The internationally successful EMS [Electronic Manufacturing Services] provider expands its activities on the US market and strategically enlarges its worldwide services by the cooperation with EIT.
By the foundation of the sales office “Zollner Electronics Inc.” at the beginning of the year, the Zollner Group has added another significant milestone to its continuous growth.

Zollner focuses on a long-term partnership in which the use of common synergies should be constructive and efficient for both companies.

With this cooperation, the Zollner Group expects to provide valuable assistance to the sales colleagues who have already been active for a few months and to consequently enlarge the group’s market presence. The support of the very experienced R&D-team of EIT is intended to particularly increase the performance of the development sector. Zollner is confident to offer its customers a real added value by using the „ExpressITTM“–Service of EIT in order to rapidly and effectively manufacture prototypes and samples. Thus, we will be able to support our existing and new customers with R&D services as well as NPI-processes also in North America. Similar systems, machines and processes offer an additional benefit and
therefore guarantee a smooth transition to serial production at the worldwide Zollner locations.

EIT benefits from the global network of Zollner and has therefore the possibility to use the low-cost production facilities of Zollner for its existing customers.

Both companies are closely connected and share many common interests.
A similar entrepreneurial spirit with comparable principles and philosophies but also the fact that both companies are not listed on the stock exchange and family-owned strengthens the intention to increase the success together in future.

The automotive industry is becoming a highly important market sector in Asia. Also our Chinese company in Taicang receives more and more inquiries asking for automotive products.

Thus, the management decided to have the Taicang factory certified according to the automotive standard ISO / TS 16949 in addition to the existing quality and environmental standards DIN EN ISO 9001

In October 2009, all organizational units in the Taicang factory were successfully certified. “The Taicang site runs a well introduced management system according to ISO / TS 16949”, DEKRA lead auditor Bernhard Kneidl summed up. He had audited the whole factory comprehensively for two days, together with co-auditor Cou Dai Liang.

A company being as successful on the world market as Zollner has to pay special attention on internal structures of administration and production since inconsistent and incomplete production files may lead to costly errors.

Consequently, the aim of Zollner’s management is to collect all documents, regardless of the file format, in a central Content Management Platform. This way, the staffs in the German, Hungarian and Romanian sites have a closed and consistent view on business processes. At the same time, costs for the manual document filing should be reduced.

After years of planning and preparation the contract was awarded. In the end, the ECM company Heilig und Schubert was commissioned to install a comprehensive document management system. The decision to award the contract was the homogeneous range of software in order to meet ALL requirements with just ONE archive system. Moreover, the company Heilig und Schubert has 20 years of experience in development and project management.

User report: Document management and archiving at Zollner

Unified Document Management. The project
 
The focus of the central document management lies on the business unit production and order processing with currently 14 special archives (general contracts, delivery notes, machine data, production, sales, projects, insurances, e-mails etc.) which are partly linked to each other. There is just one version of each document in the archive. The integration of the document (i.e. an e-mail) in different electronic files is made via ArchiveLinks. This Single Instance Technology ensures that the most up-to-date version of a document is in circulation.

The complete ECM system is made up of different elements: Archiving of outgoing SAP documents, SAP REO data, Lotus Notes (e-mail archiving), Mircrosoft Windows Server (file migration) and the document management system PAM-STORAGE in which all documents are collected in electronic files and stored for their entire lifetime.

Filing of the documents is made in parallel on two IBM DR-550 systems. The abbreviation “DR” stands for data retention. A storage technology which avoids erasing of information and documents prior to expiry of the term. The parallel storage on two mutually independent storage media is a wise decision in order to reach maximum system stability.

A high availability of 7 x 24 hours emphasizes the importance of the archive project at Zollner. Maintenance is just made on Sundays and only for a view hours. Currently, almost 2000 employees use the archive and DMS system.

Project Factbox

• Go-Live: 
  02/2009
• Used H&S Products: 
  PAM-STORAGE DMS, PAM for ERP SAP Enterprise, H&S PAMerp archiving 4.0 PAM for NOTES, E-Mail Archivierung, PAM for FILES, Fileserver Archiving Indiv developments for third-party system ‘Kratzer AUTOMATION’
• Storage medium: 
  2x IBM DR-550, parallel Archiving, is filled with 2 TB, up to 24 TB
• Number of users: 
  2000
• Archived documents: 
  15,700,000 E-Mails, 617,000 sits in production record archive, 1,500,000 outgoing SAP documents, 1,200,000 File Server data

SAP is the leading platform for the management of production data.
Central production record with PAM-STORAGE.

Zollner’s product data is managed by means of SAP. Approx. 456,000 material numbers exist in SAP. A lot of structured information in terms of BOMs, drawings and many other documents is linked with these master data. Moreover, unstructured information such as plans, production instructions,
e-mails or general correspondence has to be managed outside the SAP world. This has caused media disruptions in the past which are now eliminated getting the DMS solution PAM-STORAGE.

The DMS solution assures that all those documents are stored in electronic files which are linked to the SAP application on the basis of the material number. Irrespective of data format and data source each document can be transferred into a central electronic production record. There are several opportunities to store new documents in the record:

1. Method Push: directly from the e-mail application Lotus Notes and Microsoft Office, in which a new menu item transfers the latest document to the PAM-STORAGE DMS Client to be filed in the production record.
2. Method Pull: via an import function of the PAM-STORAGE DMS Client. Thus, the user is able to import a file (document) into a production record.

Each document to be stored must be tagged with the SAP material number and the document type. Only if the SAP material number is really available in the SAP, the document will be stored in the electronic production record.

Production files may be called up via a new function in the SAP menu bar. If the user starts the PAM-STORAGE DMS client in the SAP application, the complete electronic file linked with the SAP material number is read out of the archive providing on-screen access.

An overview of files will be achieved through electronic tab pages which ensure a structured view of comprehensive files. A tree-like structure simplifies the navigation within the file considerably and searched documents can be found quickly.

For reasons of quality, the Zollner management also decided to digitize existing/old production files. In the meantime, the electronic production record is filled with 617,000 files.

Filing of outgoing SAP documents.

All in all, 19 different types of documents, especially from production, dispatch and accounting, are filed in the background by means of the certified archive module PAM for ERP.Up to now, more than 1.5 million SAP documents have been stored in the central, electronic archive.
Since archiving has been done on audit-proof storage media, Zollner has no longer made any paper-based filing and thus saved money.

With PAM for NOTES 15,700,000 e-mails can be managed in line with legal requirements.

The IBM DR-550 storage systems are also used to store Lotus Notes e-mails. For reasons of legal certainty (journaling), all incoming and outgoing e-mails are immediately and automatically stored by means of PAM for NOTES. Simply a link remains on the Lotus Notes Mail Server referring to the archive medium.

Users continue to use their Lotus Notes Mail Client for the display and processing of e-mails. A better legal conformity is just one advantage of e-mail storage. Thanks to the significantly lower memory requirements on the Lotus Notes Server- savings up to 80% are not unusual- the response time behaviour improves significantly and the restoration of individual e-mails is a matter of minutes. Complex restore procedures are a thing of the past.

In addition to the automatic archiving which the user can not influence, a special Archive PlugIn is available in the Lotus Notes e-mail client. This new menu function allows the user to store individual e-mails in the electronic production record. Since all H&S products use a common archive, only the shortcut (ArchiveLink), of the e-mails that have been already archived is sorted into the production record. This means: an original e-mail and different ways of access.

Slim down file server using PAM for FILES

Hardly any user deletes out-of-date files what makes high-performance servers to an expensive data waste dump. Zollner put an end to this waste of resources through installing the File Server archive solution PAM for FILES.

Files of a certain age will be moved to a less expensive storage system. After storage, a little shortcut remains on the file server referring to the new storage location in the archive medium. The user opens his file in the usual way and the archive server, running in the background, takes the file automatically from the archive medium. In the meantime, 1.2 million files have been archived.

Records, archiving and provision of production data.

All products, leaving a Zollner site are subject to strict quality controls. Any data produced in connection with production and quality control have to be stored up to thirty years, depending on the product.

This information is recorded and made available in data bases in the terabyte range using systems of the company Kratzer AUTOMATION. Thus, the Zollner employees have access to any log data using the Webclient, developed by H&S, to the Kratzer Automation System. Quick, safe and unbureaucratic.

Christian Stadler [M&T], Karin Zühlke [MT], Johann Weber [Zollner], Heinz Arnold [M&T]

Aiming to have an influence on the machine development by a close and early cooperation with the manufacturers, the Zollner Elektronik AG has checked out the new machine platform in a practical test at the site Altenmarkt III during the last three months.

The SMT-field test line consists of four machines, two SIPLACE S-20 with 12-segment C&P heads each as well as one SIPLACE SX with two SIPLACE Multistar CPP-insertion heads and a further SIPLACE SX as an End-of-Line-inserter with a SIPLACE Multistar and a SIPLACE TwinHead.

Even after two days, following an impressive ramp-up, the first products could be manufactured. An intensive evaluation of the assembly quality was the basis for the approval of the line and required to start production of certain customer products. Thanks to the stability of the new technology, the line could again run in three-shift-operation within a few days.

The advantages of the new insertion machine convinced the Zollner Team comprehensively. A lot of new possibilities and innovative solutions are the basis for a future-oriented production.

• High flexibility and quality
• Little floor space required
• Many feeder positions
• Several new software functionalities
• Modular hardware platform with replaceable gantries

Zollner has very high requirements regarding processes and technologies being applied in the electronics production. Thereby, a maximum of flexibility and quality is a must for the leading EMS provider.

After the successful field test of the new SIPLACE SX, the Zollner group is very positive about the product introduction and agrees that the new assembly machine is well equipped to meet the future production requirements.

SMART Technologies announces an agreement with the Zollner Group to assemble SMART Board™ interactive whiteboards for customers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa [EMEA].

The Zollner Group, one of the world’s leading contract manufacturers, will assemble the interactive whiteboards at its facility in Vác, Hungary. Initially, it will have the capacity to produce more than 125,000 SMART Board 600 series interactive whiteboards per year, significantly increasing SMART’s annual, global production. With SMART Board interactive whiteboards assembled and shipped from the Hungary facility, delivery times for SMART customers in EMEA will be reduced. Currently, all SMART Board 600 series interactive whiteboards are assembled and shipped from SMART’s main plant in Ottawa, Canada. Hungarian assembly will also decrease SMART’s reliance on transatlantic shipping, thereby reducing the company’s carbon footprint.

Zollner now provide Customer Service and Support in US Market

Zollner group, one of the worlds leading Electronic Manufacturing and engi-neering Services [EMS], announces the formation of Zollner Electronics Inc as per January 21.

The newly opened Technical Sales & Customer Service facility is conveniently located in Northern Virginia and will enhance coverage of Zollner’s customers, widen the group’s market presence and contribute significantly to Zollner’s over 40 years success story.

The objectives of Zollner’s location policy are improvement of local service for existing customers and active acquisition of new customers. Zollner is con-fident to have added another cornerstone to the group’s continuous growth - especially with regard to a recovering US economy.

Zollner’s US-sales team services existing and potential customers providing the support necessary for a successful partnership. Highly competent and by applying Zollner’s complete portfolio of services and capabilities they work out winning strategies for successful products together with their partners.