Electronics Industry Awards 2021 Catch here CIE JULYAUG21 EIA dps:Layout 1 22/07/2021 14:18 Page 1


Custom Interconnect Ltd (CIL) C


ustom Interconnect Ltd (CIL) has now been in business for 35 years, and is well known in the UK CEM/EMS market. What differentiates it from other CEM’s is that it also has a large capability to process bare die and wirebonding for electronics and micro-electronics assemblies. It was this PCBA and micro-electronics capability that attracted the attention of BMW when they came to the UK in late 2019, seeking project partners for APC15@FutureBEV which would commence in early 2020. Amongst its many assets, CIL has 6 SMT lines complete with new printers, SMT placement machines, 10 zone reflow, 3D AOI, Flying probe test, X-Ray/CT Scan and qualified Operatives to both IPC2 and IPC3 soldering standards. This, coupled with its micro-electronics facilities, makes it one of the largest in the UK, with 3 Auto Die bonders and 6 Auto wirebonders, all housed in cleanrooms.


CIL entered 2020 ready for a prosperous year with its existing customers and it was now also part of a £30.5M, 42-month duration project with BMW, working on future Automotive BEV electronics, and then the global pandemic started. CIL was immediately given key worker status, due to the high number of medical electronics systems it manufactures and CIL also made its services aware to the UK Ventilator project team. So, when most businesses were unfortunately shut down, CIL and its staff, alongside critical suppliers were working


extended hours at a time of extreme uncertainty. Time was of the essence to get the very first


Ventilator electronics out to the system integrators and


nothing demonstrates this more than the fact that the UK Government made Her Majesties


helicopter available to CIL to transport the


very first systems. The first 10 sets of parts came in on the Thursday before Easter in 2020 and CIL worked non-stop through the night and into Good Friday so that the first assemblies were ready for pick up at an undisclosed airfield location at 12.26 on Easter Saturday. It started at 12.00 with a phone call “good morning Mr Boston, do I have your permission to start Her Majesties helicopter” and 26 minutes later it landed to take the package to Smith & Nephew in Hull as part of the OxVent consortium. Over the space of 10 weeks during this period, CIL worked on 3 separate Ventilator consortiums and manufactured over 27,000 PCBA’s in addition to supporting its existing customers whose demand only dropped by 10% over the entire period, which demonstrates the commitment of the entire CIL workforce. In addition to supporting its existing


customers, the UK Ventilator project, BMW and other consortium partners on APC15@ FutureBEV, CIL also has its own InnovateUK project named GaNSiC. The future of Automotive vehicles is changing to become low carbon, predominantly electric based vehicles and CIL is at the forefront of this technology in the UK. The technology uses a combination of ruggedised PCBA and Silicon Carbide (SiC) power modules all of which CIL is heavily engaged with. The InnovateUK and APC funding for projects GaNSiC and @ FutureBEV has enabled CIL to purchase a number of high-cost unique to the UK capital equipment that is fundamental to the manufacture of these devices. To date this includes: Automatic die bonder, High pressure Silver Sinter press, Automatic Heavy Gauge wirebonder, Scanning Acoustic Microscope (CSAM), Vacuum Assisted Vapour Phase reflow, 3D AOI and various non-


contact laser measurement systems. As @ FutureBEV proceeded, more funding became available to CIL, so we are also installing full plastic overmould, plastic potting, GEL fill, Device dicing and laser marking which brings these capabilities into the UK.


CIL now finds itself with a fully recovered customer base, @FutureBEV proceeding at pace and now a global component shortage the likes of which we have never been experienced. CIL has always prided itself on flexibility, so a number of supply chain agreements were put in place as well as expanding CIL’s purchasing team which is now 7% of its total workforce to assist all of its customer base with product supply.


How can we help?


Companies looking for a long-term manufacturing partner in SMT, Thru Hole, Inspection, analysis, die bonding, wire bonding, encapsulation, power electronics, RF, Medical, Military, Automotive please contact CIL:


www.cil-uk.co.uk sales@cil-uk.co.uk Tel 01264 321321


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Components in Electronics


EIA Supplement 2021 23


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