News

Silicon Mountain’s mulit-million SMT placement accuracy statistics

150 150 Clint Roehr

Silicon Mountain, a leading electronic manufacturing company, announced that its annual multi-million placement accuracy statistics for first pass yield continue to grow. The company utilizes surface mount technology (SMT) machines, including the award-winning Fuzion and Advantis Platforms from Universal Instruments. These machines offer the latest, innovative technology in SMT. They enable Silicon Mountain to print, place, and reflow components in a variety of sizes from <0201 to 44mm.

“We started Silicon Mountain 20 years ago to give OEMs the option to run high volume Electronic Assemblies in the United States,” stated Kris Townsend, President of Silicon Mountain. “Our SMT growth is a testament to our unwavering commitment towards innovation, excellence and customer satisfaction.”

The Advantis3™ combines the best in technology, performance and unmatched scalability. The Advantis3™ machines are the little brother to the Fuzion® machines, running single 30 spindle Lightning heads. Upgraded with new style spindles for increased accuracy, they are used to add flexibility and speed to Silicon Mountain’s placement lines. These machines feature powerful, flexible platforms that handle a wide range of applications and readily adapt to new ones.

The Universal ‘Fuzion®’ platform line of equipment consists of high-speed pick and place machines. They use a vacuum system in conjunction with spindles and nozzles for high-speed precision placement of components on circuit boards. Fuzion uses a variety of sizes and types of nozzles to pick a wide range of SMT electronic components from numerous feeder types and place them on a circuit board. The fiducial correction system is capable of reading fiducials from multiple circuits on a board for pinpoint accuracy.

Silicon Mountain Invests in Four Pillarhouse Selective Solder Systems

150 150 Clint Roehr

Silicon Mountain, a leading electronic manufacturing company, has upgraded its selective soldering department with four new selective solder systems from Pillarhouse International. The company continues to invest to maintain the flexibility, quality and turnaround necessary to meet each customer’s unique needs.

Silicon Mountain’s selective solder through-hole systems position its clients for success. The company reduces the risks of thermal shock and excessive flux contamination inherent to traditional systems. Silicon Mountain’s through-hole systems handle fragile displays easily. They allow components to be placed onto PCBs, panels, or other assemblies without disturbing nearby surface-mount technology (SMT) components. Silicon Mountain offers clients the speed and flexibility of its systems to help achieve repeatable success in their competitive markets.

“With this investment, we are enhancing our selective soldering capabilities and reinforcing our commitment to delivering the highest-quality electronic components to our customers,” Clint Roehr, Project Manager at Silicon Mountain. “This acquisition is a significant step forward for Silicon Mountain, and we are excited about the opportunities it will bring.”

The Pillarhouse International Orissa Synchrodex is a modular selective soldering system designed to eliminate the need for hand soldering. The first module in the line is equipped with a precision drop jet fluxer and upper and lower preheat modules. The next two modules have bottom side preheat, a drop jet fluxer, and solder pot/pump/nozzle setups.

The preheat helps with flux activation and raises the board temperature for better solder flow and reduced dwell time on the solder joints. All machines incorporate fiducial correction for increased accuracy. Having two soldering modules allows the soldering program to be split for increased flexibility and efficiency.

Silicon Mountain provides a wide range of services, whether it is prototyping for startups or high-volume manufacturing. Regardless of the service, the company aims for high quality and quick turnaround.

For more information about Silicon Mountain, visit https://siliconmtn.net/.

About Silicon Mountain

Silicon Mountain is a manufacturing partner capable of both low and high-volume production, which allows customers to quickly go from product development to market. The company’s business model is built with a clear understanding of the importance of time to market and supply chain availability.

2023 GLOBAL Technology Award

150 150 Clint Roehr

Silicon Mountain Receives 2023 GLOBAL Technology Award in the Category of Contract Manufacturers $15-50 Million
NAMPA, ID ― November 2023 ― Silicon Mountain, a leading electronic manufacturing company, is proud to announce its prestigious win of the 2023 GLOBAL Technology Award in the category of Contract Manufacturers $15-50 Million. The award ceremony was held during productronica in Munich on Nov. 14, 2023.
Silicon Mountain’s success can be attributed to its dedicated team of professionals, who take great pride in their work and are committed to delivering the highest quality products to clients ranging from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies.
As a forward-thinking contract manufacturer, Silicon Mountain’s business model is centered around the critical factors of time-to-market and supply chain availability. This approach enables the company to support both low- and high-volume production, allowing customers to accelerate their product development process and swiftly reach the market. Silicon Mountain specializes in Surface Mount Technology (SMT), Through-hole, Mechanical Assembly, and Higher Level Assembly (HLA).
Quality and consistency are at the core of Silicon Mountain’s operations. The company maintains ISO 9001:2015 certification, demonstrating its commitment to delivering reliable and top-notch products to its customers while continually striving for improvement. Additionally, Silicon Mountain places a strong emphasis on environmental responsibility and safety. The company adheres to RoHS compliance, ensuring the safe handling of hazardous materials, and proudly operates a lead-free facility.
“This recognition is a testament to the hard work, dedication and expertise of our team,” said Clint Roehr, Project Manager at Silicon Mountain. “We remain committed to delivering exceptional service and outstanding products to our valued customers.”
The GLOBAL Technology Awards, established in 2005, serve as a platform to recognize and celebrate the finest innovations in the printed circuit assembly and packaging industries. By honoring outstanding achievements, the awards encourage industry players to strive for exceptional standards and pioneer groundbreaking solutions.
Silicon Mountain provides a wide range of services, whether it is prototyping for startups or high-volume manufacturing. Regardless of the service, the company aims for high quality and quick turnaround.
For more information about Silicon Mountain, visit https://siliconmtn.net/.
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About Silicon Mountain
Silicon Mountain is a manufacturing partner capable of both low and high-volume production, which allows customers to quickly go from product development to market. The company’s business model is built with a clear understanding of the importance of time to market and supply chain availability.

Speedprint Furthers Silicon Mountain’s Mission of Domestic Reliability, Value and Experience

150 150 Jason Honn

Founded in 2002 by Kris Townsend, general manager, and Wayne Townsend, co-founder, and based just outside Boise, Idaho, Silicon Mountain Contract Services has grown steadily over the past 12 years.

The company began with the premise that contract electronic manufacturers (CEMs) based in America could specialize in and provide custom work-cell manufacturing designed to meet all requirements – internal and external – that are necessary to provide customer satisfaction without going overseas. Using this model, the company has been going strong and growing consistently.

As part of its mission, the company only uses state-of-the-art equipment with good business sense. Its team has decades of experience in manufacturing, quality and supply chain management platforms that its customers use to successfully meet the goals of their competitive markets. “Silicon Mountain’scurrent production volume requires five production SMT lines to be run 24 hours a day, five days a week,” said Curtis Thompson, Process Engineering Manager. “We have a number of active customers that we have partnered with for many years.” Thompson has dealt with machines and processes since 1993.

To keep up with its production pace, the company must use top-rated, current equipment from technologically-advanced manufacturers. One of these is Speedprint Technology, an award-winning company delivering comprehensive SMT screen printing solutions with a focus on value, flexibility and low cost-of-ownership for the SMT and semiconductor industries.Silicon Mountain started working with Speedprint when Thompson and a fellow engineer looked into replacing an aging screen print machine in February 2013. They attended the IPC APEX EXPO in San Diego and were introduced to the company and the screen printers.

“While attending the February 2013 APEX EXPO in San Diego, we were able to compare all of the major screen printer brands side to side, and several things really stood out to us as we were evaluating printers,” added Thompson. He said that Speedprint’s machines are simple and straightforward, making them much easier to work on than other printers. He also said that they use many off-the-shelf parts that are not custom, allowing them to be easily serviced for years to come. The SP710 printer that Silicon Mountain purchased offered all the high-end features that the company was looking for: 2-D inspection, board support placement location, program creation from Gerber files and a flexible platform with a glue dispensing option – all at a significant cost savings.

Silicon Mountain currently has two Speedprint systems in use on its floor – the SP710and the SP700, which it purchased in September 2013 – and is running one on each of its two fastest production lines. Each line puts down 7+ million placements a month. Thompson said that the company strategically placed them on these lines because they have so little downtime and work around the clock. He added, “We have plans to eventually replace other aging printers on other lines as they get harder to find parts for and fix. We have been impressed with Speedprint’s quick response time and its engineers’ ability to help diagnose and solve any possible issues remotely since these printers are networked for remote access.”

Silicon Mountain is a smaller CEM but Thompson said that the company runs high-volume, high-mix manufacturing so it needs printers that are easy, fast to set up and run with very little downtime. “These printers do all of this for us,” Thompson confirmed. Speedprint also strives to provide the best customer service possible for all of its clients, regardless of size. Thompson said that uptime is crucial in Silicon Mountain’s business and that with a single phone call to Speedprint he can have his factory technician remote into the machine and can have answers to any questions within minutes.

Thompson also added that Speedprint is the most responsive machine manufacturer with which the company has dealt. With other vendors, he said, it can be hours or even days before he receives a concrete response; however, with Speedprint it is only minutes. Because of this and Speedprint’s other qualities, he said, “I give Speedprint five stars for service.”

Speedprint products combine its commitment to high performance and reliability with all the necessary features for processing the most complicated assemblies. The systems are designed to cope with the rigors of high-volume SMT production while incorporating the flexibility needed in high-mix, quick product setup and changeover environments. Speedprint takes a unique approach that is defined by its commitment to quality, design simplicity, long-term reliability and low operation costs. The company’s commitment to quality is exemplified by the many important process control features that are standard elements of every Speedprint machine. The design simplicity means low maintenance costs and being free of expensive OEM service contracts. Additionally, the solid state components used in its products results in long-term reliability and greater customer choice.

Silicon Mountain originally chose Speedprint over any competing companies based on four reasons: the printer itself, the design, the function and the pricing – with service being the icing on top. Thompson added, “Our technicians had been trying to service and repair older printers that were unnecessarily complex and difficult to repair. When we saw how simple and straightforward the design was on Speedprint’s printers and the features they had, we were sold, and the pricing sealed the deal.” Now, more than a year later, the company continues choosing Speedprint as its screen print platform because “it brings the best of everything to our floor at a reasonable price and they just plain work day in and day out.”

This is all-important to a busy, family-owned CEM that has big plans for the future. In an industry full of midsize CEMs, Silicon Mountain stands out from the others because of its “keep it at home” mentality. As a smaller family-owned business, the company strives to make the most of every capital dollar it spends, and the return on investment (ROI) has been good, not only providing a moderately priced machine but also resulting in a significant improvement in uptime that has translated positively to Silicon Mountain’s bottom line.

“As a family-owned and operated company, we strongly believe that our national heritage and our future rely upon having a strong economic base generated from a reliable and viable manufacturing foundation,” Thompson concluded. “We are part of that foundation and welcome you to join with us in bringing more jobs home to the United States.”

 

Original Article Published by Electronics Production World in July 2014. 
Click Here to read original article.

Silicon Mountain has closed a deal for a Universal Instruments Fuzion® Platform solution at the IPC APEX EXPO.

150 150 Jason Honn

Universal Instruments again enjoyed a very successful IPC APEX EXPO, this year held at the Mandalay Bay Hotel, Las Vegas, NV on March 25 – 27. Building upon its partnership with Universal, growing US-based contract manufacturer Silicon Mountain added both a Fuzion4-120 high-speed and a Fuzion2-37 flexible platform to its Fuzion portfolio.

“We couldn’t be happier with the overall performance of the Fuzion that we integrated into our manufacturing operations last year,” said Silicon Mountain Contract Services Principal Partner, Wayne Townsend. “Fuzion has helped us significantly improve our overall utilization and productivity, and we intend to leverage those capabilities as we continue to expand our scope of customers and accelerate our growth path.”

Universal highlighted its complete solutions portfolio at APEX, with a range of technologies, including surface mount, odd-form, through-hole, and automation technologies on the booth. Hundreds of attendees from a variety of industries visited the booth for live equipment demonstrations and discussions with Universal’s product experts.

“As the premier show in the Americas, APEX continues to prove the ideal setting for us to showcase our unique value to prospective customers,” said Universal Instruments Vice President of Marketing, Glenn Farris. “Moreover, it gives us the opportunity to strengthen the relationships we have with our current customers, such as Silicon Mountain,” Farris added.