IEN: What are the major concerns facing providers of assembly technology and related products and services in the next few years?
Bachmann: Issue #1: Education. There are so many adhesive and fastening alternatives that customers have trouble choosing which is best for their application. So education is a big issue. New adhesive and fastening technologies that provide better design and processing solutions are coming along all the time. Adhesive companies have written books and pamphlets about how to choose an adhesive or coating for an application and now you are seeing more and more websites that offer interactive selection processes. These seem to be rather limited. Each application has its unique constellation of requirements from substrates to be bonded to, thermal, moisture resistance, viscosity, and configuration, to name only a few. None of the interactive programs include all of the relevant considerations. We worry that customers may be channeled into less efficient solutions when they try to let these automated selection processes do the "selection thinking" for them.
IEN: How can it be addressed?
Bachmann: The web is playing a bigger role for better and worse. We think that providing a good overview of possible solutions with application case histories, and product selector guides with supporting product technical information available, is the way to go as a first step.
But even more important is the second step. Personalized support during the adhesive selection and process development process is key. Adhesive specialists that deal with applications every day can easily flag a "killer" criterion that will indicate or eliminate one adhesive technology or another. Our sales and application engineers provide that support to customers either individually or in a team with a sales partner. It''s key to help customers understand quickly if a particular technology is best suited for their application, and if not, which other one will be. Very rarely can customers search the web, our site and other sites, and determine the best product for their application without talking to product experts. (Photo: Instant UV curing formed-in-place gasket cures as it is dispensed.)
Issue # 2: Making products that help manufacturing customers stay competitive. Competition -- both at home, but especially from abroad -- has continued to increase. Japan and South Korea have been making products for decades that are very competitive to domestic brands. That is expanding dramatically as the Chinese come on stream and goe after the American market. Higher labor, increasing regulatory compliance, and other social costs here in the states put domestic manufacturers at a competitive disadvantage. The flight of American manufacturers to other countries over the past decade is testimony to this, and at the same time has accelerated the technology transfer that is increasing the competition.
IEN: How can this be addressed?
Bachmann: U.S. manufacturers represent the most vibrant technology incubator in the world. A key to keeping value in the States will be the protection of intellectual property, and its creative use to produce more competitive products and processes here at home.
As you mentioned in your leading paragraph, flexibility, agility, and cost efficiency remain the key drivers in the assembly sector. To remain competitive in the global economy, manufacturers will have to incorporate all of these to be more creative and make competitive products at competitive prices. This means those who are also able to think "outside of the box" and make the most of new technology to create better products and processes will have a competitive edge. (Photo: Cell phone magnets are fixtured in place in seconds with Dymax acrylic adhesives, allowing continuous automated assembly.)
In the adhesive industry we frequently see two types of engineering customers. There are those who are willing to try new things and become very involved in the creative process, and those who fear to look outside the "tried and true" for ways to become more competitive.
The fearful ones will stick with well-recognized brands and take the "safe" approach. Others understand that to be competitive, seeking out and evaluating the new, is less of a risk than sticking with the status quo.
Our business has been built on providing innovative assembly solutions across a broad range of applications. UV light curing adhesives, sealants, coatings and more recently formed-In-place gaskets have created new and better products and more efficient processes across a wide range of industries.
For example, beginning in the early 1980s, automotive manufacturers began to use UV adhesives to bond and seal glass headlamps. Activator curing versions of these types of materials were used to bond dc motors. Both of these technologies allowed the manufacturers to bond or fixture their parts in seconds, leading to great improvements in their automated processes and the end products.
Following those successes, UV adhesives and coatings began to be used in electronic assembly applications. High performance, solvent free UV conformal coatings began to be used in military applications in the 1980s. With the advent of precision dispensing equipment in the 1990s, UV conformal coatings can now be found in all sorts of automotive and industrial applications. (Photo: Solvent free, instant UV curing of medical transducers.)
UV adhesives have also been used to replace solvent bonding in medical disposable device assembly, optical assembly and in many novelty, motor, and appliance applications.
IEN: What innovations are in store in assembly related systems, equipment and components, materials, and software?
Bachmann: There are a number of innovations in UV adhesives technology that will broaden the areas for their use. The first thing to remember is that manufacturers who know about UV adhesives and coatings prefer to use them because they cure completely in seconds and only on exposure to the light. This makes them the most ideal technology for automation.
They allow extreme flexibility in the manufacturing process. UV curing equipment takes up much less space than processes that require large drying ovens and cooling and storage racks. Once a UV process is installed, it is an easy matter to expand upon it. Since the adhesive cures instantly in line, QC can be done at once -- usually in line without waiting.
As far as product properties go, the range continues to expand. Viscosity can range from 60 to 600,000 cP; hardness from the Shore 00 to Shore D of 85. Heat and moisture resistance are increasing so that many products pass the UL 85% RH at 85°C for over 2000 hours. They are available in a range of refractive indici, colors and fluorescence.
Adhesion to substrates varies all the way from removable grades to high strength structural adhesives capable of 3,500 p.s.i.
Perhaps the most recent technological advance has been the development of formed-in-place gasket materials that can replace both precuts and silicones for many applications.
IEN: What are the sector''s R & D hot spots?
Bachmann: LED assembly and protection is one that we hear about lately. We frequently receive requests for materials that are able to coat or dome high power LEDs. Most of the resins available yellow at the higher temperatures that these higher power LEDs generate. Our labs have come up with new, higher temperature resistant grades that resist yellowing over time and outperform the traditional die attach adhesives.
IEN: Will wireless become more prevalent in assembly?
Bachmann: It seems so to us as we see more and more applications for UV curing adhesives, encapsulants, gaskets, and coatings from cell phone manufacturers.
IEN: Can throughput be matched to customer demand?
Bachmann: Here is an area where UV adhesives and coatings do the job best. Because of the instant cure in only a few seconds, parts that can be bonded and coated with a UV adhesive or coating are ready to ship as soon as they come off the assembly line.
IEN: Have you seen much progress in integrating the front office, extended enterprise (logistics, etc.) and assembly? Please explain.
Bachmann: With the push to ISO 2000 we are seeing more integration of management, sales and marketing particularly, with prospects and customers. The old ISO 9001 emphasized product quality. The new standard emphasizes not only product quality, but quality in all of our services that impact customers. The ISO goal (and our goal) is to see things through the customers'' eyes and make sure that they are satisfied with not only our products, but our services as well.
For example, as a formulator of adhesives and coatings, we not infrequently are asked to create a customized product. Now we will be measuring the customer''s satisfaction with the creation process as well as the new product''s performance.