Show Report: NEPCON South China reflects global slowdown
NEPCON South China
reflects global slowdown
The Olympics closing ceremony ended also demonstrated
in spectacular fashion during NEPCON one of the coolest
South China week, and the mood among products this week,
the local Chinese people was very upbeat— a vacuum system for
and justifiably so. entering clean-room
Traffic at the show was good, but there areas—so, no more
has been some downturn in manufacturing booties!
business due to the slow consumer markets Among the
in the west. Traditionally, this is a time business news this
when manufacturers are ramping up for week, Cyberoptics
the Christmas market, but this year the ex- announced the
pectations are low. To some degree this has relocation of its sen-
been offset with an increase in domestic sors manufacturing
sales, particularly around the Olympics. division from Min-
Another trend we noticed is the move nesota to Singapore.
towards increased automation. As wages In the mid-
rise and the availability of skilled workers range pick and place installation where two inneos replaced ten
becomes more difficult, Chinese manufac- sector, MYDATA reported that sales of Japanese pick and place machines.
turers are no longer relying on cheap labor. the MY100 series are going well and they JUKI announced that they were
The effects are still being felt of many have just added additional capacity to the formally entering the high-speed placement
skilled workers not returning after the machine. MYDATA are also pleased with business with the FX3 machine and the
Chinese New Year and instead opting to the progress of their MY500 printer, which promise of further developments to come.
find jobs closer to home, even if it means after years of development is now a stable JUKI picked up two awards during NEP-
lower salaries. and reliable platform, saving manufacturers CON South China, including a Global
Of course, another driver towards au- considerable operating costs with no sten- Technology Award.
tomation is the increasing miniaturization cils and up to 70% lower paste volumes. To Assembleon introduced a new tray
of boards, components and form profiles. support these sales and continued develop- feeder trolley that holds a large number of
The size of components is really moving ment in Asia, MYDATA are opening a new trays and indexes them into position to be
beyond the capability of human dexterity Headquarters in Shanghai, which will be picked like a reel-fed component. This new
and forcing manufacturers toward more under the direction of Pelle Wennerlund. development also saves real estate within
automation. ECD added a range of new features, in- the pick and place machine.
On the show floor, WKK was celebrat- cluding more in-depth diagnostics for com- Kasion (KAL) had an extremely busy
ing its 20-year partnership with Yamaha in plicated boards into their MEGAM.O.L.E. booth and demonstrated the new range of
a stunning booth that was a mass of LED 20® The updated system has up to 185 pick and place machines from Mirae. The
video panels and moving displays. WKK different data sets that it can extract, which Korean manufacturer introduced a range
is especially useful of ten new machines last year, ranging from
when characterizing entry level up to high volume, high mix
NPI boards. machines capable of 120,000 cph.
Europlacer’s Kester claim that they are maintaining
inneo pick and place a market lead in the liquid flux category
machine is now in following extensive development work with
mainstream produc- key customers. The company claims that
tion and finding 2009 will be their turnaround year.
a surprising trend NEPCON will hold their Tianjin show
where manufacturers near Beijing in November. Next year, their
are using its huge ca- flagship event in Shanghai will incorporate
pacity to replace two a new photovoltaic show called PV Expo.
or more machines The pace of change at least in China shows
on the line. One no slowdown.
example cited by —Trevor Galbraith
the company was an
40 – Global SMT & Packaging – September 2008 www.globalsmt.net
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