BRUNIMIND Automated THT Assembly Line Boosts Austrian Power Controller Efficiency
BRUNIMIND Automated THT Assembly Line Boosts Austrian Power Controller Efficiency
In April 2025, BRUNIMIND successfully delivered and commissioned a fully automated Through-Hole Technology (THT) production line for an Austrian enterprise specializing in industrial automation and energy control systems, which manufactures high-reliability power control boards. Relying on customized equipment configuration, professional on-site technical support and comprehensive personnel training, the line effectively solved the customer’s previous inefficiencies and quality control challenges in production, greatly improved the production precision and capacity of power control boards, and helped the enterprise meet the stringent industry standards for power controller products in the industrial sector.
I. Project Background: Customer's Core Needs and Production Pain Points
As a global player in the intelligent electronics field, this Austrian enterprise focuses on high-reliability power control boards and other products, which are widely applied in core scenarios such as smart grids and industrial automation systems. Such products have extremely high requirements for component insertion precision, solder joint reliability and consistent quality control.
Previously, the enterprise faced prominent pain points in the production of power control boards: relying on traditional production modes, the insertion efficiency of non-standard large-size components was low with high manual errors; the quality of solder joints was difficult to control uniformly; and the overall production process had a low degree of automation. These issues led to limited production capacity and a high defect rate, with approximately 200 defective PCBs per 10,000 units produced, resulting in a huge waste of materials and labor. To fundamentally improve product quality and optimize production efficiency, the customer decided to introduce a professional automated THT production line, and ultimately selected BRUNIMIND as its partner. Leveraging BRUNIMIND’s mature technology and rich experience in automated solutions for electronic manufacturing, the two parties built a customized production line adapted to the production of power control boards.
II. Customized THT Production Line Configuration: A Full-Process Automated Solution
In response to the production process requirements and product characteristics of the Austrian customer’s power control boards, BRUNIMIND tailor-made a fully automated THT production line covering core processes such as component insertion, soldering, transmission and inspection. All equipment is seamlessly connected to realize the integration and intellectualization of the production process. The specific configuration is as follows:
• Special-shaped Component Insertion Machine: Designed exclusively for non-standard and large-size components, it can accurately and quickly insert various components including connectors, switches, transformer coils, ports, capacitors, resistors and integrated circuits. It is compatible with PCBs in the size range of 70×70mm to 450×400mm, perfectly matching the component insertion requirements of power control boards.
• High-Capacity Wave Soldering Machine: Optimized for through-hole solder joint welding, it is suitable for PCBs with a width of 50mm to 450mm. It can provide stable and consistent welding quality for all through-hole connection points with excellent solder wettability and bonding degree. The solder penetration rate reaches 100%, far exceeding the 75% requirement of IPC standards.
• Wave Soldering Loading and Unloading System: Realizes automated loading and unloading of PCBs, replacing manual operations, reducing human errors, improving the coherence of the production process and optimizing overall work efficiency.
• PCB Conveying System: As the core connection link of the production line, it efficiently and safely connects all production stations, ensuring the stable transmission of PCBs in insertion, soldering and inspection processes without jamming or offset.
• Inline DIP AOI Inspection System: Conducts high-precision optical inspection of solder joint quality and component placement position after wave soldering. It can quickly identify defects such as misalignment, cold solder joints, false soldering and missing soldering, realize real-time quality control in the production process and minimize the defective product rate.
• Offline Programming Software: Supports rapid commissioning of the production line and work order switching, greatly shortening the production changeover time and improving the adaptability of the production line to multi-variety and large-batch production.
The entire production line realizes a fully automated process of "Component Insertion → Wave Soldering → Inline Inspection → Finished Product Conveying". The capacity of a single production line can reach 64 units per hour, the stand-alone capacity of the wave soldering machine is 768 units per hour, and the AOI inspection equipment can inspect 1,200 units per hour, balancing production efficiency and inspection precision.
To ensure the rapid and stable commissioning of the production line, BRUNIMIND’s professional engineering team went to the customer’s production base in Austria in early April 2025 to provide full-process on-site technical support covering all links of equipment installation, commissioning, process optimization and verification. The specific work content includes:
• Leveling of the equipment foundation and precise alignment of the entire production line to ensure the stability of the connection between all equipment;
• Software and hardware commissioning and production testing of the full range of THT equipment to solve problems such as equipment linkage and parameter matching;
• Programming and process training of the special-shaped component insertion machine, and optimization of insertion parameters according to the customer’s product characteristics;
• Operation training and welding parameter adjustment of the wave soldering machine, and optimization of core indicators such as wave temperature and transmission speed according to the material and component characteristics of power control boards;
• Logical setting and software operation guidance of the AOI inspection system, and customized configuration of inspection standards for power control boards;
• Conducting trial production verification of the entire production line using the power control boards actually produced by the customer, and repeatedly optimizing the process to ensure that the production line meets the actual production requirements.
After several days of commissioning and testing, the entire BRUNIMIND automated THT production line achieved stable operation, and all production indicators met or even exceeded the customer’s expectations.
In addition to equipment installation and commissioning, BRUNIMIND’s engineering team also carried out systematic and targeted training for the customer’s local operators and quality inspectors to ensure that the team can independently complete production line operation, daily maintenance and quality control work. The training content covers:
• Programming and daily operation skills of the special-shaped component insertion machine;
• Operation management, parameter adjustment and troubleshooting of common faults of the wave soldering machine;
• Operation logic, defect identification and inspection standard optimization of the AOI inspection system;
• Key points of preventive maintenance for the entire THT production line, including equipment cleaning, replacement of wearing parts and daily patrol inspection;
• Multi-day practical training and technical Q&A, with simulated solutions for problems that may arise in production.
After the training, the customer’s local team was able to operate the entire production line proficiently and independently, providing a solid personnel guarantee for the long-term stable operation of the production line.
V. Project Achievements: Triple Improvements in Efficiency, Quality and Cost
The commissioning of BRUNIMIND’s automated THT production line has brought all-round optimization to the Austrian customer’s production and achieved triple improvements in efficiency, quality and cost. The core achievements are as follows:
• Substantial Improvement in Production Efficiency: The fully automated process replaces traditional manual operations, eliminating the efficiency bottleneck of manual links. The production line can achieve high-speed and continuous production, meet the customer’s production needs of multi-variety and large-batch, and the overall production efficiency has been significantly improved compared with the previous level;
• Highly Stable Product Quality: High-precision equipment configuration and real-time AOI inspection minimize problems such as component insertion errors and welding defects, leading to a sharp drop in the product defect rate. The previous issue of approximately 200 defective PCBs per 10,000 units has been completely solved, and the consistent quality control of power control boards has reached the high-end industrial standards;
• Effective Reduction in Operational Costs: Automated production reduces reliance on labor. A single production line only needs to be equipped with 1 engineer, 3 operators and 1 quality inspector, and the personnel can be flexibly allocated according to production needs, greatly reducing labor costs. At the same time, the drop in the defect rate reduces material waste and further optimizes production costs;
• Strong Scalability of the Production Line: The entire production line can be seamlessly integrated with the customer’s existing SMT production line and other production processes to optimize the overall production process. It also supports subsequent capacity upgrading and product process adjustment, providing flexible production guarantee for the customer’s future business development.
The customer spoke highly of BRUNIMIND’s equipment quality, the professionalism of the engineering team and the project implementation effect, believing that this cooperation not only solved the current production pain points, but also laid a solid production foundation for the enterprise’s technological upgrading and market expansion in the field of power control boards.
VI. Core Advantages of BRUNIMIND’s Automated THT Production Line
The successful commissioning and expected results of BRUNIMIND’s automated THT production line rely on its core technologies and product advantages in the field of electronic manufacturing automation, which are specifically reflected in:
• Customized Design: Tailor-made production line solutions can be created according to the customer’s product characteristics, production needs and factory layout, balancing practicality and pertinence;
• High Precision and Reliability: All equipment adopts high-end core components with excellent insertion, welding and inspection precision. The equipment operates stably and can meet the requirements of industrial 24/7 continuous production;
• Full-Process Integration: From component insertion to finished product inspection, all equipment is seamlessly connected to realize the intellectualization and integration of the production process without manual intervention in the middle, improving process efficiency;
• Professional Technical Services: With an experienced engineering team, it can provide global on-site installation, commissioning, training and after-sales support to ensure the rapid commissioning of the production line and maximize capacity;
• Compliance with International Standards: All products have passed ISO9001 and ISO14001 quality and environmental management system certifications, and meet the requirements of CE safety certification and RoHS environmental protection certification, complying with the production standards of the European and other international markets.
The customized automated THT production line for power control boards built for the Austrian customer is another successful practice of BRUNIMIND in the field of industrial electronic manufacturing. In the future, BRUNIMIND will continue to rely on its core technologies and customized solution capabilities to provide more efficient and high-precision automated production equipment and services for global electronic manufacturing enterprises, helping customers in various industries achieve production upgrading and quality improvement.
Factory Layout and Supporting Requirements
The stable operation of BRUNIMIND’s automated THT production line requires the following basic factory supporting requirements, which the customer can adapt to according to the actual situation:
• Air Supply: Factory air supply or an independent oil-free air compressor is required, with air pressure ≥7kg/cm²;
• Power Supply: Single-phase AC220V (220±10%, 50/60Hz), three-phase AC380V (380±10%, 50/60Hz);
• Exhaust System: The minimum flow rate of the exhaust pipe ≥500 Cubic Feet per Minute (14.15 Cubic Meters per Minute);
• Lighting: The ideal illumination of the production workshop is 800~1200lux, with a minimum of not less than 300lux;
• Temperature and Humidity: The ambient temperature of the production workshop is 23±3℃ (conventional 17~28℃), and the relative humidity is 45%~70%RH;
• Space: The entire production line requires approximately 20m×5m (100 square meters) of production area.
