Speedprint’s Policy of “Customers First” Helps Meet Its Mission of Customer Satisfaction and
Continuous Improvement
ADCO Circuits, Inc., established in 1981, is located in Rochester Hills, MI, and provides electronic design and circuit board assembly services to a wide range of companies in the industrial, medical, automotive, telecommunications and aerospace/military equipment markets. As a full-service turnkey supplier of custom electronics, ADCO provides support from design and prototyping to new product introduction and full rate production. Through-hole, surface mount, and flex assemblies are all manufactured and system box builds comprise a large percentage of its sales.
ADCO’s 53,000 sq. ft. facility is state-of-the-art and is capable of medium- to low-volume assembly and test. Advanced capabilities include an automated stockroom, automated selective soldering, and flex-SMT lines with in-line automated 3D optical inspection and BGA X-ray.
Test resources include in-circuit test, flying probe testing, functional, and environmental test equipment (temperature and vibration). The company’s engineering staff also develops and builds custom functional test equipment.
Production and material planning is managed with ERP software modules for capacity planning, vendor auto replenishment system, and other advanced tools.
Based in Rochester Hills, MI, ADCO Circuits provides design and assembly services. The company understands the importance of quality and reliability and achieves this by choosing partners with the same mission.
ADCO is ISO 9001 and TS 16949 certified, and compliant to AS 9100 and ISO 13485. Personnel are trained to IPC J-STD-001 class 2 & 3, and IPC-A-610 class 2 & 3. Documentation, ECNs, and The
Quality Management Systems (QMS) are all online and support internal continuous improvement initiatives, vendor quality tracking, and customer quality data requirements.
The company’s main interest is in providing state of the art production capabilities in a flexible environment. To meet this goal, ADCO partners only with companies that offer advanced, innovative equipment solutions. In 2012, Kevin Barrett, Plant Manager, and his team attended IPC APEX EXPO in search of a replacement for an aging screen print machine. They were introduced to Speedprint
Technology, an award-winning company that delivers comprehensive SMT screen printing solutions with a focus on value, flexibility and low cost-of-ownership for the SMT and semiconductor industries. They purchased an
SP710 printer with an Advanced Dispense unit not long after and have been running the system 24 hours a day, five days a week since then.

The company had been battling with its screen printers, mostly due to the fact that they were older models. They were cumbersome to program and operate as well as a challenge to keep running. As a result, ADCO was looking for replacements. Barrett recalls his experience: “When we were first introduced to Speedprint at APEX, the machine had just come out and there were not many — if any
— out in the field. We reviewed some features of the machine that perfectly fit with our requirements, and the machine looked to be solid. Knowing
ADCO was impressed by Speedprint’s policy of including manufacturer names on parts within its printers, which allows customers to order replacement parts from Speedprint or that machines of this nature have a long life, we were concerned that if the company were directly from the OEM if preferred. This showed ADCO that
Speedprint’s true concern is helping its customers be as successful as possible, as opposed to simply making a sale. to shut down over the next several years, it would be difficult to locate parts for the machine. Speedprint showed us that each component used in the machine had the manufacturers
’ names on the parts so that if needed or desired we could purchase replacement parts from Speedprint or we could buy them directly from the manufacturers. We had not found this to be the case on other equipment and so we wrote down some manufacturers and part numbers. We called them an d, indeed, found that we could get the parts.” Ultimately ADCO chose the Speedprint
SP710 printers because of the dual dispense heads, price, and the fact that the majority of the machines’ components are off-the-shelf from the suppliers.
He added that after ADCO was running the
SP710 for a year, one of its other printers died, placing the company in a line down condition.
“We contacted Speedprint and ordered an additional machine but we figured it would be weeks before we could get it and, therefore, would have to come up with a solution,” Barrett said. “The next day a trailer showed up at our dock with a loaner machine that could keep us running and stay in place until our regular order arrived. There was never talk of loaner cost or delivery charges just a dedication to support us as a customer and get us up and running.
”
Both systems feature Speedprint’s Advanced
Dispense units (ADU), which increase the flexibility of the SP710 with a wider range of
The dualhead capability of Speedprint’s SP710 helped
ADCO solve its glue and solder paste issue. The SP710 purchase also allowed ADCO to remove a glue machine from its line, resulting in cost savings. materials, improved accuracy for smaller component deposition and new applications for stencil-less prototyping and on-the-fly engineering changes. This further saves operational costs and provides a competitive time-to-market advantage for Speedprint customers.
ADCO opted for the ADU because, the company wanted increased efficiency. It was updating its SMT lines and the old lines consisted of a glue dispenser on each line. “We reviewed our glue requirements and found that in most instances it was several dots per board mostly to assist in supporting larger components from floating during reflow or to assist in supporting larger parts so they did not fall off during a second pass on ref low while they were upside down,” Barrett added. To purchase a standalone glue machine for just a few dots seemed impractical and keeping the old machines while updating the whole line did not seem wise either. A second issue was the use of solder pre forms to add a “little” more solder paste when needed. “When we saw the Speedprint system with its dual-head capability, we believed we had found the answer: glue in one head and solder paste in the other
— problem solved. I am glad to say that it has worked out just that way.
While we have one glue machine offline in the event we come across a board loaded with bottom-side

glued components, there are no glue machines on the line, which has resulted in significant cost savings.
”
Barrett added that the SP710 has provided numerous benefits and advantages since it was first installed. He said that it was a drop-in-the-line-and-go system from the beginning: “We had the machine placed in the line, set-up and calibrated, and were running product and writing programs the same day.
” Today, changeover is quick and efficient: the company simply loads the program and goes. ADCO has found that the machines provide much better control over the printing process and, therefore, much higher yields and repeatability, which benefits both ADCO and its customers.
“We currently offer a quick-turn service where customers’ expectations are days not weeks and the
SP710 supports this well. We can quickly create a program, load and go — there is not a lot of time spent o n adjustments or fine tuning,” said Barrett. He added that ADCO had a case where the company was able to use the dispenser to create a dot of glue large enough to use it for a standoff for a three-leaded through-hole device. A normal glue dispense machine has standoffs on the nozzle that are longer than the dispense tube for the glue, the head moves the nozzle down until it contacts the printed circuit board (PCB) and the standoffs contact the PCB, resulting in the dispense tube never contacting the PCB. The issue, he said, is that without changing the standoffs, you cannot get a higher dot. “The SP710 has a z-axis motor and no standoffs on the nozzle, so that we can program how close or far we want the nozzle to be from the
PCB, therefore allowing us to adjust the dot height.
We programmed it high enough to create a tall bump of glue that, when cured, the through-hole part rested on it and kept it off the board during wave solder.
”
As ADCO’s printer of choice, the SP710 equipped with a dual syringe ADU provides precise
Kevin Barrett , ADCO Circuit’s Plant Manager, believes that Speedprint’s customer service is just as important as the SP710’s performance. He said that both are top rated deposition of solder paste or adhesive materials.
The award-winning screen printer includes a significant list of standard machine features as well and the decision to work with Speedprint has been a beneficial one since its start in 2012. as inherent benefits such as SMarT-Cal,
Speedprint’s unique product-based machine calibration that maintains the largest process window to manage today’s most sophisticated application challenges.
ADCO’s mission statement includes three main points: customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, and continuous improvement to increase competitiveness and profitability. Barrett said that the SP710 helps the company on all three fronts — customers want on-time zero defect product, quick and easy set up and changeover, and exceptional performance. The SP710 systems deliver on every front.
Additionally, the operators like the fact that the printers run and continue running, allowing them time to dedicate to other areas. Barrett added, “It was a significant move for us to purchase new printers but we did it as an overall improvement to the SMT area and the SP710 definitely helps us to be competitive and generate profits. I cannot remember the last time we had a misprinted board .”
While performance is important, ADCO believes that customer service is equally important to a successful partnership. Barrett rates Speedprint’s service as first class: “The technical support is professional, knowledgeable and, if needed, in and out as quickly as possible. We have worked with software support overseas so we know how difficult it can be to contact people. However, we never have found this to be the case with Speedprint. We call and someone answers. The machines can be accessed remotely so if questions arise, the technicians can log into the machine and see what is

going on. Speedprint continues to contact us to see if we have suggestions on things they or the machines can do better and at this time we are hard pressed to find anything.
”
Barrett concludes that Speedprint is a solid company with a great team in place. “At the 2015 IPC
APEX EXPO, I stopped at the Speedprint booth to say hello to Mark and Chris. Mark was concerned that something may be wrong because he had not heard from us in a while. I laughed because it was just the opposite: things are going so well that we do not need them for anything. If we ever do need his team, however, the support is so helpful and efficient that it is almost invisible. And isn’t that it’s really all about? By making Speedprint a partner, ADCO Circuits has totally changed its ability to print successfully time and time again.
”
For more information, contact President Archie Damman or Plant Manager Kevin Barrett ADCO
Circuits at 2868 Bond St., Rochester Hills, MI 48309; E-mail: adamman@adcocircuits.com or kbarrett@adcocircuits.com
; Web site: www.adcocircuits.com. To find out more about Speedprint’s
SP710 with ADU, contact Mark Brawley, Vice President, Americas, at 5804 Breckenridge Boulevard
E, Tampa, FL 33610; 813-664-0686; E-mail: mark.brawley@speedprint-tech.com; Web site: www.speedprint-tech.com.