Good news from the management of ASM Assembly Systems GmbH Co. KG (formerly Siemens Electronics Assembly Systems) at the SIPLACE press conference for the upcoming Productronica 2011. Just in time for the industrys leading trade show, SIPLACE COO Gnter Schindler announced a whole series off innovative SIPLACE solutions for the following process steps: new product introduction (NPI), setup changeover and production run. Based on the globally leading SIPLACE placement platform, integrated hardware, software and service innovation will help electronics manufacturers to adapt their production more quickly, efficiently and reliably to fluctuating demand and rising customer requirements.

Gnter Lauber, CEO of ASM Assembly Systems, and W. K. Lee, CEO of new SIPLACE parent ASM Pacific Technology (ASMPT), reported on the companys good performance and the progress made in integrating the SIPLACE team into the Singapore-based ASM group. Only nine months after the takeover in January of this year, the SIPLACE team is benefiting disproportionately from the industrys growth, allowing it to account for a good part of ASMPTrsquo;s record results and almost one third of its revenues. At the center of the SIPLACE press conference on the upcoming Productronica was the progress made in integrating the company into the ASM group. ASM Pacific Technology (ASMPT) had acquired the SIPLACE team and its SMT business in January 2011 from Siemens and integrated it as a separate business unit under the ASM Assembly Systems name.

Using synergies to add market share In his presentation, Gnter Lauber, CEO of the SIPLACE teams, pointed out the rapid success of this integration, for which he credited in part the industry experience of the ASM group, which has for many years been a leader in the backend/chip assembly segment with its solution for waver and chip production. According to Lauber, thanks to the new ownerrsquo;s decision to keep the SIPLACE team in place along with its locations and its cluster organization, the company did not have to waste any time with restructurings in the current boom, but could focus on serving the needs of customers and markets. In a second integration phase, the SIPLACE team plans to gain additional market shares by exploiting its improved access to Asian markets, lowering its costs through shared sourcing and expanding its solution spectrum through new RD initiatives.

Innovations for NPI, changeover and production run nter Schindler, COO of ASM Assembly Systems offered detailed insights into his companys current developments and innovations for this years Productronica. In response to the concrete challenges facing electronics manufacturers in the areas of new product introductions, setup changeovers and volume production, Schindler presented the latest solutions developed by SIPLACErsquo;s engineers. The spectrum of innovations ranges from NPI solutions such as SIPLACE Smart Pin Support or SIPLACE Alternative Components to high-mix setup concepts such as Random Setup or Constant Table to general efficiency improvements with SIPLACE Smart GUI, SIPLACE LED Pairing or SIPLACE Nozzle ID Scanning. Schindler underscored several times that modern SMT solutions are increasingly based on intelligently intertwined hardware, software and service components and that the SIPLACE team succeeded in making significant progress over its competitors in these fields in recent years.

ASM group delivers record results W. K. Lee, CEO of ASMPT, noted in his presentation that the integration of the SIPLACE team is progressing successfully also from the perspective of the parent companys management team. From a strategic viewpoint, the acquisition of the SIPLACE team made the ASM group the only provider who can serve its customers in the electronics industry with expertise in the entire process chain from wafer production to chip assembly and packaging to SMT placement. ASMPT itself has been the global leader in chip assembly, lead frame and bonding equipment for the chip assembly and packaging fields since 2002. During the first six months of 2011, the business with SIPLACE solutions was a significant factor in the groups sales growth of 48.8 percent to US$ 944 million, a new record.W. K.

pointed out that the group continues to target synergies by expanding its cooperation in the areas of component development and sourcing via shared in-house production or purchasing from outside suppliers. As far as marketing is concerned, the SIPLACE teams business should benefit from the ASM Groups close customer relationships in Asian markets. In this area, SIPLACE has been very successful with large, internationally operating customers, but has yet to make serious inroads with the large numbers of regional producers. Asked about his long-term and medium-term outlook, W. K. Lee referred to the in-house slogan, which employees of SIPLACE and ASM had selected for their wide range of integration projects: Together #1.