PCB Tech - PCB automation trend is obvious, FPC seeks breakthrough

In recent years, affected by the economic situation, the global printed circuit board (PCB) market has maintained steady growth. With the continuous increase in consumer electronics market demand, the Asian region has gradually become the main production base, and China has become the world's largest PCB producer. From the perspective of product structure, multilayer boards and automotive boards still occupy the mainstream.

In recent years, affected by the economic situation, the global printed circuit board (PCB) market has maintained steady growth. With the continuous increase in consumer electronics market demand, the Asian region has gradually become the main production base, and China has become the world's largest PCB producer.

Experts said that compared with the technical level,

there is no particularly big gap between major domestic manufacturers and overseas manufacturers. The key to future competitive differentiation lies in the degree of production automation. In an ideal state, automated production lines can save about 50% of the labor costs of traditional enterprises., The yield can be increased to 98%.

In an ideal state, automated production lines can save about 50% of the labor costs of traditional enterprises, and the yield rate can be increased to 98%.

Compared with the traditional PCB factory construction, the key to building a new factory for automated production lines is the training of maintenance personnel for automated machines. According to the domestic industry average standard, in order to achieve the full production requirements of the new plant within one year, the major local manufacturers have adopted a phased implementation plan, strictly in accordance with the order from workstations, procedures, tools to factories. Nearly 80% of standard equipment is directly purchased through market bidding, and 20% of non-standard equipment is developed through the participation of suppliers. The period from procurement to commissioning of domestic production equipment is 40 days, and the imported equipment plus the commissioning period generally does not exceed 2 months.

As the domestic demand of China's smart phone industry continues to increase, flexible boards (FPC) that conform to its product design and processing technology have increasingly become the development trend of PCB boards. At present, the main application areas of domestic FPC boards are mobile phones, LED lights and car connectors. Compared with the applications in high-end overseas fields, there is still a certain gap in material research and development, engineering settings and process applications.

While the major domestic FPC manufacturers continue to increase R&D investment and expand production capacity, they are also seeking to acquire and merge overseas companies with technological advantages, continue to integrate the industrial chain, and gradually eliminate low-value-added products.

While the major domestic FPC manufacturers continue to increase R&D investment and expand production capacity, they are also seeking to acquire and merge overseas companies with technological advantages, continue to integrate the industrial chain, and gradually eliminate low-value-added products. According to experts, on the premise of maintaining the existing R&D investment, domestic FPC manufacturers are expected to achieve major technological breakthroughs in the next three to five years. Multilayer boards, wireless charging, fingerprint recognition, dual camera modules and vehicles will be the future. The technological breakthrough and development focus of domestic circuit board manufacturers.