20.03.2023 | Best Practice E.D.&A
For over forty years, E.D.&A. has been developing and producing customized electronic controllers for consumer and industrial applications. The company, based in Kalmthout, Belgium, is far more than just a supplier, but describes itself as the “in-house electronics department” of its customers. For the targeted expansion of the production capacity the electronics experts at E.D.&A. recently expanded their machinery with an Ersa VERSAFLOW 4/55 selective soldering system.
The company E.D.&A. was founded in 1981 by Agnes Francken and Flor D´Handschotter, who until then had been a teacher in the subject “Electronics”. The company´s founding was triggered by a request from a student´s father who asked for the development of a controller for a coffee machine. Flor didn´t just say, “Yes, let´s do it” – he seized the opportunity and founded his own business. It took four years before the first two employees were hired – both are still within the company. In the meantime, 110 employees work for E.D.&A. (the production team counts 50 heads), the last turnover was 25 mio. Euro – 20% of the business takes place within Belgium, the rest is for export. In 2009 Gert D´Handschotter took over the helm of the management from his parents.
The main focus of E.D.&A., whose business currently takes place centrally in Kalmthout on 8,000 m2 (5,000 m2 for production), is directed towards the development and production of custom-made electronics for innovative machine and appliance manufacturers, such as washing machines, ventilation systems, heat pumps, coffee machines and bakery machines. Groundbreaking for the development of the company was 08 October 2012, when E.D.&A. opened its own production with several machines, among which were quite a few Ersa soldering machines. An important decision based on intensive evaluations and research. Up to that point, all orders for manufacturing were exclusively outsourced, mainly to Belgium and Romania. However, there were more and more bottlenecks in the production capacity and also the quality of the electronic assemblies did not always meet the requirements. So the decision was finally made to produce their developments inhouse. One person was central here: Eric Vets joined E.D.&A. in November 2011, bringing with him a lot of experience from electronics production for a large mobile phone manufacturer, where he had very good experience with Ersa systems, which were provided via the Belgian representative Smans NV. Just one day on board, Eric and the E.D.&A. team were off to the leading Productronica trade show in Munich to see the Ersa portfolio up close. Shortly afterwards, they ordered from Smans-Ersa a HOTFLOW 3/14e reflow machine, a VERSAFLOW 3/45 selective machine, a VERSAPRINT 2 stencil printer and an HR 600 Rework System. Driven by Eric, E.D.&A. invested in a top-class machine park with state-of-the-art soldering systems, which, among other things, enabled full inline X-ray inspection of every PCB and comprehensive digitization of production with traceability down to the component level. Since the start of its own production line, E.D.&A. has been able to reduce lead times by more than 60% while increasing product quality by a factor of 10 compared to the previous outsourcing solution. A few years later, the selective VERSAFLOW 3 machine was exchanged for a larger VERSAFLOW 4 model with four solder pots and two flux heads (at that time the first system of its kind in Belgium), and the previous 3/45 machine was sold and has since continued production elsewhere in Belgium. The highly modular character of the large VERSAFLOW 4/55 machine offers almost unlimited configuration freedom and meets the highest demands on process and qualitative productivity. Perfect and reliably repeatable solder joints are the result, including complete documentation of all individual process parameters.
In addition, another VERSAFLOW 4 was installed at the end of February – this time E.D.&A. invested in a VERSAFLOW 4/55 with six solder pots with y/z-variable double crucible, power convection and automatic nozzle activation for processing PCBs with a maximum size of 508 x 508 mm. Just recently, a service technician from Ersa was on site for three days to “breathe even more flexibility and speed into the machine – whether in soldering or through appropriate programming,” as Gert D´Handschotter puts it with a twinkle in his eye. The machine operators, who are up to date for soldering with selective technology, would have taken a lot away from these three days – from a technician who has accompanied the machine since the beginning of its development and knows it inside out, down to the smallest screw. “The E.D.&A. team is really fit in the process and continuously wants to get even more out of the machine, which of course benefits the customer in the end,” says Gert.
“Of course, it was a big challenge to pull up an electronics manufacturing operation from scratch – we actually had zero experience until we started our production in the fall of 2012,” recalls Gert D´Handschotter. “Eric and his extensive experience in electronics manufacturing were worth their weight in gold for E.D.&A., it was an absolute win-win situation for everyone involved – otherwise it would have been very difficult to get such a production up and running,” says Tom Berx, who was already the Ersa Sales Manager responsible for Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg at the time. Eric retired in 2017, but together with the E.D.&A. team had initiated a development that allowed the company to grow to its current size. “Especially in the beginning, the local support from the Smans team, who is not far away with its headquarters in Turnhout, was invaluable,” says Gert D´Handschotter. With every machine E.D.&A. has ordered so far, the quality aspect has always been the all-important factor – the machine that had the best package to offer in terms of quality and flexibility was always ordered. This is where Eric´s expertise came in, as he had had the best experience with the high-quality machines. Gert: “Our goal with our own production was to become the leader in terms of production quality in Belgium. We succeeded in this, and the Ersa systems we ordered initially and subsequently have contributed significantly to this.”
A fact that this is also honored externally is proven by the “Factory of the Future” award, which goes back to an initiative of the Belgian technology association “Agoria & Sirris” and which E.D.&A. was able to win this year for the third time after 2016 and 2019. In each case, “seven pillars of transformation” are evaluated every three years. “Of course, we make sure that our colleagues and engineers also leave their own four walls of manufacturing once in a while in order to actively qualify and stay up to date outside or to take a look at other productions – for us, that is a fundamental part of it. We cannot stand still if we want to continue to be among the best in electronics manufacturing in Belgium and beyond,” says Gert D´Handschotter. In terms of production, E.D.&A. is one of the best in Belgium and the Benelux, and the company is also convincing on a strategic, i.e. long-term level – the title of “Best Managed Company in Belgium” is proof of this. He adds: “A ‘factory of the future’ is not created by a great machine park alone, this can only be realized with the outstanding commitment of highly motivated employees – and in cooperation with our business partners at home and abroad!”
When E.D.&A. now looks back after ten years to the beginning of its own production, one can clearly see that the company has experienced a massive surge in development since then. Whereas at that time the company employed 25 to 30 people and generated five million in sales, today´s workforce numbers 110 and recently reached five times that amount with 25 mio. Euro. Given that we produce our own developments, we can respond to changes more quickly and flexibly from the development stage onwards.
In the future, when new demands pop up at the Belgian EMS service provider and a renewed investment in another SMD line is on the cards to once again raise capacity to a new level, Ersa soldering systems will certainly be back at the top of the list for E.D.&A. decision-makers. “After ten years, we have gotten to know each other well, live a stable business partnership and know what teams and systems are capable of – we are looking forward to the next decade and a continued strong cooperation,” says Gert D´Handschotter.
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