Ruwel cuts the turf on a new DM60 million masslam facility

Citation

Hoiboom, F. (2001), "Ruwel cuts the turf on a new DM60 million masslam facility", Circuit World, Vol. 27 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/cw.2001.21727cab.007

Ruwel cuts the turf on a new DM60 million masslam facility

Ruwel cuts the turf on a new DM60 million masslam facility

Keyword: Ruwel

With an annual turnover of DM435 million (2000 target: DM460 million), the Ruwel Group is the largest European manufacturer of circuit boards. Employing 1,850 people at seven sites around Europe, the company's philosophy is to offer virtually all types of circuit boards, in any quantity, for almost every market sector. The main market segments are telecommunications (31 percent) and the automotive sector (36 percent). This broad product spectrum enables Ruwel to work closer with their major customers to reduce their key suppliers and offer a one-stop shop for circuit board products, it is claimed.

The circuit board industry is characterised by rapid developments in technology, international competition and price pressure and material resources in certain areas. In an effort to meet these market demands, the company has recently started construction of a new masslam plant to manufacture 6-20 layer multilayer boards up to a size of 610mm x 610mm (Plate 1). Simultaneously, preparation will be made to process high performance materials, e.g. high Tg materials and very thin (50lm) inner layers (Plate 2). The annual capacity will be approximately 1.5 million square metres, with a proposed future capacity of two million square metres. The new facility will offer employment to an additional 150 people who will undergo a rigorous six-month training programme at the exisiting masslam plant at Goch.

Plate 1 Cutting the first turf for the new masslam plant at Geldern, left to right: Mayor of Geldern, Paul Hessler; Managing Director, ad van der Kuijs; Ruwel owner, Bernd Zevens; Marketing Manager, Frank Hoiboom

Plate 2 New inner layer plant (artist's impression)

The more complex and demanding a circuit board is, the higher the gain in value and lower the pressure from competition. This is especially true in the case of high layer count multilayers, where the potential gain is very high. So far, these types of boards have only been required in small to medium quantities. However, recently the demand for high layer count multilayers has increased due to the mass distribution and availability of: mobile radion networks; Internet technology and navigation systems and GPS for the automotive sector. These are installed in the transmitters and receivers, which are installed at increasingly closer distances to ensure complete coverage without any "radio holes". The market is further expanded by the presence of several providers, each with their own infastructure and their own networks. High sales in the medium term are ensured by the fact that even after a possible market saturation in Europe, there is still a considerable requirement in regions like China or the middle-eastern countries. There, fixed network telecommunications have skipped a generation and, instead, high capability mobile networks are being installed as a first step.

In the meantime, the circuit board is not just a connection platform for components, but has to perform continuously more functions, e.g. integrated condensators. Provision for these must be made during inner layer production at the Goch plant, which was extensively expanded in 1998, creating an available capacity of 500,000 square metres of masslam. This capacity has already been fully utilised by the group requirements this year. External sourcing of masslam provision is a possibility, but economically unviable as it is over-priced. This would also create another problem of supplier dependency. Currently, there are only a few supply sources with limited capacity.

Meeting the demands of the recent extension of the Bayonne plant from 700,000 square metres to 1,000,000 square metres (50 per cent multilayer production), the Goch plant will concentrate their entire masslam production on supplying the plant in Bayonne. Therefore, the plants in Geldern, Wetter, Grassau and Pfullingen will require a new source for masslam, even though the inner layer capacity within three of these plants has been extended with a DM20 million investment programme.

Another reason in favour of the new masslam plant at Geldern was it's logistical location. A 32,000 square metre building plot was purchased from the town of Geldern, immediately adjacent to the present Ruwel headquarters. On a 17,000 square metre section of this plot, a 7,000 square metre ultra-modern facility is being built, which will be in operation by the third quarter in 2001.

With the ability to offer high layer multilayers, Ruwel can now meet customer demand for large capacity, high quality circuits. This formidable capability will now enable Ruwel to make a significant impact into the American market and reinforce it's credentials as a truly global player.

Frank HoiboomRuwel Werke, Geldern