Supporting Equipment

A diverse array of supporting equipment allows GWT to offer full service capability to our customers. GWT is known as a valuable resource to our customers because we do a lot more than just assemble PCBAs. In addition to turnkey printed circuit board assembly work, GWT has the experience to build complete turnkey boxbuild and electro-mechanical assemblies. To do this well, a company has to have the necessary plant space�which GWT certainly has in 30,000 sq ft of ISO compliant, audit ready, manufacturing space combined with well-skilled personnel, disciplined processes, and well-communicated manufacturing documentation packages. All those requirements are in place at GWT.

GWT operates an Electrovert Speedline EPK Gold dual wave solder machine to efficiently handle standard PHT placed or manually placed components in a batch approach. GWT is also fully capable from a RoHS standpoint of efficiently soldering all components of RoHS defined parts that happen to be non-machine placed parts. In the case of RoHS PCBAs, special lead free solder materials are used by the NuEra CV16 PBfree dual wave solder machine to solder parts to circuit boards. GWT also operates and maintains the AKS Typhoon T-15 inline water cleaner machine for circuit board cleaning requirements. DI water is run through our AKS Closed Loop water system to achieve an impressive level of purity to be applied in the cleaning process and keep the board assemblies free of particles and chemical impurities. The closed loop system allows us to recycle the water�providing a constant source of ultra clean water while being a good citizen that doesn�t dump dirty water and ultimately facilitates conservation and efficient use. In the situation where cleanliness needs to be stepped up even further to extreme standards like in the aerospace industry, GWT will send PCBAs thru our Tech Devices AquaTherm Batch Cleaner. This machine uses a chemical saphonifier along with aggressive rinsing and drying cycles to achieve cleanliness levels 5 to 10 times better than typical levels.

A long time player in the industrial plastic-based products market, GWT has the equipment and know-how to use epoxy and conformal coating in various product assemblies. Reasons for epoxy/potting or conformal coating may include security and proprietary product protection, moisture and dust proofing, and adding strength against mechanical vibration and shock. Proper epoxy dispensing inevitably depends on the quality of the materials used in the process and the stability of the settings and techniques, a solution that GWT has achieved with many years of experience. Conformal coating is something that needs great care due to safety and application demands. Related to plastic products, GWT has a Branson 2000 Ultrasonic Welder to automatically weld and seal various plastic housings.

Automatic on-site wire cutting and stripping is another value-added service GWT can offer customers with final assembly and boxbuild requirements. GWT has a Eubanks 2600 wire cut and strip machine that can be tooled for a variety of applications. Typical tasks may include cutting bulk wire into predefined lengths, or stripping/prepping wires for assemblies as stipulated. The more rudimentary tasks that GWT can control and perform in-house, the more GWT can save on behalf of our customers. Besides the Eubanks, other machines and prepping devices are also in place to help in making wire and cable attachments an efficient operation at GWT.

Testing services continue to be a very important capability that GWT offers internally and in partnership with closely aligned vendors. Once furnished with test requirements, GWT works with customers to come up with parameters for the necessary test fixture(s) and more formalized test procedures. GWT has the capability to run with customer generated marching orders and setup very effective, in-house, functional testing operations. Depending on how integrated we are with the customer, GWT may look for opportunities to be creative by suggesting ideas on the what and how of functional testing as it relates to manufacturability and testability. Fixtures can be designed to operate optimally under varying quantity demands and thoroughly documented and performed accordingly so that when interfacing with the usual audit agencies�whether that be CSA, CE, UL, FM, or ISO and AS9100 related organizations, they are addressed professionally and thoroughly. Furthermore, all test equipment is placed on a calibration schedule, verified regularly by an outside agency for objectivity reasons. Where needed, simple go/no-go testers may be used as compared to other situations where possibly a more experienced technician with troubleshooting capability may need to be utilized. Where in-circuit or flying probe testing is required, GWT has relationships with outside vendors to interface efficiently and get the job done seamlessly.

Another area where GWT can offer value added services is packaging and labeling of finished products. GWT has three different thermal transfer printers of Datamax/Zebra make and has developed the ability to create all the finished product labels and shipping/external packaging labels in-house. This can save time, gain flexibility, and reduce waste by generating labels as the products are completed as compared to buying labels pre-made from qualified vendors. It�s another level of expertise that has to be pursued but the benefits are massive for our customers. In some cases, limited special printing services are also available on-site using our new Konica Minolta BizHub C450 color copier, giving us the capability to produce near professional documents and product manuals that find their way into turnkey products and various product packaging configurations.