Together No. 1, SIPLACE Team is Now ASM Assembly Automation Systems

On January 7, the former Siemens subsidiary SIPLACE officially became a part of ASM Pacific Technology. Under the new name ASM Assembly Systems. 

The announcement of the SIPLACE sale in the summer of 2010 made it sound as if the unwanted stepchild of Siemens is becoming the new member of the family that ASM Pacific Technology was looking for.

We would think that this merge is a nice analogy, with a kernel of truth. Siemens indeed had not considered its placement machine business to be part of its core activities for quite some time.

In ASMPT they found an industrial investor who is intimately familiar with the extremely dynamic and cyclical electronics industry and is obviously very comfortable in this environment. Both, were prepared for this transfer, both mentally and by restructuring themselves and adopting a very lean and flexible global cluster organization. 

The management and the employees of SIPLACE and ASMPT place similar emphasis on innovation, engineering exellence and quality. In short they fit well together, as has become even more apparent over the last very hectic and active months. They are looking to the future with a great deal of enthusiasm and confidence.

ASMPT has advanced in past decade and since 2002 became a World No.1 supplier of machines and systems in the chip assembly, wire bonding and packaging fields while these markets were developing. In the meantime, the entire electronics production field has evolved into a mature and highly competitive warfield. Entering into adjacent markets such as SMT placement from nowhere and only with their own resources would not be advisable. That's why the purchase of SIPLACE makes so much strategic sense for ASMPT.

In the future, the back-end processes being served by ASM’s machines will increasingly merge with the SMT placement processes – the success of SIPLACE CA with its ability to place bare dies and flip-chips directly from the wafer is a prime indicator of this trend. At the same time, both ASMPT and SIPLACE are better positioned for this development than their competitors.

Customers want efficient solutions that require experience and skills in both the back-end and front-end segments of electronics production. ASM and SIPLACE will be able to offer these in the future.

The two companies also complement each other in their regional focus. ASMPT has most of its customers in Asian markets, while SIPLACE contributes its market leadership in Europe, the Americas and with global key accounts.

When managers talk about synergies in connection with a merger or acquisition, they usually mean saving costs by eliminating redundancies. With their two companies it’s different: the acquisition of SIPLACE focuses on generating growth for both companies. Both of them want to move full speed ahead.

We would expect that the new team would be leading the world in supplying World class equipment for this Electronics Assembly in meeting the demand of the fast growing consumer electronics, Automobile, Medical and lighting  industries.

HK Snob