By Carlos Ferreira, Process Technician – SMT, Spinnaker Contract Manufacturing

Spinnaker Contract Manufacturing, Inc. is a family-owned CM that offers a wide range of services while providing best-in-class quality, leadership and flexibility.

A leading, New England-based contract manufacturer, Spinnaker Contract Manufacturing, Inc. is family-owned since 1976 and based in Tilton, NH. The company offers a full range of services to meet product assembly needs. Services include turnkey manufacturing, PCB assembly (PCBA), custom wiring harness assemblies, mechanical assembly and a full range of test solutions. Its main focus is to partner with customers in their quest for profitable growth in an ever-changing economy. This is accomplished through close communication and responsive customer service.

Spinnaker’s 38,400 sq ft facility was built to provide a state-of-the-art building designed around workflow for customers. The company continuously evaluates and upgrades its equipment to deliver better services and prices to customers. “Our contract manufacturing solutions start with the right facility, grow with the right equipment and deliver with the right team,” said President Guy Nickerson. “That is Spinnaker’s facility and equipment advantage.”

Spinnaker’s goal is simple: exceed the expectations of customers. It provides unique flexibility to staff and equip each customer requirement, and supports various levels of assembly, technology, volume, mix, material strategy, and agency requirements. Spinnaker is dedicated to providing customized levels of support to the growing needs of its customers.

Spinnaker believes that teamwork is essential not only for the company’s success but also for the employees’ enrichment. Because of that, the company hosts a daily 9 a.m. meeting. This allows every member of the team to be involved in each step and to work together to provide the best services possible.

“At Spinnaker, we work hard on our flexibility, teamwork and state-of-the-art automation. We are an ISO 13485 and 9001:2008 certified company with outstanding procedures, continuous on-time delivery and lean manufacturing standards. Our automation helps to assure competitive pricing and our service-oriented team builds solutions to achieve customers’ goals,” said Nickerson.

Spinnaker prides itself on quality and keeping current with numerous certifications to be best prepared to meet customers’ needs. Currently, the company is certified in ISO 13485, 9001: 2008, IPC 610 Class 1/2/3, IPC 620 Class 1/2/3, ITAR, UL, CSA and RoHS/lead-free.

With more than 40 years of experience in electronics manufacturing services, products and technology are important to Spinnaker Contract Manufacturing. Just as important are the partnerships behind the products and technologies. The company strives to create and cultivate loyal, long-term relationships with both customers and partners. Its mission is to get the job right the first time. To do so, Spinnaker works with a diverse customer base on projects ranging from material procurement, cable and wire harness production, and printed circuit board population, to full electromechanical assemblies and box builds. From prototype to full production, its professional team fully supports every stage of a project’s development.

The company also works with technologically-advanced partners to ensure that it is using the best systems for its process. Spinnaker exceeds expectation by investing in people, tools, technology and software. When choosing partners, Spinnaker expects its partners to do the same. Therefore, it looks not just at high-quality machines but also at the companies themselves. Kurtz Ersa North America has a mentality similar to Spinnaker’s, which played a key role in the reason that Spinnaker chose Ersa’s product. Additionally, like Spinnaker’s, Ersa’s technology is designed to last for the long term, meeting challenges into the future, and the company’s service is excellent.

Spinnaker purchased the VERSAFLOW 3/45 selective soldering system from Kurtz Ersa North America to help increase processing speed and allow the production process to run more efficiently.

Spinnaker purchased a VERSAFLOW 3/45 selective soldering system in December 2015. Ersa helped the company get the system up and running quickly. Nickerson said operators already are noticing a significant speed improvement, and that he expects that soon spinnaker will be running processes at 3-5 minutes vs. 20 minutes. Additionally, he commented at the VERSAFLOW makes the production process run so much more smoothly.

VERSAFLOW 3/45 is the industry’s most widely used in-line selective soldering platform and is the most repeatable system on the market. It also is the first in-line selective soldering machine with dual track transport, and features the highest flexibility and throughput that can be realized with the smallest possible required space. To satisfy all demands in regards to flexibility, the third generation of Ersa’s VERSAFLOW selective soldering systems is based on a modular platform. Depending on the application and on the throughput requirements called for, additional flux, preheat and solder modules can be integrated into the system. In the maximum configuration level, the system can operate with up to three solder modules, and each of these modules can again be configured with two mini-wave solder baths. In total, up to 6 mini-wave solder bath can be installed in a system, and each solder module can be preceded by a preheat unit. Additional features include high-end selective soldering system to integrate into in-line manufacturing concepts, mini-wave soldering for high flexibility or multi-wave soldering for high-volume applications, product change without loss in production time with the multi-wave process, and parallel process through separation of fluxing, preheating and soldering cycle. Additionally, it has up to four flux spray heads, a flexible system configuration, CAD-Assistant for offline programming. It is ideal for linking to manual workstations or peripheral equipment, provides secure process control with monitoring of all relevant processes, and offers a link for traceability systems for process control.

The VERSAFLOW 3/45 has been up and running since December 2015. The Spinnaker team of Tricia Harmon, Theresa Green, Carlos Ferreira & Guy Nickerson says that it is easy to operate and that Ersa has provided quick, comprehensive service whenever it has been needed.

Ersa’s VERSAFLOW system was purchased to help Spinnaker provide strong selective solder capability across numerous markets. As a leading electronics contract manufacturer, the company is proud to serve a broad range of clients. “Our focus is to provide electronics manufacturing services to customers whose products are too complex for smaller contract manufacturers, but whose volume requirements do not interest large-scale electronic manufacturing service providers and/or those that need greater collaboration during the early stages of a new product introduction,” added Nickerson.

As new technology continues to develop globally, Spinnaker evolves to meet its customers’ needs, especially in the areas of dynamic production runs, new production introductions, low-cost, higher quality standards and solutions, mixed-technology assemblies, zero defect products, dock-to-stock logistics, and quality improvement and design for manufacturability.

Spinnaker specializes in contract electronics manufacturing services in new product introduction, testing, and complex projects in low to medium volumes for companies operating in a wide variety of high-technology and high-reliability market sectors including the following:

• RF Microwave Assemblies

• Telecommunications

• Life Sciences

• Defense & Homeland Security

• Instrumentation

• Semiconductor

• Industrial Equipment

• Medical

• Aerospace

In order to be successful in these markets, the company must constantly evaluate its list of fundamental services by adapting to the rapid shifts in technology and industry requirements. Nickerson said that Spinnaker’s role is to focus on the manufacturing so that customers can focus on product development and business growth. He added, “Our core competency is electronics contract manufacturing and, with some of the fastest equipment in New England, our technology and team get customers’ product to market faster. Our commitment to quality ensures the highest reliability.”

Services offered include PCB assembly, cable and harness assembly, electromechanical assembly, materials and logistics, test solutions, flying probe, and new product introduction (NPI). Additionally, Kanban relationships, large capital requirements, quality product and test are all present at Spinnaker. The company has the tools to manage final process in a lean environment with great flexibility.

Whether customers have a new product introduction, quick-turn requirement, or want to completely outsource a product utilizing our turnkey service, we have the expertise and resources to respond,” concluded Nickerson. “We’re only as strong as our partnerships and, with Ersa, we’re proud to say that we’re rock solid and have every intention of continuing on that path.”

For more information, contact Guy Nickerson, President, at Spinnaker Contract Manufacturing, Inc., 95 Business Park Drive, Tilton, NH 03276; 603.286.4366; ; Web site: www.spinnakercontract.com.