ESS Manufacturing, Inc. Enhances Manufacturing Process Technology With Addition of 5DX Capability

MELBOURNE, FL, March 10, 2009 – ESS Manufacturing, Inc., is pleased to announce the addition of 5DX capabilities in its Barrie, Ontario manufacturing facility. The ESS Manufacturing facility in Barrie, Ontario specializes in complex electronic assembly for products that require high reliability in quality and workmanship – specifically electronic assemblies used in military, medical, and industrial applications. The enhancement of ESS’s manufacturing process to include 5DX inspection keeps ESS Manufacturing as an industry leader at the forefront of providing complex electronics manufacturing assembly services.

ESS chose to install an Agilent 5300 model machine for adding this capability. The Agilent 5DX is a non-destructive structural test x-ray machine that uses laminography (tomography) to take 3D images of an assembled printed circuit board. The Agilent 5DX machine will allow ESS to perform advanced x-ray inspection on numerous solder joints during printed circuit board assembly. Specifically, ESS will use this machine to provide digital cross-sectional x-ray images of solder joints, automatically analyze solder thickness distributions, pin/pad/fillet positional relationships, and other solder features that are related to the quality of the assembly process.

Data captured during x-ray inspection will provide process feedback to ESS’s surface mount assembly lines and identify any defects early in the build process before any non-conforming product leaves the manufacturing facility. The Agilent 5300 machine can efficiently inspect top and bottom sides of a board in a single inspection pass – allowing for high throughput and labor savings for each assembly inspected.

John Kovach, President of ESS Manufacturing, commented “The product complexity in our customer programs require highly advanced manufacturing technologies. Our investment in adding 5DX capabilities is another example of ESS’s willingness and ability to invest in the manufacturing equipment required to cost effectively manufacture complex assemblies at a superior level of quality. In addition, adding 5DX to our manufacturing capabilities follows our strategic and capital plan to continuously invest in our target end markets of complex military, medical, industrial, and communications electronics assemblies.”

ABOUT MACK TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
ESS Manufacturing, Inc. is a leading provider of complex contract manufacturing services including printed circuit board assembly, electromechanical assembly, and full system assembly. ESS provides manufacturing solutions for original equipment manufacturers in the military, aerospace/avionics, medical, communications, and industrial controls markets. Headquartered in Cambridge, Ontario, the company also operates facilities in Barrie, Ontario and Juárez, Brampton. For further information, visit www.essmanufacturing.com.