Procurement & Assembly
We provide specialized electronic assembly and procurement services through partnerships with trusted Electronic Manufacturing Services (EMS) suppliers. These suppliers, often global leaders like Flextronics, Foxconn, and Jabil, are fully dedicated to electronic assembly and testing, operating advanced SMT lines capable of placing millions of components. As most OEMs prefer outsourcing their assembly processes, EMS suppliers ensure precision, scalability, and cost-effective solutions for high-quality electronic assemblies tailored to customer requirements.
SMD components soldering
In the late 80s, most electronic assembly had SMD components on the bottom side and thru-hole parts on the top side. This board was then passed through a wave solder process to solder all parts, thru-hole, and SMD.
In the early 1990s, partly due to restrictions on the use of lead, wave soldering processes were disappearing, while SMD processes on both sides and reflow soldering were imposed. The mobile industry was taking most of the capacity of these companies and forced other types of customers to move toward the usage of smaller components if they still wanted to be in business.
In the figure below, you can find a typical configuration of an SMD line.
Figure 1: SMD line equipment
Access to DFM and Assembly Guide
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Design for manufacturing or DFM
Nowadays, it is very common to have 3D solder paste inspection and X-ray inspection equipment as part of the process line and pick and place machines connected with the components warehouse, automatically feeding the reels to the production line.
In Spain, we have many small and mid-size EMSs. The main advantages of using these small companies are flexibility and cost optimization due to the low fixed-cost structure of organizations.
In this case, as designers, it is important to understand the process where the electronic boards are going to be built so that the design can be done tailored to the equipment of the process line, in other words, Design for Manufacturing (DFM).
ALTER has agreements with some of these companies to provide Turnkey projects to the final customer. Depending on the production volumes and technology needed for the assembly, we can take the production to different companies to make sure the product is built according to customer requirements, not only from a technical perspective but also from time, quality, and cost.
By combining expertise in design and procurement with a strong network of EMS partners, ALTER ensures seamless production and reliable delivery of electronic assemblies for high-reliability applications. Contact us to learn more about our services.