PUMA Pick and Place and its velvet feet on BeLink Solutions’ foils

BeLink Solutions extend over 30 years of experience as a Tier-1 & 2 to offer to its clients, active in the industry, automotive and Smart Home & Building markets, competitive and high-quality solutions in the field of electronics. BeLink Solutions boasts high-precision industrial know-how that covers the design and industrialization of smart objects for mobility. At BeLink Solutions, we forge high-quality, close-knit relations with our clients, making a long-term commitment to bringing their projects and innovations to life.

One of the strategic axes of BeLink Solutions is to provide high end /high volumes Printed Electronics products to customers. This strategy to develop Printed Electronics products embraces the trend seen nowadays in automotive, industrial and Smart Home &Building markets to provide flexible and button-less interface to people, while including intelligence through embedded electronics build in those interfaces. Multiple competencies are required to master the Printed Electronics fundamentals, such as multilayer screen printing, Surface Mount Technology and 3D capabilities for instance.

Part of the Printed Electronics development at BeLink Solutions, the assessment of Leading Technologies and key solutions from equipment makers is important to support BeLink Solutions strategy.

Image: Pictures of BeLink Solutions Printed Electronics products

Therefore, BeLink Solutions began a project in 2020 to look for innovative technologies for both conductive and structural glues dispense and component placement. Several technology providers were engaged, and this included a thorough evaluation of the available Essemtec solutions.

BeLink Solutions extensively evaluated the PUMA platform from Essemtec and this involved:

• Initial proof of concept trails by the Essemtec process team
• Multiple trials carried out jointly by BeLink Solutions and Essemtec in the process development lab at our premises in Switzerland
• Process optimization by our Essemtec process experts
• Essemtec reactivity in meeting BeLink Solutions specific requirements for both process and hardware development

Following this extensive evaluation, the PUMA system by Essemtec AG was selected as the best “All-in-One” solution to address BeLink Solutions structural glue and conductive glue dispensing challenges, as well as provide the best placement capability for flexible thin foils. Not only did the platform provide the accuracy/repeatability that BeLink Solutions required, but also the integrated dispensing, integrated vacuum table, powerful software and process expertise at Essemtec were instrumental to meet the robust specifications of the BeLink Solutions products.

Even though Essemtec main activities are in the electronic business, Essemtec teams have been able to demonstrate strong commitments to develop unique features and leverage the dispensing know how to apply successfully to the Printed Electronics applications.

The PUMA “All-in-One” solution has resulted in higher performance, smaller footprint over other technology providers and better process control.

From left to right: Cyrille Jacquot, Jean-Victor Lecorsu, Jean-Marie Bariller in front of the PUMA in the premises of BeLink Solutions in La Ferte Saint Bernard, France

As a result of the Essemtec technology meeting BeLink Solutions expectations for this project, BeLink Solutions has invested into a PUMA “All-In-One” fully equipped with jet printing technologies for both conductive glue and structural glue as well as vacuum table features, fully integrated in the human interface to produce Printed Electronics products in France. Additionally, BeLink Solutions has included Essemtec as part of the Approved Vendor List (AVL) to ease next investment phases.

Pierre Ball, Sales & Marketing Director at BeLink Solutions, said : “BeLink Solutions' printed electronic technology requires innovative equipment at the leading edge of technology to produce electronic solutions in 2D and in 3D. Following an in-depth market analysis, Essemtec's equipment integrating Dispenser and Pick & Place solutions has become an obvious choice for the BeLink Solutions teams.

Last but not least, the support of the Essemtec team throughout the decision process was very professional and efficient. I’m very pleased with the collaboration with our technical team and the entire Essemtec team. I’m convinced we have made the right choice with Essemtec.”

Authors: Pierre Ball, Sales & Marketing Director at BeLink Solutions. Franck Genonceau, Regional Sales Manager at Essemtec AG

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About BeLink Solutions: BELINK SOLUTIONS IS A LEADING SUPPLIER OF EMBEDDED ELECTRONICS AND MULTILAYER SCREEN PRINTING, RECOGNISED AS AN EXPERT IN SENSITIVE ENVIRONMENTS SINCE 1990.

BeLink Solutions extend over 30 years of experience as a Tier-1 & 2 to offer to its clients, active in the industry, automotive and Smart Home &Building markets, competitive and high-quality solutions in the field of electronics. BeLink Solutions boasts high-precision industrial know-how that covers the design and industrialization of smart objects for mobility. We specialise in small, medium-sized but also high volumes runs to produce and assemble circuit boards. At BeLink Solutions, we forge high-quality, close-knit relations with our clients, making a long-term commitment to bringing their projects and innovations to life.

OUR PROMISE: MADE IN FRANCE FROM A SMART FACTORY WITH DEDICATED EXPERTS IN ELECTRONICS, SCREEN PRINTING AND ASSEMBLY.

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