Company profile
Company profile
CSI Sud-Ouest, Toulouse
With the departure of high-volume circuit board manufacture to the Far East,the PCB industry in Europe now comprises companies with varying degrees of specialisation, who are well- placed both logistically, geographically and technologically to meet the changed demands. Such a company is CSI Sud Ouest,based in Toulouse. CW went to meet them.
CSI Toulouse started out in life some 25 years ago, under the name of Sotracim to manufacture printed circuit boards for the Airbus Company nearby. They also supplied PCBs to Micro Turbo, another large local manufacturer, and to other companies in the region who were involved within the aeronautical industry.
As the years passed, and demand grew, Airbus decided to buy as well from other companies. At the same time, a company named TFCE, in the centre of Toulouse, who made simple circuit boards, as well as 2-sided PTH and who were good at prototypes, needed to change. Whilst this company was strong financially, it was less robust technically, so they bought Sotracim. In so doing they brought together the best technology and the best service, and after all these years CSI still is a happy mixture of the two. In 1998, a company by name Cimulec, from Metz, bought Sotracim, and changed the name to CSI Sud Ouest. Cimulec recognised that at Sotracim there was the technical know-how but not the equipment, so Cimulec went on an extensive capital expenditure programme which resulted in a quality base of equipment that is still in operation to-day. Cimulec remains the “holding” company, and is family-owned.
Éric de Ponthaud, the CEO at CSI, rates the support he receives from Cimulec as irreplaceable, they are immensely storing technically, and an invaluable resource when it comes to technology; for instance when CSI went into microvias some years ago, it was Cimulec who provided the know-how, so the learning curve for CSI was not so steep, but most effective.
CSI occupies a modern 2000m2 factory, employ 48 people, and enjoys a turnover of e4.8 million. Éric says that any number below 50, or above 60, is desirable when it comes to number of employees, because of French law. Between 50 and 60 the extra social costs are high, but above 60 the added value of the contribution mitigates the costs, and can be beneficial. So CSI have settled for 48, and with zero staff turnover, have an excellent well-trained core of extremely versatile staff. Éric pointed out that in France, as indeed in many other countries, there is no “school” for printed circuit board manufacturing so training staff is strictly an “in-house”affair, and at CSI they spend as lot of time on training. Eric believes that you should not look upon salary as a cost, but as value, as experience is irreplaceable, and enjoys no short-cuts.
Their customer base is essentially French; they liaise more and more with the design departments of the big companies, such as Thales, ECE, Leach International, Eurocopter, and in the Toulouse – Bordeaux region there are a lot of aeronautical companies, in fact CSI claim to know every electronic company in the south of France.
The product base is becoming less and less double-sided, with an increasing demand for multilayer's, microvias, rigid-flex, and high frequency boards in PTFE, also hybrid boards using PTFE and FR4. It is in the field of difficult technology such as rigid flex where they excel, they do not make a lot but they do make aeronautical and military boards to demanding standards. They specialise in the high technology, low volume business; there is a wealth of knowledge in the company which allows them to produce high-value PCBs – small volumes,quick turnaround. One of the areas of specialisation is in rigid-flex. They tend to use different laminates to meet each customer's requirements, especially with RoHS. The three different types of FR4 laminates they use are all non-dicy, and have excellent peel-strength. One is an Isola product with 135Tg, the second is IS410 with a high Tg, and the third material, on which they are working with Cimulec, maybe a Hitachi laminate, of 170Tg. The choice of laminates may be directly attributable to the advent of lead-free soldering, with higher soldering temperatures, for which dicy-cured laminates are not suitable. It may be true that not all the circuit boards used in the aeronautical industry need to have a lead-free finish, indeed 50 per cent of boards maybe exempt, but at CSI they only use lead-free compatible laminates. With regard to surface finishing they use hot air levelling for the simple products, but much of their work goes through the new PAL ENIG line.
Before they installed the electroless- nickel/immersion tin line there was only one local sub-contractor who could give them a nickel-gold finish, and whilst there is SAGEM in Lannion, there are not some real subcontractors, who could respond quickly, so the decision to install the PAL line was taken, andÉric says they now have people coming to ask if CSI will provide a nickel-gold plating service for them!
Why did CSI chose PAL? Éric de Ponthaud explained that when they decided to go for the nickel gold process, first of all they chose the chemistry, and for various reasons decided to go with Atotech, around whose chemistry they designed the line. They then contacted some people we knew in the electroplating industry, and one of them was CTS, who are the representatives of PAL in France. Their MrBilinsky asked Peter Jackson to come, and they had lots of discussions with PAL. Éric said that he found Peter Jackson most professional, and “this was good as we needed the right technical people in front of us and the right technical knowledge about the circuit boards industry, as well as knowledge about the equipment. I also had some good proposals from both Swiss and French companies, but it was PAL who was quicker to understand what I wanted, that is for sure, and also the price they gave me was pretty good”.
Had there been any anxiety about buying from manufacturers based so many thousands of kilometres away? “What we asked for, and what we got, was equipment which was compatible with all the European standards when it comes to plumbing, electrics, so that we could replace motors and pumps quite easily without having to go back to China for them” said Éric, “and after seeing Peter I was very confident that PAL would be a good choice, and whilst China was not close, that they made such good equipment was the key”. CSI talked to other PAL users which also boosted confidence.
CSI have a work ethic that means that employee can turn his or her hand to two, or three, different disciplines at any time, so that they have two people in a team, who know all the machines and how to operate them, along with the day-to-day chemistry in all the electroplating section. They know what they do and what they have to do. Someone from the drill shop can operate the multilayer press; someone from electroplating can go to etching; people in the optical inspection can operate electrical test equipment; the man in charge of the QC laboratory, for example, has a diploma in CNC drilling machines, so all of the training that we do is needed to keep up our experience, which is complemented just by doing it.
How is the market? “A little bit better than two years ago”replied Éric, “It is getting more and more technical, and price more important than before; there are a lot of new projects, new designs, and new customers” Are packaging densities changing? “Yes, lines are finer, the changes I have seen between 2001 and 2003 were quicker than between 2003 and 2007, for example, but the designs have to be based more upon reliability than just functionality. Reliability is more and more important”.
On the equipment front, CSI operate the Genesis 2000 management system from Frontline, and have their own barcode order management reader at each section,and can locate an order anywhere in the factory within one minute. This system also allows the production management a “global view” of what is happening on the factory floor.
Primary imaging is dry film, two thicknesses; both pattern and panel plating on two dedicated lines, then they build-up using reverse pulse plating, with drill desmear in-line using potassium permanganate. All drilling is mechanical on Posalux equipment, down to 0.25mm; sometimes they have to subcontract laser drilling for microvias to their sister company Cimulec. They use the DP1500 vertical screen printers for solder mask and legend inks; LPISM is Probimer 77 H9000. They used to have a local sub-contractor who did all their legend ink printing, he came in twice a day, but now he's retired and they have to bring this work in-house, they use the flood coat system, where they flood coat the board and image with a photoimageable ink, usually white, and then process as a solder mask.
There is 100 per cent inspection with a Camtek 2V50 AOI for inner layers, for outer layers they use Mania Flying Probe testers, with a new ATG 8-probe tester due to be delivered this month. There is fixed pin testing, mainly for repeat orders, as about 50 per cent of production is repeats. They receive some 50 new designs per week, and on average produce some 200 panels per day, which may not sound a lot but this is not a high volume house, this is a high-tech house, and many of the orders were just for one, sometimes 4 panels, mainly in 12£18in. size Random checks on all orders are made by two very experienced people before packing and despatch. Waste water treatment is everything one expects with the treated water going directly to the River Garonne.
Éric comes from a non-PCB background having worked with the Textron Group before joining Bosch in Normandy. He knows about chemistry, mechanics, and optics, so this technical combination stands him in very good stead. That he is also an excellent communicator makes him a first-class manager, and a tour of the immaculate factory shows involved, happy and dedicated people, who know what is going on. This is due to the transparent way in which all employees are briefed every month about the company's activities, a partnership if you like,but it make a policy of continuous improvement that much easier to pursue.
CSI claim 98 per cent yield; doubtless their customers claim 100 per cent satisfaction. CSI have a unique characteristic, an intangible spirit of teamwork, but then if you involve your staff in what you are doing, have zero staff turnover and a full order book, you must have got it right somewhere. But where? That is their secret!
John LingAssociate Editor, Circuit World
