EMS service provider as system partner for the aviation industry

When so much care is taken to give the printed circuit board a perfect finish, it goes without saying that attention is paid to every detail during production as well, in order to guarantee the best possible product and process quality. Which is why Heicks Industrieelektronik has been relying on soldering systems from Ersa GmbH for a good 30 years now. The first new machine bought by the young company was an ETS 330 wave soldering machine in the 1980s. „I well remember Bernd Schenker*, who was here well into the night with his sleeves rolled up, helping us get the machine up and running – that was great commitment to the customer and led to several further purchases from Ersa,“ Rudolf Heicks recalls.

As a complete EMS service provider, Heicks has a relevant machine fleet – Ersa has contributed numerous systems for this: two ECOSELECT 350 selective soldering systems, two VERSAPRINT stencil printers, one HOTFLOW 2/12 reflow soldering system, one POWERFLOW E wave soldering system. An additional system of the same type was added in 2018, as well as a HR 600/2 rework system for the automatic desoldering, placing and soldering of SMT components. Initially Heicks manufactured completely  containing lead, until the requirement for lead-free came up – which was the reason for purchasing an ECOSELECT 350 in May 2006, the first selective soldering system that mastered both methods. The demand for lead-free production increased so much after this that selective soldering technology could no longer cope with this volume – the solution for Heicks came in August 2014 with the POWERFLOW E wave soldering system. This means Heicks can now cover small batch sizes using both selective systems – if larger, more complex assemblies are required, the two POWERFLOW E systems can be used. With the newly purchased HR 600/2, Heicks can repair even parylene assemblies in the standard process in such a way that they are released for aviation applications – the worker exposes the soldering spots mechanically, desolders the component and cleans the soldering spot, then the new component is soldered in place, the soldering spot is cleaned again and sealed with a special casting compound. Companies that work for such sensitive sectors as aviation, mining and railway technology must practice comprehensive traceability – to this end, Heicks invested a great deal of energy in an ERP system (Enterprise Resource Planning) which has also been customized to the company‘s individual requirements. Now the Heicks team has access to sophisticated capacity scheduling modules which include definitions of which process takes how long and when the next order is to be processed. The result: reliable planning – important for Heicks‘ customer orders with production facilities in Mexico, Sri Lanka or Singapore and headquarters in Germany. More and more often, Heicks also produces prototypes for German development departments for products which then go into series production in South America or Asia. Even deliveries to India and the USA are no problem for Heicks, since the company has its own customs department and can thus process world-wide shipments.

When new investments are to be made, the Heicks team relies on brainstorming, compares suppliers in terms of price and performance – always with the aim of keeping to one supplier whenever possible. „The supplier knows us, we have one direct contact for everything – from our point of view there is little sense in mixing too much, that would result in disadvantages in terms of spare parts supplies, programming, applications. And Ersa has a comprehensive set-up with service and systems, so that we can confirm again and again that we feel comfortable and well looked after here, remain compatible from one system to the next and are thus more flexible,“ says Rudolf Heicks, who greatly values long-term business relationships. Even if the decision phase sometimes takes a long time – once the decision has been made, the machine has to be installed and ready for use as quickly as possible. Rudolf Heicks puts the following on record: „Our new purchases were often linked to orders that we could never have completed without these systems.

For this reason, it was always crucial that the machine could be powered up within the shortest time possible – which was always the case with Ersa.“ Heicks Industrieelektronik is extremely well equipped when it comes to soldering technology, although Rudolf Heicks is already thinking forward. Currently towards automation. Occasionally he thinks about who is going to succeed him in the company – both sons have completed their engineering degrees, one of them is currently doing his pilot‘s licence. Good preconditions for a company that makes 70 percent of its turnover in the aerospace and aviation industries!

Ersa product portfolio