Manufacturing

German factory automation company Sick has introduced 3d inspection cameras that can measure down to 800nm. Called Ruler3002, 3004, 3010, the cameras work with fields of view down to 26.6mm. “The addition of a high-powered blue [450nm] laser enables the three cameras to achieve the rapid exposure times necessary to capture the minutest three-dimensional details,” claimed the company. They “have ...

At a board meeting in Taiwan today, TSMC gave the go-ahead to invest $3.8 billion in a $11 billion fab in Dresden targeted at the automotive industry. The fab will be owned and operated by a subsidiary company, European Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (ESMC) in which TSMC  will have a 70% share and Infineon, NXP and Bosch will each have a ...

Lexium is a cobot from Schneider Electric, intended to work alongside humans without a cage or other exclusion. Cobots – collaborative robots – need to be inherently safe around people, and as such need to be lightweight, move at moderate speed, not be too strong and have no sharp edges. “Traditional industrial robotic systems must be designed into processes from ...

Kent-based cable loom maker Convert has just turned around and delivered 2,000 harnesses within a week of taking the enquiry. “Texecom’s original supplier had let them down and they were on a very tight deadline for their customer,” according to Convert. “They put a call into Convert on the Wednesday, and Convert began sourcing materials and quoting the following day, and ...

Automation company Conveyor Systems (CSL) is relocating to a purpose-built headquarters in Swadlincote, Derbyshire. “The new office is six times the size of the previous premises. The move was necessitated by year-on-year growth as CSL has become a major conveyor systems integrator and supplier, handling multi-million-pound projects,” said the company. “The entire building is naturally lit by windows, which offer ...

Infineon Technologies is testing a biodegradable PCB material based on natural fibres in demo and evaluation boards. The substrate, branded Soluboard, is from UK start-up Jiva Materials, which claims that it would result in a 60% reduction in carbon emissions compared with FR-4, saving 10.5kg of carbon and 620g of plastic per square meter of PCB. Made from undisclosed natural fibres ...

CSA Catapult, the organisation tasked with commercialising UK compound semiconductor innovation, is to expand into centres in Bristol, Glasgow and Durham. Currently based in Newport, South Wales, it will open: Future Telecoms Hub at the Bristol and Bath Science Park, CSA Scotland at the University of Strathclyde’s Technology Innovation Centre, and an office with the Satellite Applications Catapult at NETPark ...

Connector maker Harwin has teamed up with TraceParts to offer 3D models of its connectors as well as models of its board-level EMC shielding and PCB hardware. “Models are available in all current file formats for engineers to integrate directly into their CAD system,” according to Portsmouth UK based Harwin. The same deal has put Harwin’s parts onto TrustedParts, a ...

Design for manufacturing focuses on manufacturability, in essence restricting design freedom, says Simon Baggott of Q5D. Design for manufacturing (DFM)’s concept’s goals are primarily productivity, repeatability, quality and, ultimately, enhancing profitability. There are examples of manufacturing concepts that create greater design freedom, sometimes making new product concepts physically or economically viable for the first time. In the early 20th century ...

Stevenage-based contract electronics manufacturer Nemco is celebrating 10 years of supplying assembled PCBs to Wolverhampton safety equipment maker Fortress. What started as prototype support and a few thousand assembled PCBs, said Nemco, has grown in excess of 90,000 per year, covering more than 50 different board variations. “We work really hard to build strategic relationships with our customers – it’s ...