Professional distribution for the printed circuit industry

Professional distribution for the printed circuit industry

Keywords: Printed circuits, Electronics industry,Distribution

Chestech, founded in 1994, has grown to become one of the leading distributors of speciality chemicals for printed circuit and electronics production in the UK and Ireland. Its team of 11 staff now serve over 600 customers across the region.

Service partnership

Chestech's site in a central location in Rugby, close to both Rohm and Haas in Coventry and major UK motorways, contains its main warehouse and customer service facility, as well as the primary sales office (Plates 1 and 2).

 Plate 1Chestech's site is centrally located

Many of the sales and service team are based in the market areas they serve, in order to be closer to customers. Regular deliveries are made from here to customers distributed as widely as northern Scotland, Ireland and as far south as Devon. It goes without saying that Chestech's quality systems are approved to ISO 9001:2000.

 Plate 2Chestech's main warehouse

In addition to an effective and fast turnaround logistics base, the Rugby facility houses a laboratory offering a complete analytical service. The laboratory is equipped with an excellent range of equipment, says laboratory manager Judy Buttle. “We can provide SEM (scanning electron microscopy),CVS and plasma spectrometry (ICP) analysis, in addition to the more regular autotitration, X-ray and UV spectrometry services you would expect from a laboratory. Our technicians were fully trained by Rohm and Haas when the laboratory was set up and we continue to use their systems to report back to customers” (see Plate 3).

 Plate 3The laboratory offers a complete analytical service

Rohm and Haas electronic materials

Alan Billinghurst, Managing Director of Chestech and a former Sales Director of Shipley, now part of the Rohm and Haas Electronic Materials Division,explains: “our product portfolio is based on the excellent range of chemicals and photoresists from Rohm and Haas and like them we focus on the printed circuit board, semiconductor and general finishing business. We have become in many ways an extension of Rohm and Haas's own sales and technical service force. With their support we have built up Chestech as a full service organisation to take care of printed circuit board manufacturers, semiconductor manufacturers and the general metal finishing industry. Most of the Chestech team are either former Shipley employees or have “hands on”experience, so their product knowledge and ability to interface with our customers and our main supplier are second to none”.

Integrated performance

Rohm and Haas agree that distributors fill a vital and increasingly important role in the electronic materials supply chain. “Just as major electronics OEMs conduct most of their end-selling activity through distributor arrangements, so we find it an efficient and effective way to manage the upstream activity for the benefit of our customers” explains Ian Bonnar,Rohm and Haas Electronic Materials' Sales Manager for the UK and Ireland.“As the market focuses increasingly on short run, quick turn products such as prototypes and speciality boards, so the supply chain needs a flexibility and quick response which is difficult for larger corporations to fulfil. In order to continue to provide this service and response to customers throughout the UK, we have built up the partnership with Chestech over many years”.

Chestech has been a Rohm and Haas distributor since its inception, supplying all markets including the demanding microelectronics business with high-resolution photo resists for sub-micron structures. The product portfolio for metal finishing covers the entire range of products from the Rohm and Haas Packaging and Finishing Technologies Division for semiconductor leadframe and connector plating, metal finishing and plating on plastics. The bulk of the business, however, is made up of products for the Circuit Board Technologies division of Rohm and Haas. These range from electroless and direct metallization systems through to electrolytic plating, HASL and final finishes such as nickel-gold. In addition, a comprehensive dry film and liquid photo resist range builds on Chestech's semiconductor imaging competence. Soldermasks, inks and high volume fillers for 42V automotive board manufactures complete the range.

Chestech also works closely with suppliers of complementary chemistry such as Micro Chem Corp (PMMA and thick photoresists), Asbury Brodie (strippers and other ancillary chemicals) and Gower Chemicals (high purity solvents and specialist acid etchants).

Chestech may be contacted at: Chestech Ltd, 4 Hadrians Way, Glebe Farm Industrial Estate, Rugby Warwickshire, CV21 1ST. Tel: 01788 537535; Fax: 01788 535835; web site: www.chestech.co.uk