Investment Delivers Responsive Operation

Sales manager at Wilson Process Systems, Steve Cooke, believes UK manufacturing, engineering and technology sectors are areas for optimism post Brexit. Backed by 35 years' experience, the company currently employs approximately 100 personnel and specialises in sub-contract printed circuit board assembly. It can deliver anything from bare PCBs to fully tested, electro-mechanical assemblies from its 30,000ft2 production facilities and supplies a range of industries. These include consumer, industrial, entertainment, medical, rail, defence, highway and urban signage, lighting and power generation. According to Wilson, 2016 was a record year for the company, with growth of 28 per cent, taking annual turnover to in excess of £12 million. The company exhibited at the Electronics Design Show in October where it found the industry in buoyant mood and was encouraged by the number of leads, some of which have already been converted into new customers. A key policy of continual investment in new equipment helps Wilson keep pace with customer demand and maintain competitiveness. This has seen further additions to the plant in 2016, with additional optical inspection and selective soldering equipment, as well as increased surface mount capacity. Focus on Quality The latest addition to Wilson's equipment inventory is a Synchrodex Orissa 460 high-speed, flexible, in-line, modular selective soldering system configured with a drop-jet fluxer module and an infra-red pre-heat and soldering module. This greatly increases the repeatability and quality of the conventional soldering process through automation, while also maintaining competitive production costs. When it comes to quality, the new Mirtec MV-7Omni post-reflow 3D AOI system provides three dimensional inspection using a total of four programmable digital moiré inspection probes. This machine features four 10 mega pixel side-view cameras in addition to a 15 mega pixel top-down camera. Precise height measurement detects lifted components and lifted lead defects as well as solder volume post reflow. Precision Placement In total, the surface mount department has a capacity of over 200,000 component placements per hour with two Universal AdVantis AC 30. Lightning high-speed chip placement platforms, a Universal AdVantis AC 72, a Quad QSA-30 and a Quad QSP-2 pick and place machine, together with reflow ovens form Soltec, BTU and Speedline Electrovert. The company claims a position as the first UK contract electronics manufacturer to offer automated assembly of PCBs up to 1,300 by 500mm, including the vital solder paste printing process. Assembly Services Alongside these facilities, Wilson also maintains a full suite of Universal automated through-hole assembly machines to auto-insert axial, DIP and radial components. It can even assemble through-hole LEDs in close packed arrays at high speed A policy of continual investment in new equipment helps Wilson Process Systems keep pace with demand and maintain competitiveness.A policy of continual investment in new equipment helps Wilson Process Systems keep pace with demand and maintain competitiveness. In addition to the new selective soldering equipment, Wilson offers no-clean wave soldering or the option of using an aqueous flux, after which boards can be washed in an Electrovert Aquastorm 100 washer/drier system. Finally, for customers that require environmental protection, Wilson operates two Asymtek Select Coat SL940E automated conformal coating systems with IR convection ovens. Alternatively, the resin encapsulation department can encapsulate circuits in a range of polyurethane and silicone, UL and non-UL approved resins.

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