CYPRESS, CA – Hanwha Techwin Automation Americas, formerly Samsung C&T Automation, is pleased to announce the promotion of Mark Choi to the role of Vice President of Sales for the United States and Canada, effective May 24th.

In his new position, Mark Choi will lead sales efforts in the U.S. and Canadian markets, driving business growth, expanding market presence, and strengthening customer relationships. With his extensive experience in sales and his profound understanding of the industry, Mark is poised to accelerate Hanwha Techwin Automation Americas' success and deliver exceptional value to customers.

Mark brings a wealth of experience to his new role, having served in various sales leadership positions within Hanwha Techwin Automation Americas. He has over twenty-nine years of experience in the SMT field, formerly serving as the director of engineering for Samsung C&T Automation, and has a proven track record of delivering exceptional results, cultivating strong customer relationships, and driving revenue growth. Mark’s substantial knowledge of the industry, combined with his passion for providing innovative automation solutions, will play a pivotal role in expanding the company's footprint in the U.S. and Canada.

"I am honored to take on this new role as Vice President of Sales for the U.S. and Canada," said Mark. "I am excited to work closely with our dedicated sales team and valued customers to further strengthen our market presence. Hanwha Techwin Automation Americas has a strong portfolio of cutting-edge automation solutions, and I look forward to driving growth and delivering exceptional value to our customers."

Under Mark's leadership, Hanwha Techwin Automation Americas aims to continue providing industry-leading automation solutions to meet the evolving needs of manufacturers in the U.S. and Canadian markets. The company is committed to delivering innovative technologies, exceptional customer service, and driving operational excellence for its customers.

For more information about Hanwha Techwin, please visit www.hanwha-pm.com 

HAWTHORNE, CA – OSI Optoelectronics, a global leader in the design, development and manufacturing of high-performance standard and custom silicon and InGaAs photodetectors, announces a broad expansion of optoelectronic solutions. The new products and services include rigid flex board and flex circuit design, manufacturing, and assembly for the most rigorous OEM specifications.

OSI’s turnkey solutions include flexible printed circuits, product-quality prototyping, ultra high-density designs, high-density interconnects, long-length flex circuits, box builds, surface-mount technology (SMT), cable harnesses, multi-layered designs, high and low temperature dielectrics, hybrid solutions, flying probe, universal grid designs, lasers, LEDs, and value-added assemblies. The unique offerings are scalable solutions that add value to original equipment manufacturers and prime contractors.

The company, known for its wide variety of photodetectors for medical, military, aerospace, telecommunications, semiconductor, industrial, life sciences, and consumer electronics, now provides customized, highly reliable optoelectronic components, electronic modules and complex assemblies to meet the growing needs of its OEM customer base.

According to Steve Cuffel, vice president of sales and marketing, “Our custom optical sensor and detection solutions provide exceptional performance that can also be scaled up to meet the demands of any project. Our enhanced capabilities allow us to provide innovative solutions to fulfill ever-evolving OEM requirements. We continue to expand our portfolio, bringing together our company’s OEM products and services, offering them under one consolidated supplier, OSI Optoelectronics, Inc.”

NEUSS, GERMANY – Yamaha Robotics SMT has delivered its 1 STOP SMART SOLUTION for surface- mount assembly to Ouman Estonia OÜ, a leader in advanced control systems for smart buildings. The new equipment is already in action, delivering increased manufacturing capacity and extending Ouman’s technical capabilities.

The market for building automation is growing quickly, driven by customer desires to save running costs and energy consumption and enabled by technologies such as affordable IoT connectivity that assist monitoring and control. Overall, the sector should exceed $4 billion in Europe by 2028, according to analysts. Seeing such a positive outlook, Ouman’s management decided the time was right to invest in new equipment to build its portfolio of advanced electronic sensors, actuators, controllers, and communication gateways that enable buildings to become smart and connected.

“We needed a flexible, high-mix assembly solution to handle our diverse range of products,” explains Rando Kubits, General Manager of Ouman Estonia OÜ at the grand opening to celebrate the new facility. “Our choice of partners was equally important. We expected excellent technical services, to help us select the right equipment options and get up and running quickly, as well as committed, long- term support, technical expertise, and the stability of the business.”

Ouman began an extensive evaluation of potential suppliers, narrowing the field from 10 candidates to four, and then choosing the winner from a final pair. Key criteria included not only equipment performance, but also access to local support, business credentials and track record, and peer opinion of equipment already in the field. “We were impressed at the professionalism and the range of services Yamaha and its regional distributor, CORE-emt, were able to offer us,” says Kubits. “In addition, the 1 STOP SMART SOLUTION, being so cohesive and connected, gave us the extra assurance that our new surface-mount line would deliver above and beyond normal expectations.”

Working together with CORE-emt, Yamaha proposed a complete assembly line containing YCP10 precision screen printer, two YSM20R high-speed mounters, and 2D and 3D YSi-V inspection systems. Ouman requested additional special features including the QA Option software package that feeds-back data from inspection results in real-time to help continuously optimise the printing and placement processes.

Kai Koivunen of CORE-emt commented, “We were able to offer the best solution, leveraging our close partnership with Yamaha and in-house technical expertise. We are now looking forward to strengthening our connection with the team at Ouman, to ensure the best possible return on their investment.”

Pierre Williams, Yamaha sales manager, added, “I am confident that Rando and his team will achieve their goals in the dynamic building-automation market, aided by their new SMT line and the support we can provide through our distributor CORE-emt.”

The Yamaha YCP10 printer anchoring Ouman’s new surface-mount line combines a print-cycle time of 8 seconds with extremely high repeatability. There are high- end features like Yamaha’s 3S head, which has flexible settings to optimise paste transfer, as well as stencil vacuum that saves setup time. Users also benefit from advanced stencil alignment and cleaning features and the machine can accept large-size PCBs within its compact footprint.

Each YSM20R mounter can place up to 95,000 cph. Yamaha’s flexible placement heads can handle a wide range of component sizes and help minimise stoppages for reconfiguring the machine. The YSM20R can be setup to handle a wide component size range from 0201(mm) to 100mm x 55mm. Smart component recognition and on-the-fly pickup checking help maximise end of line yield. Special options include efficient feeders, nonstop carriage exchange, and the auto tray sequencer that help further increase productivity.

The first of the two YSi-V inspection systems is installed immediately after the mounters to provide high-speed and high-resolution 2D inspection. It supports multiple inspection modes including colour and infrared scanning, and laser height measurement to check that all components are correctly placed and oriented before reflow. At the end of the line, after the reflow oven, the second Yamaha YSi-V is configured for 3D inspection with powerful features to detect floating components and make pass/fail contour judgements.

To complete the line, thus delivering a ready-to-use solution as requested by Ouman, Core-emt added a flexible, multi-zone reflow oven and implemented custom conveying systems, leveraging its broad portfolio of high-quality manufacturing equipment. With the grand opening of the full line based on the 1 STOP SMART SOLUTION from Yamaha, Ouman’s new production capability is now in action and promises many years of reliable service.

HOUSTON, TX – Alert Tech SMT, a contract electronics manufacturer in Houston, Texas, is excited to announce Troy Schlegel's recent appointment to director of production operations.

A veteran of the electronics manufacturing industry, Schlegel brings more than 30 years of experience to this role. His career began at Texas Instruments in 1989, where he served as a surface mount technology (SMT) line technician. Through the years, he served in a wide range of roles, from equipment operator and maintenance technician to process engineer and director of production engineering. From 2001 to 2015, he led the Hunting (formerly Innova) facility in Houston with a laser focus on high-quality and high-reliability electronics and box build assemblies.

Most recently, Schlegel served as the director of engineering for MacroFab, a Houston-based electronics manufacturing platform. In addition to leading the engineering team and providing manufacturing support, he was responsible for planning, managing and executing the company's move to a new production facility. This experience — his second time to lead a facility expansion — makes him uniquely suited to join the Alert Tech SMT team, as the company is currently in the process of expanding to a 35,000-square-foot facility.

Schlegel's firsthand knowledge and attention to detail will help Alert Tech SMT continue putting out the quality products for which it is known, Chief Operating Officer Brian Laney said.

"Troy possesses an extensive understanding of diverse manufacturing processes, in addition to a talent for documentation and continuous improvement," Laney explained.

As director of production operations, Schlegel will oversee manufacturing production during the move and ensure streamlined process support production in the new facility. He will also be responsible for identifying qualified candidates and leading the production team in the pursuit of Alert Tech SMT's quality commitment to zero item failures. For this, he will draw on decades of experience managing electronics manufacturing teams both locally and internationally.

"Troy is a strong leader with the soft skills required to attract and maintain a workforce that enjoys the work they do," Laney said. "He fits perfectly with our company's ethos and culture."

Schlegel, too, views his new role as a quality fit.

"Alert Tech SMT is a leader in our industry, and they've really made a name for themselves in the surface mount technology sphere," he said. "I'm looking forward to helping facilitate the coming move and continuing to build upon an already solid reputation."