Europlacer: Albewell interview (Taiwan)

We are very pleased to announce that our new organisation in APAC and specifically our new regional HQ in Taiwan have now supplied two production lines to our first Europlacer customer Albewell.

Please find below the story and how they chose Europlacer from many other potential suppliers. The equipment has now been delivered to their manufacturing plant and we will provide further updates in the near future!

We established the company in 1999 with the assistance of around 20 Christian founders, generously receiving capital contributions from the whole team, one of whom is the current General Manager Mr Pan.

Initially, the company did not have an internal R&D function, so the business model for our faith-based organization called for subcontract assembly with the explicit goal of generating profits that would be used to share the gospel. We are very proud of our Christian belief and pleased to express it in the reception area at our manufacturing facility, which features a welcoming open proclamation of our faith with a central cross and the words “May God Bless You” in two languages.

Business started with a focus on DIP insertion. Despite funding remaining tight in the early days, we invested in a conveyorized wave solder system for the manual assembly of through-hole components. The business grew steadily. In its third year of operation, two fully automatic SMT lines were purchased, representing an investment of around NT$20-30m.

A Japanese customer gave us our first major contract with an order for 100,000 pieces for the control board of a PC comprising around 400 parts per PCB. Then, in the early 2000s, some of the very large CEMs ramped up their operations in Asia, which caused a degree of stress in the market for those in Taiwan as many manufacturers moved their production to China.

Albewell was among those contract manufacturers to experience difficulties; the sales team found it very challenging to find new contracts – yet the team remained strong and resolute in its faith. We were rewarded with a large order from Nanya Technology Corp.

This robust collaborative relationship resulted in a major expansion of the SMT area at Albewell, with 50 employees dedicated to manufacturing Nanya products, while the venture provided a share of the profits back to Nanya. This mutually beneficial business agreement lasted for almost five years and allowed Albewell to battle through the leaner times caused by the trend to offshore to China.

Now Albewell is strong in the field of high mix and small batch production, as well as high volume, in the ratio of around 50:50. High mix assembly accounts for some 30,000 components per batch with high volume manufacturing greater than 30,000 per batch. With these regular production volumes and potential opportunities for improvement in high-mix flexibility identified, it was clear that greater productivity could be achieved with the prudent selection of new pick & place technology.

There were three key features that were needed in a new SMT facility:

• Highly productive with quick setup and changeover flexibility
• Competitively priced
• Agreeable sales terms & conditions

Having initially found it difficult to identify a placement machine that offered fast placement rates yet was also quick to setup and flexible with changeovers, Albewell met with Europlacer. At this first encounter, we believed that the solution we sought had finally appeared. Understandably, there was a period of fierce competition relating to quotations from Europlacer and from other suppliers but, for a number of reasons, including the Christian faith at Europlacer and the pragmatic fact that the company’s atom platform delivered the speed and flexibility needed by Albewell, Europlacer was chosen as our partner.

During its placement equipment evaluations, the Albewell team concluded that the Europlacer atom platform met its needs for two primary reasons:

1. The ii-A3 offers the placement speed alongside proven features for quick product changeovers, such that in high-mix small-batch or mass high-volume production, Albewell can meet its production targets (for example, an estimated requirement for 40,000cph where 24 hours of operation equates to approximately one million components of production capacity per day).

2. Sales T&Cs met the rigorous customer requirements at Albewell. Even though Europlacer has been globally established as a multi-award-winning Pick & Place equipment supplier for many decades, the company’s presence in Taiwan was limited. Nonetheless, Albewell was reassured by references from other Europlacer customers that it would receive excellent support and that it was the right decision for its business.

As Europlacer manufactures in Europe, its product ranges can be a slightly more expensive option. However, we know that we will get the very best quality and flexibility in the industry, which makes the ii-A3 great value and perfect for our business today and into the future.

Albewell currently employs 40 people and continues to contribute a share of their profits to help fund a church system and provide a pastor who helps those in need.