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Niko switches to selective soldering for its future technology
Niko (Sint-Niklaas) celebrates its centenary birthday in 2019. In those 100 years, the company has always been strongly committed to innovative production techniques. A good example of this is the recent investment in the Selective Soldering Machine which is used for the production of the latest products for home automation, among other things.
Factory of the Future
Niko is best known as the biggest player on the Belgian market of switches and sockets. Over 500 people are employed at the head quarter in Sint-Niklaas, where both production and offices are located. With focus on the complete European market, the company is a leader in products such as switches, access control, detectors, light control and home automation.
To develop new and innovative products, it is necessary to be able to take care of the prototypes and (part of) the production in-house. The close link between R&D and the production department ensures an end product that meets all necessary criteria. Not only with regards to ease of use and safety, but also economically and ecologically responsible manufacturability. This approach has recently resulted in the “Factory of the Future 2019” award
Soldering Quality is Essential
"Product reliability is a very important factor in our home automation applications" says Koen Braet, Senior Project Engineer at Niko. “By expanding the functionalities of our products, more and more electronics are also being integrated into the same housing. The quality of the soldered connections is crucial for the safety and lifespan of the product. "
Based on the needs of its applications, Niko has selected the Pillarhouse Jade Selective Soldering Machine for the production of the newest generation of connected home automation sockets. The machine has a very high degree of stability and reliability in its soldering results. This is important because the power from the outlet travels through these soldering’s. The sockets are CEBEC approved, confirming their reliability and safety.
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Moreover, the machine can be set up flexibly so that it can be used quickly during the development and production of the next generations of products at Niko. Thanks to this investment the company now has the possibility to perform more reliable soldering on complex connections than ever before.
"We are very pleased that we have been able to demonstrate the qualities and benefits of the Pillarhouse Selective Soldering machine at Niko," says Tom Van Tongelen, CEO at Smd-Tec, the local distributor of Pillarhouse in the Benelux. "Reliability of a product is important everywhere, but especially in the consumer market the smallest malfunctioning of a device is not accepted by the high standards of Niko customers."