AW, part of the global Aisin Group, researches, develops, and manufactures cutting-edge automotive infotainment systems and electronically controlled automatic transmissions. The company serves major European and Asian carmakers that place extremely high requirements on every unit produced by their partners.
Today’s drivers interact directly with their vehicles through an infotainment system. This applies both to changing vehicle settings according to their preferences and to the use of e.g. navigation or driver assistance systems while driving.
ATCU systems (electronic automatic transmission control units) must ensure driver satisfaction and control emissions. Both types of systems significantly influence the vehicle’s usage experience, which requires not only advanced design but also flawless production quality and reliability.
To ensure quality, AW Europe manufactures the electronic controls for its systems itself. The process is carried out using state-of-the-art surface mounting lines at the Baudour (Mons) plant.
The quality of the products must meet the rigorous requirements of customers and the pressure exerted by the market also requires high production efficiency. To ensure the best results from the very beginning of the assembly, the company has acquired two Yamaha YSP solder paste printers.
The implementation was supported by Theo Loohuis and his team from Europe-SMT, Yamaha’s sales representative for Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.
In light of the excellent results, especially in terms of speed and accuracy of the purchased 2D inspection system, the team purchased two more YSP solder paste printers for the remaining assembly lines.
NEW INVESTMENTS TO ENSURE QUALITY AND EFFICIENCY
Our surface-mount assembly capabilities significantly influence the quality of our products, so we simply must have the best,” comments the team of AW Europe operations improvement and manufacturing engineers.
“We need flexibility and fast product changeovers, to handle anything from prototype requirements from our R&D department, to rapid NPI, and full production. The Yamaha YSP printer has delivered superior ease of use, speed, repeatability, and automated features that save time setting up and programming the machines. It is also extremely reliable.