New Technologies Cut Production Times at Emerson & Cuming

Manufacturing a complete line of electronic materials including lossy microwave absorbers and low-loss dielectrics, Emerson & Cuming Microwave Products Inc. (Randolph, MA) has added a pair of new production technologies that reduce fabrication times and costs. A water-jet CAD/CAM unit eliminates the lengthy process of working with suppliers to identify die tooling requirements and to produce prototype parts. This machine allows the company's design engineers to provide in a matter of days drawings and cut parts, including those made from their Eccosorb, Eccostock, and Eccoshield lines of elastomers. Parts with complex dimensions are not suitable for this process.

Recently installed autodispensing equipment has also reduced costs and increased the application speed of liquid-cast microwave-absorbing materials. Fully automating the precision loading of absorbers into housings, this mold-in-place technology makes it unnecessary to die-cut and manually apply adhesive-backed materials. Handling a wide range of temperatures, the epoxy-based material has a long adhesion life. Material thickness and absorption loading can be varied to suit specifications. According to Michael Plante, director of sales and marketing, "typical turnaround time to apply the mold-in-place absorber is two weeks from the receipt of customer order and hardware."

Zachary Turke