Jason Clark, Vice President, Electronics, EV, and Silicone Sealants, Novagard

No Installation is Required, New Normal for Electronics Manufacturing Equipment

For ~2 years now, this Covid-19 pandemic has changed what normal is, with many new situations thrown at us as a business; we were forced to either adapt or hunker down. With everything now reopening, manpower is still limited, and travel restrictions are still hurting the industry. One of the impacts is on equipment installation.

How do you get into a country that is not letting people in, or get people to travel for work who are not comfortable with it? As I am writing now, we are commissioning two new belt furnaces in Sydney, Australia.

Since the pandemic began, traveling on-site and performing installations have been difficult and restricted. These restrictions can be due to safety considerations, local government policy, or the security level of the facility. During the pandemic, one of our many challenges was how to send an installation team to finish building a furnace in another country when the world was seemingly stopped, and travel was restricted.

To overcome that, we devised a remote installation solution: by making our belt furnaces almost plug and play. The benefit of an installation-free design is profound: Quality, location, and Privacy. In terms of quality, furnaces can keep the same high performance. In terms of location, our furnace is no longer subject to geographical restrictions if we don’t need to send an installation team. For privacy, such as in some high-tech businesses, the installation-free design can minimize the presence of personnel, thereby maintaining the privacy of the company.

Like other businesses, the market will determine if this plug and play strategy for electronics manufacturing equipment is going to be temporary mitigation or a permanent change.