Enthone celebrates grand opening of advanced applications laboratory

Citation

(2008), "Enthone celebrates grand opening of advanced applications laboratory", Circuit World, Vol. 34 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/cw.2008.21734bab.003

Enthone celebrates grand opening of advanced applications laboratory

Article Type: Industry news From: Circuit World, Volume 34, Issue 2.

Enthone Inc., a business of Cookson Electronics, celebrated the grand opening of its advanced plating applications laboratory located at the company's West Haven, Connecticut USA facility. More than 150 guests, including customers, state and local government officials, media and company employees attended the event. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was followed by tours of the applications laboratory and a buffet luncheon.

Robert Collin, Applications and Technology Manager, Enthone, Terrence Copeland, Vice President Enthone Americas, Huub van Dun, President of Enthone Inc., John M. Picard, Mayor of the City of West Haven, Rosa L. DeLauro, Congresswoman US 3rd Congressional District and Steven Corbett, Chief Executive Officer, Cookson Electronics celebrate the grand opening of the Enthone West Haven, CT Advanced Applications Laboratory (left to right)

Congratulatory remarks were provided by Rosa L. DeLauro, Congresswoman US 3rd Congressional District and John M. Picard, Mayor of the City of West Haven. Steven Corbett, Chief Executive Officer, Cookson Electronics, Huub van Dun, President of Enthone Inc., and Terrence Copeland, Vice President Enthone Americas presided over the ceremony that acknowledged the drive, passion and dedication of Enthone employees and customers to make the West Haven Applications Laboratory a major resource that will drive technical innovation, best practices, and learning for many years to come.

Mr Copeland said, “The opening of the advanced applications laboratory, tangibly demonstrates Enthone's strong commitment to the Americas market by substantially enhancing our ability to provide process solutions that meet our customers' current and future manufacturing challenges.”

The mission of the West Haven Applications Laboratory and its staff includes:

• •

  evaluation and validation of Enthone processes prior to beta- site field testing;

• •

  in-depth training and demonstration of process capabilities to Enthone personnel and select customers;

• •

  identification and implementation of the best processing methodologies and operating windows for Enthone's best-in-class, new and emerging technologies;

• •

  collaborative work with key customers to develop unique plating solutions; and

• •

  training of the industry's next generation of plating engineers via internship programs established with universities and colleges.

The West Haven Applications Laboratory will also serve as the central location for the Enthone Americas Plating Academy. The Academy is the key training program for employees and select customers to gain technical knowledge about the company's processes and technologies. Training modules range from obtaining a basic understanding of Enthone best-in-class processes, to acquiring comprehensive, advanced training on specific troubleshooting and preventative maintenance procedures for a particular application.

The state-of-the-art applications laboratory houses multiple, high- performance plating lines that enable processing of Enthone functional, decorative and electronic coatings that deliver corrosion protection, wear resistance and superior aesthetics on a variety of parts used in automotive, plumbing, printed wiring board (PWB), and other surface finishing applications. Specifically, dedicated plating lines for Enthone plating-on-plastics, copper/ nickel/chrome, passivation processes, surface preparation chemistry, zinc and zinc alloys, hard chrome and electroless nickel have been installed. Additionally, lines for connector and leadframe precious and base metal plating, as well as PWB fabrication final finishes, oxide replacement alternatives and metallization processes are fully operational.

The Enthone West Haven Applications Laboratory is operated by Enthone's Corporate Plating Academy Engineers, as well as chemical technicians solely dedicated to the operation of the applications laboratory. Enthone applications engineers and research and development personnel are directly involved with the validation and evaluation of chemistry directly related to their expertise.