There’s no question about it: stencil printing is the most important process in electronics production. It is the root cause of 70 percent of all process errors in the SMT line. Most errors in stencil printing can be eliminated easily if they are recognised in time through inspection of the printing result. This is something the EMS service provider Laudren Electronique based in Brittany attaches great importance to

User report
Author: Rémy Lutz
There’s no question about it: stencil printing is the most important process in electronics production. It is the root cause of 70 percent of all process errors in the SMT line. Most errors in stencil printing can be eliminated easily if they are recognised in time through inspection of the printing result. This is something the EMS service provider Laudren Electronique based in Brittany attaches great importance to – the French company wanted an integrated 3D-SPI even before this was available on the market. Today, they deploy two Ersa stencil printers of the type VERSAPRINT 2 Ultra3 with precisely this feature.
Many will be familiar with Lorient as the annual venue for the world’s largest Celtic gathering – last year more than 4,500 musicians and 750,000 visitors from all over the world poured into the five port city, with the 50th Interceltic Festival planned for August 2020. Alongside fishing and trade, there is also an industrial base here in this far-flung corner of western France – which is not surprising, since Rennes, the capital of Brittany, is just 150 km away, with the Atlantic metropolis Nantes with its important industrial branches steel, glass, textiles and sugar only a few kilometres further. Laudren Electronique, one of the ten companies forming the Laudren Group and in the business of electronics manufacturing since 1975, specialises in small and medium-sized series of electronic assemblies. The company’s plant in Lanester (Lorient district) has a production area of 7,000 m2 available. Currently, a total of 160 employees are prepared to implement demanding high-tech projects in electronic assemblies – as an EMS full service provider from procurement through production, integration and testing to customer services and logistics. With 40 years of experience behind them, Laudren Electronique produce electronic boards and assemblies for their customers in sectors as varied as energy, defence, transport, aviation, optics and networks, automation and lighting. The Brittany-based company serves customers throughout France and abroad.
Business relationship starts with VERSAFLOW 3/66
Ersa VERSAPRINT S1 with 3D-SPI option
Good business partners, fast service
After the upgraded VERSAPRINT S1 was returned, a few consultations were necessary, partly with regard to optimising the software; everything was working properly. However, the phase of temporarily working with the cutting-edge system on loan had convinced the French to such an extent that Ersa took the system back and Laudren Electronique ordered two VERSAPRINT 2 Ultra3 instead. “The change to the very latest model brought a further increase in reliability as well as greater flexibility through faster processes, because the inspection result is available immediately,” says the process engineer responsible. The company also appreciates the fact that no additional external SPI is required, which saves on valuable production area. Since the machines have been installed and running in 3-shift operation, there has been no need to worry about service and maintenance: five minutes of cleaning time are due per shift, a little grease is needed for the axes every six months, that’s it.
Alongside the good business relationship on the basis of a partnership of trust, Laudren Electronique also highly values the fast response by central Ersa Service. For all their system skills in the wide world of soft soldering, the Brittany-based company really appreciates the fact that the Ersa France team is also familiar with the printing process and has stencil printing expertise that they pass on to their business partner as a real added value. They are also impressed with the flexibility in terms of programming, which is often required for the small and medium-sized batch sizes involved here – which is quickly done, not least thanks to the interface that machine operators can operate in their own language.
SPC data analysis (Statistic Process Control) is also valued as an important tool for the continuous improvement of the manufacturing process: the SPC integrated in VERSAPRINT 2 collects all relevant process data including inspection results, summarises these in a compact way and indicates trends. Thus the data make detailed comparisons over several batches or manufacturing shifts possible and thus the qualification of processes and individual components. Inspection images can be saved as an error image together with data, and error-free printed circuit boards can also be documented completely. A perfect basis for later qualification and analysis of the results achieved. Permanent change and continuous improvement are two sides of the same coin – as soon as there is further demand for further reflow, selective or wave soldering systems at Laudren Electronique, Ersa will be on hand as the No. 1 system supplier to provide support … in France, Europe and the world!