To complement our electronics, software and mechanical design teams, we have our own in-house manufacturing facility. Having our design and manufacturing capabilities co-located improves production efficiency and ensures clear communication, resulting in reduced risk and time savings. These are all benefits that are passed on to our customers.
Our Manufacturing Capabilities
Flexibility is one of our strengths, enabled by our three manufacturing sub-teams.
Surface-Mount Technology Lines
The facility includes two surface-mount technology (SMT) manufacturing lines which have their own robotic pick & place machines, screen printers, ovens, and Automated Optical Inspection (AOI) test stations. These manufacturing lines are supplemented by our Production Personnel who manually check each and every board produced by the SMT machines.
Our SMT lines regularly place high volumes of components (some so small they are almost invisible to the human eye) and many of the printed circuit boards (PCBs) we use are high density and double-sided. This enables us to keep our products small by maximising the available space and ensures the end product is of durable and of exceptional quality.
Systems Integration
We also have a large mechanical assembly area dedicated to building full systems by integrating PCBs and other components into their enclosures (which we can design and manufacture ourselves with plastic, sheet metal, or another material).
The Systems Integration team carefully connect larger components, such as fans and heat sinks, and take pride in ensuring the cables in the system are tidy and the system remains clean. The team also test and configure the finished products before packaging them, ready for shipping.
Cellular Assembly
We also have a Cellular Assembly area which we dedicate to building specific systems on a regular basis. This area can be expanded to suit the volume of systems in production at any given moment and our cross-skilled staff are on-hand to build any product.
Testing & Preparation
Our manufacturing teams not only build the physical boards and systems, they also configure and test them.
Full Functional Test
Our engineers develop bespoke ‘test rigs’ which our manufacturing teams use to carry out full functional tests on each of our products. This tests the products as an end user would use it, rather than following a broad set of processes. For example, we check LCD screens for dead pixels and that products with WiFi can connect to nearby networks.
Configuration
Our manufacturing teams also configure boards and systems prior to shipping. This can entail calibrating LCDs and touchscreens, installing operating systems and loading customers’ software.
Ensuring Quality Remains High
We focus on quality at the earliest stage, from initial product design to choosing a supplier. This doesn’t stop when a project moves into production; we check the materials and components in our stores and we inspect our PCBs both automatically and manually during production as well as when it is complete.
A focus on quality runs throughout our business, too. We were first awarded our EN 9001 accreditation in 1995 and are regularly assessed by the British Standards Institute (BSI) to the EN BSI EN 9001:2008 standard. Rest assured, whether your project involves an off-the-shelf product or a bespoke solution, we take the time and care needed to ensure quality remains high.
If you have any questions or you are looking for a UK-based manufacturer for your embedded system, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
