UK EMS Company Bucks The Trend

It’s all too easy to look and see only gloom in the UK electronics economy, however, one South Coast EMS provider is continuing to grow, thanks to prudent investment and a strong customer-service culture. Established in 1981, Contract Electronics Manufacturer Wilson Process Systems (WPS) is based in Hastings, East Sussex and employs over 100 personnel. Specialising in Printed Circuit Board Assembly, the company has grown every year, more than doubling its turnover to £10M in the last eight years. Registered and approved to BS EN ISO 9001: 2000, the company serves a wide range of industries including LED traffic lights and road signage, medical, industrial, audio, inspection and hygiene. There are a number of factors that set WPS apart which may account for its current success. Firstly, as a privately-owned company WPS is very flexible. Founded by Gordon Wilson, the company is now run by his two sons and company co-founders, Nick and Tim Wilson. This enables the company to move very fast when the situation demands. For example, when the company needed to install a new surface mount assembly line three years ago, the need for a second manufacturing facility became obvious. In a matter of weeks, the company had identified a new location five minutes away from its main centre, agreed rental terms, refurbished the premises to suit the demands of modern manufacturing, installed the new lines and begun production. The acquisition of the Fir Tree Business Park added a further 5000 square feet of manufacturing space, which now houses three surface mount lines and placement machines for mounting through hole LEDs which are being used in great numbers in motorway signage. The site has also meant that WPS has increased its Surface Mount capacity to over 125,000 component placements per hour as well as improving its ability to accurately place fine-pitch devices. The company now has seven Universal assembly machines of various types. The company has a policy of investing in the latest and best available equipment to support the needs of its clients. Recently WPS has added an Orbotech Vantage S22 post reflow AOI system, a Universal Radial 8XT through-hole radial insertion machine and two automated conformal coating systems with flexible IR convection ovens from Asymtek to handle the increase it is seeing in its assembly business. Other recent investments include: two Universal AC30 ‘Lightning’ pick and place machines; a Universal AC72 pick and place machine; a BTU Paragon 98 9-zone (with two cooling zones) forced convection, computer controlled reflow oven, and an SM Tech Sigma Print AVX 500 fully automated, in-line solder paste printer with de-stacker. The company can also offer full Boundary Scan capability using a Goepel system. WPS has chosen to develop its UK facilities rather than following the fashion of developing a Far Eastern connection that many other UK EMS companies have done. This is primarily because the company believes that it can support UK companies better using a local facility where lines of communication are short and endless factory evaluation trips to China are unnecessary. WPS’ customers typically tend to be medium volume, requiring mid to high complexity technology solutions. With this mix, a strong customer service culture is vital. Comments Steve Cooke, recently appointed Sales Manager: “Service is the number one concern for all our personnel, and we like our customers to treat our staff as their employees for the duration of the contract.” One long running engagement illustrates this perfectly. Back in 2002 WPS began a partnership with SensorMendics, part of the Viasys Healthcare group, to develop a ground-breaking new respiratory system, designed especially for premature babies. The Infant Flow® SiPAP™ unit was the first of its kind to offer non-invasive support for infants, which eliminates the need for intubation and significantly reduces distress to help recovery. The system features intelligent controls that monitor how much support the infant needs and automatically adjusts if the condition changes. Commented a spokesperson for Viasys Healthcare: “Since partnering with WPS we have been able to continuously progress the development of the unit according to medical standards making it the leading model of its kind.” WPS is responsible for producing the internal circuit boards, which include a variety of single, double-sided and multi-layered assemblies. The company is also responsible for electro-mechanical assembly of the units and conducts rigorous testing on the machines, according to high medical standards, prior to them being shipped to the US for distribution. Nick Jones, Sales Director of WPS said: “Vital systems, such as the new Infant Flow® SiPAP™ frequently demand 100 per cent fail proof technology and smart controls that support both patients and healthcare workers. This is where our industry-leading circuit boards come in – they have been fully tested to comply with medical standards to ensure that the babies are cared for in the best possible way, whilst at the same time enabling the unit to give the right amount of support to encourage the infants to breathe for themselves.” WPS also holds long-running contracts with a world-leading power generation equipment manufacturer, where it has been awarded the prestigious Category 1 status for production and “ship-to-use” of fully finished voltage regulators, and is a large-scale supplier of motorway signage based on LED technology, which demands ultra-precision placement of a huge number of LEDs on boards which then require careful, accurate, but cost-effective conformal coating.