NAMPA, ID – Silicon Mountain, a leading electronic manufacturing company, has installed a Universal Instruments Radial 88HTi state-of-the-art radial insertion machine. The acquisition strengthens Silicon Mountain's production capabilities and enables the company to meet increasing demand.

The sale was liaised by Alan Siebenthall of Kirby & Demarest, who stated: “I am proud to support Silicon Mountain’s continued growth with the Universal Instruments Radial 88HTi. Through hole technology continues to flourish and the Radial 88HTi is a robust platform to address the industry.”

The Radial 88HTi offers consistently high throughput regardless of component type, with single-, dual-, triple-, and quad-span insertion variants. Lead span capability up to 10mm virtually eliminates tedious manual assembly requirements to improve throughput, product quality and output per floor space, while reducing associated labor costs and time requirements to provide greater returns.

The Radial 88HTi delivers exceptional flexibility with more than 100 available inputs on the expandable sequencer. An intuitive operator interface that is common with other Generation 88HT equipment offers easy operation, diagnostics, data management and a graphical product editor.

“This acquisition represents a significant investment in our manufacturing capabilities and will enable us to better serve our customers with high-quality electronic components,” states Clint Roehr, Project Manager at Silicon Mountain.

Silicon Mountain provides a wide range of services, whether it is prototyping for startups or high- volume manufacturing. Regardless of the service, the company aims for high quality and quick turnaround.

For more information about Silicon Mountain, visit https://siliconmtn.net/ 

REDDITCH, UK – Having seen rapid growth and an increasing customer base over recent years Altus Group, a leading distributor of capital equipment for electronics assembly, has ambitious development plans, including continued expansion across the UK and Ireland. To facilitate this growth, the company has appointed Charles Lower as Sales Manager for the South West region.

Charles joins Altus after a successful career in the consumables space and most recently working at a senior level in customer-facing and after-sales roles for a large UK manufacturers. His experience will help Altus pursue further growth and ensure both new and existing customers continue to receive the highest level of service and support.

Joe Booth, Altus CEO, said: "It is essential for us to find the right people for our team who are hungry to succeed and buy into our ethos of being the best at what we do for our customers. In Charles we have another great addition to our brilliant team.

"We want to be the go-to partner for all electronics manufacturers in the UK and Ireland and assist them with their process improvement projects. To do that we must ensure that we offer the very best purchasing experience from pre-sales to ongoing support. Investing in skilled staff is crucial to support that experience and provide market-leading support. I am delighted for Charles and can’t wait to see his successful projects start to come to fruition in Q3 and beyond."

Charles Lower said: "I’m really pleased to join the Altus team and lead sales and support in the south west. I have known Altus for several years and have been impressed by the growth and development of the company. From the number of new customers choosing to work with Altus each year, it is clear that the business has lots of momentum with a great range of best-in-class suppliers and an aftersales team who ensure that high expectations are always delivered. I am looking forward to adding to that growth trajectory and getting underway with my own projects."

Charles’ appointment will enable Altus to increase its reach and support even more customers at a higher level ensuring the company has the bandwidth and knowledge to leverage the opportunities within the south west region.

HANOVER, GERMANY – Viscom AG is focusing on two areas at PCIM Europe in Nuremberg, Germany: optical inspection methods for the quality control of wire bonds and X-ray technologies for the inspection of hidden criteria in various products. In addition to the Viscom systems on display at the neighboring SMTconnect trade fair, this event will thus offer from May 9 to 11, 2023, a point of contact where expert staff are available to answer specific questions about inspection solutions in the field of power electronics.

Wire bond connections play an important role in the management and distribution of electrical power, and wire bonding continues to be widely used as a manufacturing step, not least due to application areas such as electromobility or renewable energy. Current rises in electricity costs are also increasing the need for solutions that provide power control with the fewest losses and greatest precision possible. Viscom offers state-of-the- art 2D and 3D methods of optical wire bond inspection, based on decades of experience, which efficiently take into account all quality-relevant aspects such as wire runs and connections. The exact measurement of wire lengths in 3D is just as much part of the scope of a hundred percent inline inspection as ball, wedge and surface analyses. The S6056BO system, which covers precisely these tasks, can be seen at Viscom’s PCIM booth 6- 114.

Viscom will be giving a presentation on the topic of 3D wire bond inspection on May 10 at 12:55 p.m. on the Exhibitor Stage at PCIM Europe (Hall 9, 551). A presentation on the Industry Stage (Hall 7, 480) will offer an insight into Viscom’s X-ray inspection on May 11 at 2:10 p.m.

X-ray methods are used to inspect the properties of power semiconductors and other components that remain hidden from optical camera technologies. Here, too, Viscom has inspection systems to choose from that meet very different requirements. Visitors to PCIM Europe can find out more about the special features of manual and semi-automatic X-ray inspection based on the X8011-III on display.

Depending on the configuration, the X8011-III can irradiate objects to be inspected with a voltage of up to 200 kV. Brilliantly sharp X-ray images, manual tools, automated analysis and reports, and full transparency of the applied radiation dose are important features of the system. Where there are high levels of electrical current, voids in surface soldering, for example, can lead to overheating and failure. 3D layer analyses without disturbing shadowing make exact measurement and documentation of these inclusions possible. Heat sinks or robust housings are no obstacle. Viscom will be revealing further smart inspection solutions for electronics production at the accompanying SMTconnect trade fair at its booth 4A, 120.

WASHINGTON – The Ayala Group's Integrated Micro-Electronics Inc. and Zero Motorcycles based in California have signed a memorandum of agreement for the setting up of the first electronic vehicle (EV) motorcycle manufacturing site in the Philippines, the Presidential Communications Office has said.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who's on an official visit to Washington, witnessed the signing of the MOA.

Among those who attended the meeting for the IMI include Ayala Corporation chairman Jaime Augusto Zobel De Ayala and Automotive and Industrial regional manager Dave Corry.

Zero Motorcycles, on the other hand, were represented by its chief executive officer Sam Paschel and Alex Acket, chief operating officer.

Under the MOA, the US-based firm will lead the way in setting up the first EV motorcycle manufacturing site in the Philippines.