When Assembléon introduced its TCoD (True Capacity on Demand) initiative earlier this year, the company viewed it as a way to solve customers’ seasonal demand problems, and smooth out peaks in production volumes. Now Customers are also using it to reduce initial capital costs, as CEO André Papoular explained at Productronica.
Since André Papoular became CEO of Assembléon in January 2009, he has been emphasizing customer focus. He came to a company that was already setting industry benchmarks for defect-free assembly. Assembléon´s focus on technology improvement has led to the best placement process and lowest defects per million placements in the industry (fewer than 10, as opposed to the industry average of approximately 50). That means much less waste and rework, saving customers valuable resources.
Meanwhile the TCoD-initiative adds more saving opportunities: Customers use it to reduce initial capital costs by buying pick & place systems to handle their usual production levels and renting extra robots for the first few months. The cash generated from the extra production then goes to purchase the robots permanently, thus preparing customers for the economic upswing. Papoular: „With TCoD, customers can just buy the equipment from Assembléon that they need for day-to-day production, and hire extra (compact, modular, calibration-free) robot heads to meet peaks in demand. The initiative can save customers over 20% on equipment costs by breaking the traditional purchasing of equipment based on possible future peak capacity. TCoD also makes for safer investment by removing the danger of overcapacity.“
The initiative has led to early results, and one new Chinese customer has found an attractive twist. “We recently sold three A-Series lines to Shanghai based Tian Wei,” remarks Burkhardt Frick, Assembléon’s Asia Pacific General Manager. “The customer bought machines with eight robots, and rented an extra six robots for the first six months. That reduced initial investments, and also reduced the start-up risks of introducing the customer’s new product. ”
“The alternative to renting equipment during production peaks is to outsource, but that is not an attractive option,” says Leo vandeVall, President of Assembléon America, Inc.. “It takes time to set up and qualify, time that is sometimes just not available because of market demands for fast delivery. Retaining production in house makes better use of the customer’s existing organization, machine capacity and test equipment.“
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