manufacturing, logistics & services GmbH & Co. KG (ml&s for short) is expanding its SMT production capacity with three placement machines of the new SIPLACE SX series. The company, which is based in Greifswald, Germany, is taking this step to be able to handle the rapidly rising order volume from its customers in the automotive, manufacturing, telecommunication and renewable energy industries. ml&s also wants to improve its manufacturing flexiblity for highly complex products while ensuring its high standard of quality in times of every more frequent product changes. Because of their precision in handling a very broad spectrum of components and the ability to increase their placement performance by adding interchangeable SX gantries, ml&s selected machines from the newest SIPLACE line.
 
With its investment in three SIPLACE SX1 machines, ml&s is increasing the real performance of two of its five SMT lines in its Greifswald plant by 25 percent. The company currently produces over 1,300 differerent products ranging from compact USB modules with tiny 0201 components to large PCBs with special components for solar inverters in lot sizes from 13 to 100,000 units for companies in industries as diverse as automotive, manufacturing, telecommunication and renewable energies. With its new SIPLACE SX placement machines and their digital vision systems, ml&s can now introduce new products faster and improve its placement accuracy, starting with the first unit that passes through the line. 
 
The Capacity-on-Demand capabilities of the SIPLACE SX were also a critical factor for the electronics manufacturer, who employs over 1,000 people in Greifswald. If customer demand continues to rise, ml&s can easily increase the performance of its SX machines by adding more gantries without having to reconfigure its lines or change their arrangement.
 
„The scalability of the SX machines was a critical factor in our purchase decision," says ml&s production manager Detlef Krohn. "By renting additional gantries for a limited period of time we can now complete time-critical projects much more quickly than before. We believe that this gives us a lot more flexibility and consider it an intelligent option to adjust the output of our lines over the short term in order to meet short-term demand fluctuations."
 
About ml&s GmbH & Co. KG 
 
As a provider of manufacturing and logistics services, ml&s offers a wide-ranging portfolio to the electronics industry. With roughly 1,000 employees, ml&s is one of the leading mid-sized companies in the region. Its spectrum of products and services ranges from designing and manufacturing printed circuit-boards and configuring complete systems to quality management, product shipment and after-sales service. Its customer list includes well-known German and international companies in the telecommunications and IT industries as well as in the solar panel, medical technology, automobile and industrial engineering industries.