Circuit Engineering Marketing Company  (Cemco) was formed in 1971 as a manufacturing company specializing in tooling and other equipment for the PCB industry, together with purpose-built machinery for non-associated industries.

Situated in the attractive countryside near Havant in Hampshire England, CEMCO has concentrated its efforts into the design of equipment that is straight-forward to operate and easy to maintain and service.


Company Profile

Over the years Cemco has continually expanded its range of products, either with equipment of its own manufacture or acting as an agent for other suppliers, resulting in a broad product range to suit many aspects of printed circuit board manufacturing, including cleaning, process handling, soldering and test systems.

We all know how quickly changes arrive in the world of electronics, and the PCB itself has undergone considerable evolution in its comparatively brief existence. Most of these changes rapidly became accepted throughout the PCB manufacturing world but one process, Hot Air Solder Leveling (HAL) and its associated technique of Solder Mask Over Bare Copper (SMOBC) was a little "lazy" in this respect.

A major reason for this slow acceptance was that the process could be difficult to control, somewhat dirty and that the equipment available was unreliable and difficult to maintain. These concerns made board manufacturers shy away from purchasing their own systems, and this led to the establishment of specialized service companies that could concentrate on fine-tuning and continually adjusting the equipment so that an acceptable end-product could be achieved.

One such sub-contract service was Cemco Services Ltd established in 1982 as a sister company to CEMCO. Cemco Services was quickly able to recognize the design limitations of currently available equipment, and their feedback enabled Circuit Engineering to design and develop their own vertical hot air solder leveler - Quicksilver.

Quicksilver with its high reliability and low maintenance, has in turn transformed hot air solder leveling into a relatively clean and efficient process.

Since its market release in 1983, more than 500 Quicksilver systems have been sold worldwide. Market acceptance among large P.C.B. fabricators was initially slow, due to the unfamiliar appearance, size and simplicity of Quicksilver, at a time when other hot air levelers were becoming much bulkier and more complicated.

However, Quicksilver has now been accepted by most of the industry's largest producers, following the lead set by Scottish based Prestwick Circuits in 1986, when they replaced their existing HAL systems with a single complete Quicksilver line, having become disillusioned with other leveling equipment available at the time.

Quicksilver machines will be found in large, medium and small companies all over the world, where its ease of use, low maintenance, superior product quality, and high throughput capability have established it as being the market leader in vertical leveling systems.

In 1988, increasing business led to the purchase of a purpose-built factory (4,000 sq.mts) to make space at the original premises for extended Research and Development facilities and pre-production trials of Cemco's latest product - 'ALCHEMY'.

In 1984 ALCHEMY had been a Cemco dream - a truly automatic Horizontal Hot Air Leveler. It was estimated that the project would take three years and cost around 3 million pounds. At the time, Cemco could not attempt such a project unaided and sought Government assistance. In 1986 a Grant was approved by Her Majesty's Government Department for Trade and Industry (DTI).~

As a result of initial design and feasibility studies it became apparent that the scope of the project was far wider than anticipated. To be truly flexible and provide finishes that were as yet undefined, a modular and flexible design was necessary. Clearly the system would be expensive to produce and therefore should provide the capability to integrate with other surface finish processes such as fusing, tin, nickel and organic coatings.

This sort of flexibility demanded reliable handling equipment to divert from one process to another, with capability for computer process control and statistical process control (SPC) data collection. Cemco concluded that the first step should be the handling equipment and process modules, thus establishing fixed design rules for further modules and future products. The first 'LYNK' panel handling modules were installed in 1986, and as each new module was developed it was field tested and added to the equipment range. In this way it could be guaranteed that when ALCHEMY was released to the market, 90% of the system would be fully market tested and service documented.

Integrated automation has long been the goal of major manufacturers, and the spin-off developments from the ALCHEMY project in the form of the 'LYNK' modular concept provoked a great deal of interest. This resulted in sub-development projects and design studies in conjunction with several major PCB manufacturers, and suppliers of equipment and raw material throughout Europe.

In 1989 the complete ALCHEMY SYSTEM was demonstrated to the DTI -ALCHEMY exceeded the dream. Now  there are over 35 systems installed in major PCB fabrication companies around the world.

CEMCO's product range covers the following broad group:-

1) Hot Air Leveling - vertical and horizontal, together with a range of Pre and Post Treatment processing systems.

2) Panel handling systems.

3) Wet processing systems drying modules, heating and cool-down units.

4) Registration systems, laminate punches.

5) A range of laboratory test equipment, including solderability testers, accelerated ageing, peel and pull-off, and thru-hole copper conductivity testing.

6) A range of pre-cleaning and fluxing chemicals for hot air leveling.

In 1989, Cemco opened an office in California , U.S.A. This facility provides engineering, laboratory and demonstration capabilities and, with the aid of modem links to the Cemco U.K. CAD systems, stock control management and service record computers, Cemco is well placed to adapt and respond to the needs of U.S.A board shops, material suppliers and original equipment manufacturers.

In April 1999 Cemco signed an agreement with Symonds PLC to purchase Finishing Services Ltd UK (FSL). This addition to the  Cemco group of companies will allow  Cemco to extend their range of quality wet processing equipment available to customers worldwide.

For many years  Cemco's reputation has evolved around the supply of solder leveling systems and it seems that this process will remain dominant in the industry for a considerable time yet. However,  Cemco has recognised the benefits of alternative finishes for specialised applications and therefore FSL’s experience and equipment with these technologies and with other wet processing applications will ensure that the merger is sure to be a success.

An important requirement for any organization trading throughout the world is the establishment of competent agents who can provide vital sales and service support. Cemco has taken extreme care in the selection of its worldwide distributors and now boasts a comprehensive and effective network.

"To be able to meet the future demands of the industry, it has always been Cemco's policy to devote maximum resources to research and development", says Company Chairman Peter Lymn. "Our team of engineers are able to take an idea from conception, through design, manufacturing and test, to full-scale production".

With such a solid foundation of expertise, combined with insight into the needs of the end user, Cemco looks set to continue providing the industry with new and exciting products and concepts for the Millennium and beyond.

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