Assembleon Aims to Cut Pick-and-Place Operating Costs

A project now underway at Assembléon is developing pick-and-place machines that will cut energy consumption and other operating costs by at least 30 percent. According to Assembléon, the SuMa (Sustainable Machines) project will benefit electronic manufacturers while making electronics production equipment more sustainable. Besides reducing energy consumption, maintenance and repair costs, the project aims to reduce the weight of the moving parts of the machines without affecting machine robustness. It will help demonstrate the link between economic and ecological benefits of more environmental friendly production equipment.

SuMa follows the SUPREME research project, set up in 2009, to develop sustainable high-tech systems. This partners Assembléon with the Technical University of Eindhoven and research organization TNO. Along with companies like Tegema, Fiberworx and Frencken, these organizations come from Eindhoven's Brainport region, recently acknowledged by the Intelligent Community Forum (ICF) as one of the seven most intelligent communities worldwide.

Assembléon said its A-Series already sets the benchmark for low pick-and-place energy consumption, consuming half the electricity of the global industry average. SuMa will improve that even further, and aims to reinforce the A-Series' reputation as the most sustainable pick-and-place machines for PCB assembly, the company added.

www.assembléon.com