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Focus on Expansion and Time-to-Market
December 31, 1969 |Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
By Michelle M. Boisvert, SMT
Much has happened since I visited JOT Automation - now part of Rohwedder’s Electronic Production Solutions (EPS) - in Tallinn, Estonia. JOT Automation manufactures branded production equipment for the electronics industry, as well as technology for mobile terminal makers - providing a full suite of products from board depaneling and positioning with its Graphite Series board handling line, for example, through final testing on its J409-41 mobile terminal test box. The division also manufactures material-processing products, such as the J501-42 high-speed router, the J502-18 label applicator, and the J502-17 laser marker.
JOT Automation has product design capabilities in Beijing, China; Tallinn, Estonia; and Kuopio, Espoo, and Oulunsalo, Finland. The company uses subcontractors in China and Finland, and also has service partners in Mexico. Business in Asia continues to grow, said Tuomo Rekilä, vice president of sales and marketing, due to a need for space-saving solutions on the floor and increased production of telecom products.
Stepping out from its traditional area of assembly automation, JOT Automation moved into the intelligent handset tester market. Their multilevel test box system (MuLE) lets users mount 14 test boxes into one rack to save floor space. In one facility, a company stacked seven JOT test boxes per rack, enabling them to test more than 30,000 phones per day on the line. Because about 70% of cell phone development time is tied up in testing, this helps manufacturers speed time-to-market and time-to-volume, said Rekilä. JOT Automation test systems also use a platform that can be implemented anywhere. “Customers have different approaches toward manufacturing and testing handsets,” said Rekilä. “Some use in-line systems, while others do it manually in off-line stations. RF shielding is also challenging to build on test chambers with multiple features built in, such as vision, audio, and key pad tests.” Customers continuously seek more effective solutions, and a primary factor that should be improved is speed. “Our move to manufacturing test boxes has been well received,” said Rekilä. JOT Automation’s test solutions include functional, in-circuit, and manual test handlers; mobile terminal test boxes; and intelligent handset testers.
The company has more than 50 products in its suite, most of which are customizable according to customer specifications. About 5-7% of focus in the productions solutions division is on R&D; the group brings about 10 new products to market each year. JOT Automation does its own research and works with universities and subcontractors to develop products. “Conducting our own research means that we’re familiar with the technology, so expanding our product line is seamless,” adds Rekilä.
Being under the helm of The Rohwedder Group and being situated in Tallinn enables JOT Automation to grow. Eastern European countries such as Estonia are promising areas for electronics manufacturing due to a wealth of a lower-cost, highly skilled workers and close proximity to technical universities.