cutting after the order for the boards has gone into operation.

Producing a stencil for assembling modern products can be quite a complex task that requires some experience. Some customers design the stencils themselves and do it quite professionally, but, as in the case of PCB design, this doesn't always happen. Although there are various calculation methods and recommendations for the design of stencils, they are largely for reference purposes. Especially when it comes to multi-level stencils.

Are multi-level stencils in demand in our market?

I cannot say that this service is in massive demand, but it is not nominal for us. We produce multi-level stencils with both reducing and adding thickness - Step-Down and Step-Up, but their demand is small.

Probably, the main reason why these orders are uncommon is that not so many products of high complexity are developed in Russia. The second reason may be due to the fact that some manufacturers are wary of multi-level stencils, as to everything unknown. That is why they try to solve the problem of applying solder paste with significantly different volumes differently. For example, solder preforms can be used. This is not a very common method in Russia, but it is quite workable. You can also apply additional paste point by-point with a dispenser, which is also a good choice , but more suitable for small-scale production. Finally, some manufacturers, in places where a larger volume of paste is needed, simply increase the apertures so that the print goes beyond the contact pad, expecting that the paste will gather on the pad from the solder mask when melting. But this method is risky in terms of quality and, in addition, it imposes restrictions on the distance between the pads .

Despite the small current demand for multi-level stencils, we expect that it will grow in the near future, that is why in 2020 we invested quite heavily in this direction. Currently, I believe that we have the most modern technology for the production of multi-level stencils.

At the same time, stencils for assembling products with miniature packages are in great demand. We are working more and more with steel with a thickness of 80 microns, which is necessary for printing paste for components 0201 or less. Until recently, the thickness of 100 microns was unusual , and now it is almost standard.

At the same time, stencils with finishing polishing are now very popular. In the cutting area, there are always burrs, which negatively affect the quality of printing for components with a very small pin pitch, for example, 0.4 mm, as well as for miniature BGA packages. Polishing allows you to remove these burrs, which provides a better paste application .

What is the smallest component found in the products you assembly?

This is a component in the 01005 package. But such components are rare, perhaps it is only a few cases.

And what is the most complex component that can be assembled on your lines?

There are no restrictions, I believe. Modern complex components generally are not designed for manual assembly, so their designs take into account the requirements of modern assembly equipment. And our pick&place machines are one of the leaders in the market. As I said, we chose them to a large extent for reasons of versatility, and they are able to put all the common packages for surface assembly.

For the assembly of components, we use the equipment of Kulicke & Soffa — the successor of Assembleon, which, in turn, once stood out from Philips. When we started to equip our assembly plant with automatic equipment, we relied on pick&place machines from PhilipsOpal and Topaz. At that time, they were very common, as they were characterized by high reliability, good technical characteristics and an acceptable cost of ownership, especially given the fact that they produced cheap, but quite high-quality equipment in China. Any automatic component assembly machine consists of two main parts: the robot pick&place machines itself and the equipment-feeders, attachments, etc. Feeders can sometimes cost more than the base of the machine, so the opportunity to save on them can be very attractive, especially at the initial stage of production development.

Further, expanding and modernizing our production, we began to introduce newer machines of the same company. We purchased the first pick&place machines directly, but when AssemRus became the official distributor of Assembleon in the Russian market and began to provide support both for the purchase and commissioning of equipment, we started to buy pick&place machines from them. Now AssemRus also supplies us with printers, selective soldering systems, and conveyor systems. One cleaning machine was also purchased from AssemRus.

Flexible line with the iX 302 chip shooter and two iFlex assemblers from Kulicke & Soffa

Currently, we have pick&place machines of different generations, ranging from Opal and Emerald to the iFlex and iX series on the most modern Kulicke & Soffa platform. There were times when we looked at the machines of other manufacturers, but as a result, we always chose the pick&place machines of this company.

In the lines on the Zubovo site there are only automatic machines of the AX, iX and iFlex series. The most productive of them is equipped with three automatic machines. The first of them is the chip shooter iX 302. Next is the iFlex T2, a universal automatic machine that can assemble both miniature components, including the 01005, which were not assembled by the iX 302, and fairly large ones at high speed corps. The third is the precision machine iFlex H1, which puts complex components from pallets and sticks with high precision. In fact, two iFlex machines can be considered as modules of a single assembly, which corresponds to the modern concept of Kulicke & Soffa. 

This line was put into operation last year.

The second line, which is approximately equal in performance to the first, has an AX501 shooter chip and an AX-201 precision automatic machine. In the third line, there are also two automatic machines: the AX301 plays the role of a chip shooter, and the precision pick&place machines is the same as in the second line.

The new line was purchased all at once?

No, the modernization process is continuous at all sites, and it is happening gradually. So, this line was first equipped with an automatic inspection system for applying solder paste, then new pick&place machines were purchased, and the printer was replaced. In the near future, we plan to replace the AOI system and the oven, which is already on the way.

What will the new oven look like? How is it superior to the one that is used now?

At the moment, our production uses ovens of various manufacturers: Ersa, Heller, there is even a domestic oven from ZENCHA-Pskov. In the lines on this site, the number of oven heating zones varies from 6 to 8. The new Heller oven will replace the fairly old Ersa oven. This will be a top model with 13 heating zones.

Is the number of zones increased due to lead-free technology?

No, it didn’t. Our ovens are still successfully coping with lead-free soldering. The increase in the number of zones is our response to the increasing complexity of the products, as is the acquisition of iFlex pick&place machines. New products require a different level of assembly quality, versatility in terms of component types, which is provided by the machines of this series. Now, to make up the "dream line", we lack the most advanced oven.

We are looking one step ahead. Although the ovens that we currently use allow us to build the necessary profiles in order to solder almost any product that comes to us for production, a larger number of zones will allow us to build smoother profiles, which will improve the quality of soldering. At the same time, we won’t have to slow down the oven conveyor, which is sometimes required to build a smooth profile and better warm up the panel.

It should be noted that, in addition to the number of zones, their size plays an important role. There are ovens with narrow zones, but the ovens that we expect to arrive in the near future have wide zones.

You said that sometimes due to improper preparation of products, they need to be soldered on a mesh-belt conveyor. Do you have such ovens?

Yes, but only in the prototype production. In the production lines, all ovens are equipped with an edge hold conveyor with a central support.

Your lines are assembled with equipment from different suppliers. Is there a problem with service due to the lack of a "single window system"?

There is no such problem. We have our own strong service team that performs scheduled maintenance and minor repairs. More extensive maintenance of complex equipment is carried out by the relevant suppliers. I think that even if the entire line is serviced by one company, different service engineers will still come to service, for example, a printer and an oven. And when purchasing equipment from different suppliers, we are not limited in choosing the most suitable solutions for us. After all, there can be the best ovens on the market in the supplier's advanced pick&place machines portfolio, and vice versa. 

As for the pairing of equipment - now it is also not a problem. All modern assembling machines interact via standard interfaces and can be connected to a single MES system.

You said that you also plan to replace the AOI system. Why is it necessary to upgrade the inspection equipment?

Now we use Koh Young optical inspection in all three lines - both SPI and AOI. Previously, we used Orbotech's AOI. For its time, this equipment was very advanced. While most systems at that time, in fact, compared two images - a photo of the tested and reference board, the methods were already implemented in the Orbotech assembly machines simulations of the component and the solder joint, allowing them to be analyzed in space, although without the possibility of measurement.

But, unfortunately, Orbotech closed the AOI direction for electronic assemblies and focused on the PCB inspection. We were forced to look for equipment from another manufacturer and settled on Koh Young solutions.

Modern products require the next level of inspection, and the constant modernization of inspection equipment is an urgent need. In addition to the need for higher resolution (and on our old Orbotech assembly machines, even the inspection of 0402 packages is on the verge of being possible), it is necessary to identify more and more diverse defects. And of course, the so - called True 3D-the ability to obtain real three-dimensional images and perform measurements is of great help in assessing inconsistencies.

In addition, modern inspection systems "communicate" with each other and with other equipment in real time, which allows you to quickly respond to process deviations and correct them. These are elements of "Industry 4.0".

The SPI and AOI communication is double-sided. If the AOI has detected a defect, it is possible to correlate its data with the SPI data and determine whether it is caused by a deviation in the application of the paste. On the other hand, if the SPI detects the state of the print on the edge of acceptable, it transmits this data to the AOI, so that the system and subsequently the controller pays special attention to this potentially defective connection.

The SPI also provides data for correcting the printing process to the printer, and modern screen printing assembly machines allow you to correct not only the offset of the stencil, but also the pressure of the squeegee.

How many false positives does the AOI give out?

The adjustment of the AOI system is always performed in such a way that disputable situations are perceived as defects, because it is better to once again draw the attention of the controller to a potential deviation than to miss the real defect.

If we talk about specific values, they strongly depend on the product and on the configuration. There are cases when the contact pad is designed suboptimally, and the height of the paste lifting on the contact surface of the component is close to the threshold value, although within acceptable limits, thus the AOI considers this a defect. The only way to avoid such false positives is to lower the threshold or completely disable the verification of this component, but this cannot be done, because in this case, the real defects of this solder joint will not be detected.

Sometimes different batches of the same product are equipped with components from different manufacturers, which only slightly differ in size, but this is enough to make the parameters of the solder joint on the verge of acceptable. Then, in one batch, the number of false positives can be, for example, 3%, and in the other-10%.

In practice, the percentage of false positives varies from about 5 to 15%.

Your production facility has an X-ray inspection unit. Is this inspection done selectively?

Yes, this equipment works off-line and is usually used for selective inspection. But for particularly critical products, we perform 100% control of those components that cannot be inspected at the AOI or visually inspected.

You said that you also wanted to automate THT assembly, for which you use selective soldering machines.

Yes, we have two systems - from Seho and Pillarhouse. Both machines are equipped with two soldering modules; the first one has paired modules, the second one has independent modules. According to their characteristics, they resemble each other. We launched the Seho machine at the end of last year.

Selective soldering provides significantly higher quality and its repeatability can be compared to manual assembly. However, this is not a complete automation of THT assembly , because soldering is preceded by several more operations: forming and cutting the pins, fixing the components on the board. Automation of these operations imposes significant restrictions on both the components used and their packaging, as well as on the soldering equipment. A variety of pin components and features of their assembly - for instance, setting at a certain height of LEDs or connectors - imposes too high requirements to the versatility of equipment for these tasks, and its application on such diversified production, like ours is impractical.

It is important to say that the equipment for manual soldering is also being updated. When we switched to JBC soldering stations, one of the leaders in this field, our manual soldering reached a new level.

How do you clean your products?

We have implemented two cleaning technologies: ultrasonic with the use of semi-aqueous solvents and jet with the use of alkaline compositions, which is performed in the system of the well-known German company Kolb. Jet washing can be carried out without washing liquid, but water-washable paste is used quite rarely. We usually use either pastes with easily removable flux residues, or a wash-free paste if the products are not washed. 

To apply moisture protection, we use a machine of our own design. This is not quite selective moisture protection, but this machinery allows you to apply the coating selectively on certain areas, and not on the entire product. If a more precise application is required, then the areas that should not be covered are masked.

At the end of getting acquainted with your production, please share your view on the prospects for the development of your company. Judging by the ongoing work on the expansion of production and the construction of a new plant, these prospects look positive. Is that so?

Indeed, we are working to develop, not to stay afloat.

Despite the difficulties of the past year, our company feels quite confident. We didn't stop for a day. During the spring wave of the pandemic, we held out on those orders that were already in production, and then new ones began to arrive. Moreover, we had a lot of medical equipment orders.

And one more thing: we, as manufacturers, feel the trend of electronic products localization, and this really has a positive impact on the market of both PCB production and contract manufacturing. Obviously, this is a consequence of the regulatory changes that have been adopted recently to support domestic manufacturers. The assembly of electronic products has already been largely transferred to domestic sites. As for printed circuit boards, the situation is slightly different: the cost of manufacturing in Asia is lower, and therefore localization in this area, although it occurs, is slower.

However, localization is mostly about large projects. We also have a significant share of orders for urgent prototyping and small series. In this sector, our strength is that we position ourselves as a universal manufacturer, so even if there is a decline in one niche, it is offset by growth in another area.

Another of our advantages, which we have already mentioned, is the complexity of services, the execution of turnkey orders, including preparation for production, configuration, production of printed circuit boards and stencils, assembly and testing of products.

We also see the interest of customers to "seamlessly" move from the production of prototypes to mass production. In fact, we perform this transition for free: we do not take money for pre-production service, if we have already prepared for the production of a prototype of this product. This applies to both printed circuit boards and assembly. If necessary, we reproduce the stencil to assembly it in the printer on the automatic assembly line.

I hope that this mutual movement towards complex orders will continue and benefit our customers.

Thank you for your interesting story.

 

Comments of the General Director of AssemRus

Evgeny Igorevich Matov

Our cooperation with Rezonit began in 2007, almost from the moment of creation of AssemRus. It can be said that we grew up together. This company closely monitors the development of technologies, regularly updates its equipment, in other words - keeps up with the times. In its production, you can see the work of equipment of different generations, and the fact that many of them successfully cope with their tasks for many years indicates the correct approach to the choice of equipment, attention to its reliability.

Last year, Rezonit updated the assembly equipment in its flagship line at the site in the village of Zubovo of the Klin district (Moscow region), and now it is the owner of the most modern machines for components assembly from Kulicke & Soffa, which allow the company to fulfill orders of almost any complexity. The plans include the launch of a new production site.

Rezonit is an example of a Russian contract manufacturer that has achieved great success and continues its development. We are happy to help this company achieve its goals.