South African EMS provider expands capacity with ASMPT solution

“Jemstech has grown continuously for many years. New customers, new products and growing deadline pressures due to many new orders made it necessary for us to invest in more performance and functional flexibility,” explains Jemstech Technical Director, Jacques Klopper. “Jemstech has for many years had a very close relationship with ASMPT. In two of our lines, we depend on DEK Horizon 8 stencil printers, which have never disappointed us in terms of performance and quality, both of which were critical factors when we decided to invest in new equipment.”

The South African company was founded in 2005 and is today located centrally between Johannesburg and Pretoria in Centurion. As a provider of custom-tailored electronics manufacturing services, Jemstech has for more than 15 years served OEMs with the highest requirements regarding quality and delivery reliability. More than 50 employees work and produce in a space of roughly 4,500 square meters for customers from sectors like industrial electronics, telecommunications, aerospace, and defense. The manufacturing operations meet the requirements of IPC Class II and IPC Class III and are certified as per the IPC-J-STD-001, IPC-A-600, IPC-A-610 and IPC-J-7711/7721 standards. In addition to classic services, Jemstech offers customers a wide range of value-added services such as kitting, New Product Introduction (NPI), supply chain management, purchasing, inventory control, and material requirements planning (MRP).

After a thorough decision-making process, ASMPT convinces across the board.

Jemstech took all the time it needed to arrive at its decision. For more than one year, they visited trade fairs in Singapore, India and Germany to compare the machines of international vendors in extensive benchmarking. “We were deeply impressed by ASMPT’s roadmap from the start. The extensive portfolio of solutions with its focus on the integrated smart factory convinced us. But decisions on investments of this size cannot be made on the basis of glossy brochures,” reports Jacques Klopper. “After discussions at the ASMPT’s Center of Competence in Singapore in 2019, we decided in favor of systems from ASMPT. The extensive demonstrations of the SIPLACE SX2 confirmed what we had already learned. The high-speed placement and its precision, the high-tech vision system, the rapid product changeovers and the uncomplicated offline programming convinced us across the board.”

A major obstacle

Jemstech had made its decision, the contracts were signed, and the machines were ready – after which the world plunged into the coronavirus crisis. The question was: Can the project be carried out successfully if ASMPT experts cannot support the installation and commissioning of the new machines due to travel restrictions? “That’s when it became apparent that ASMPT was the right partner for us. The inclusion of ASMPT sales partner Priben in Johannesburg with its outstanding expertise in ASMPT systems overcame this obstacle. Priben had already provided excellent service in advance, for example by accompanying us on visits to production sites with existing ASMPT installations,” remembers Jacques Klopper. Since no ASMPT service technician was able to travel to South Africa, Priben handled the entire hardware installation at Jemstech. The systems were then connected to ASMPT’s global service network via Remote Smart Factory. The ASMPT specialists could access the Jemstech systems and carry out all installation and setup steps. “The interaction between ASMPT and Priben was impressive. Both parties did excellent work and completed the process successfully and on time without any limitations whatsoever,” says Jacques Klopper.

New opportunities for Jemstech

The two SIPLACE SX2 placement machines open up new opportunities for Jemstech’s SMT production. The two SIPLACE SpeedStar heads in the first machine offer placement capacities of up to 86,500 components per hour with a component spectrum ranging from the smallest 0201m form factor to sizes of 8.2 by 8.2 millimeters. In the second SIPLACE SX2, the SIPLACE MultiStar switches between collect-and-place, pick-and-place and mixed placement modes as needed based on software commands. With the SIPLACE TwinStar as the second head in the second machine, Jemstech places large components and OSCs that are up to 200 x 125 millimeters large and up to 50 millimeters tall – and it does so with impressive precision.
“We produce with a level of speed and quality that used to be unachievable for us. More than 30 million components placed speak for themselves. The high-performance vision system of the SIPLACE SX allows us to inspect components and processes with exceptional precision, which is particularly critical for the smallest 0201 components, which we place in large quantities,” says Jacques Klopper. “As an EMS provider, we manufacture a high mix of products. The quick and easy product changeovers made it possible with the new machines to eliminate many of our previous bottlenecks with flying colors.”

ASMPT solutions make Jemstech more productive and more efficient.

“The WORKS smart factory suite is another gain for us and makes us even more efficient,” explains Jacques Klopper. “The software infrastructure solution gives us far-reaching integration possibilities as well as extensive reporting capabilities, for example for our purchasing and production operations. This kind of transparency solves problems with shortages we used to have in the past. Thanks to the extensive programming options, family setups are now much easier for us. In connection with the WORKS Line Monitor, we also achieve seamless and transparent traceability to meet the requirements of our quality management system in accordance with ISO 9001.”

A glimpse of the future

Since Jemstech was so thoroughly impressed by the capabilities of the Remote Smart Factory maintenance solution during the installation of the new systems, the company is considering installing the system permanently. “The capabilities regarding THT components are equally impressive. The clinching option for the SIPLACE SX and the extensive OSC package may be possibilities for us,” says Jacques Klopper. Other possibilities in the next five years may include improving the company’s printing process with Process Expert, the world’s first self-learning inline SPI expert system, as well as storage upgrades with the automated and MSD-capable Material Tower, and the extensive robot-based automation of material logistics with autonomous intelligent transport vehicles (AIVs).

An all-around successful project

“For Jemstech, the introduction of the two new placement solutions was a total success, and we are completely happy with our new equipment,” summarizes Jacques Klopper. “ASMPT and their local partner Priben brought the project to a successful conclusion despite all the difficulties caused by the coronavirus. Today, Jemstech benefits from significantly increased output, new high-mix manufacturing capabilities, and an entirely new level of quality. Our ASMPT systems thus play a big role in our ability to secure and expand our competitiveness. In addition, ASMPT’s broad portfolio of options and solutions for the integrated smart factory deliver a high level of investment security for us. We can gradually expand the systems and adapt them to future requirements as and when needed.