Innovation as progress

First Managing Director Rudolf Wanner illustrated the corporate philosophy. Everything started at the beginning of the sixties. At that time, Air-Vac Engineering had introduced a vacuum desoldering tool as a first in industry worldwide. However, this tool had a flaw consisting of the intermittent and unintentional cooling-down of the soldering iron. Hereupon, they developed a reflow module, at which the highest temperature did no longer unintentionally cooled down. Wanner, who back then was living in the United States and was deeply concerned about industrial soft-soldering techniques, thought about what could be improved in this product range. He saw a tremendous market potential in this – and still does so to this day. “The range of rework/repair is becoming increasingly challenging,” he says, “and the costs are becoming increasingly more expensive. Being a relatively small enterprise, we have to concentrate on our core capabilities, that is, the development of soldering processes.”

Thanks to Zevac, the range of technical software and mechanical construction/development is now covered by a company named Infotech Automation. “In 1999 we founded Infotech Automation as a separate, independent company, capable of engaging itself in other fields such as medical techniques as well,” says Wanner. He sees Zevac’s strengths not only in the selective soldering or automated rework, but increasingly also in the automation for production solutions. “We took advantage of the recession to develop many new products. With this connection, it has been very helpful, that the company is financially independent. We try to find out our limits but we are quite free in our decisions”, so Wanner.

Looking ahead, the founder of Zevac visualises: “We are going to use our worldwide network in electronics in order to enter the range of micro-automation.” He is confident, that the company will be among the best in this field as well. As an advantage resulting from the past, he sees the virtues for which his company is known to be credibility, reliability and flexibility. He adds: “We are unpretentious, straightforward and we can make our decisions on the spot”.

With the ONYX-line, a new product was launched every year, the latest being the selective soldering machine ONYX 24. The machines are all known for their accuracy, reliability and flexibility. And furthermore, they had been consistently awarded in the recent years with the Red dot Award (ONYX 25 – 2005) or the Good Design Award by the famous “The Chicago Atheaneum” institute (ONYX 32 – 2001 and ONYX 24 – 2006).

The Solothurn region is known for its watch and micro-mechanic industry and offers an economic environment of qualified employees coming from micromechanic, automation and production. This region is also known as ‚watch valley‘ or as the land of precision. Within the company, a lot is demanded in the field of rework precision and accuracy. As an example, the employees work out solutions for PCBs for the engine control system of a large aircraft. “A task requiring the utmost precision and reliability,” says Zevac’s Director Janos Tolnay. “It goes without saying that in such a case only about 20 to 30 pieces a month can be treated.” The year 2004 marked the beginning of activities in the range of production automation. With the option of the machines, the know-how concerning process and automation, automation solutions have been realised in recent years.

These applications – which have been realised for the PCB and electronics industry with the ONYX devices and the multifunctional platforms – have been well received by the market.

At the same time, the combination consisting of the proprietary hardware and software developed by the sister company, and the long lasting teamwork with specialised firms from the region, is a guarant of quality. As a provider of accurate, reliable and flexible application solutions, the strength of Zevac not only has an effect on the standard program, but they are also used for customised and delicate applications.

Multifunctional for medium to large series, when applied, accuracy and flexibility are emphasised. With this, an excellent cost performance ratio has been achieved, allowing the customer to take advantage in the composition of the production process, and thus generating the largest possible yield/benefit. Often this goes along with a reduction of the footprint.

With the launch of the automation cell IP-520, the automation capacity has been expanded and has been visible in the electronics market as well as in other markets. This expansion within the product line is the continous continuity of the developments during recent years. The automation cell will be shown for the first time in Europe at SMT Nuremberg, and later at the Intertech in Dornbirn, Austria.

SMT, hall 9, booth 422

Nepcon, A44

EPP Europe 420