December '08

Christmas again, what a quick year for us all:

Key-Tech has invested again, we have purchased three new pick and place machines.  With the addition of our new machines, we now have four Contax 3Z machines capable of placing 14,000 placements per hour each.  This further increases our surface mount capability

27th August '08

Grand Opening Ceremony:

Key-Tech were once again honoured by the attendance of the right honourable Gordon Brown Prime Minister to open our additional factory next door to our existing unit.  This now doubles our manufacturing space, including 3 lab areas set aside for specific customer requirements.  Gordon Brown spent 45mins at Key-Tech talking to staff and managers before officially opening the new factory.

19th may '08

Building work in the second unit is almost complete:

The major building work in our second unit, providing an additional 12 000 square feet of manufacturing space is very close to completion.  We currently only have the cosmetics to complete before we start the migration of certain equipment and people, our estimated timescale for this move should be completed before the end of June.  Please look out for our Grand Opening Ceremony, date yet to be confirned.

10th May '08

Key-Tech under the new ownership is another year older:

The current directors, David Weir and Jim Spence are now in their 4th year of leadership following the management buyout (MBO).  Both Jim & David have enjoyed the last 3 years and look forward to many more.  In the coming year we are looking at further growth with the completion of the second manufacturing unit, along with some new business from variuos sales efforts, we are looking on target to not only increase our manufacturing space but also our employee numbers.

25th April '08

New DEK Screen Printer Machine Arrive:

Key-Tech's latest piece of capital equipment arrived at the end of last month.  This has now been installed and integrated into our surface mount set-up.  This is the new "DEK Horizon O3I" with Hawkeye camera system, which further enhance our surface mount capaility and increase our throughput rate.

5th March '08

Southern manufacturing Exhibition Update:

We were pleased eith the interest shown in Key-Tech at Southern manufacturing.  We are now speaking to a number of new leads and potentially they will become new customers following the show in February.  We would like to thank all who visited us at the show and look forwardto talking to you again in the very near future.

3rd December '07

Key-Tech continues to invest, New Contact 3Z pick and place machine arrives:

The latest addition to our pick and place capability is the Contact 3Z , which arrived last month is now fully commisioned and up and running.  This will increase the placement rate of the existing surface mount capacity and will improve the accuracy of placement.

Key-Tech Show at an Exhibition:

Key-Tech will be exhibiting at this years Southern Manufacturing Event being held on the 6th & 7th Feb 2008, we welcome all guests to our stand C49.

Key-Tech Increase Head Count and Manufacturing Space:
Key-Tech will create a further 17 full time jobs and move into an additional 9000 square foot manufacturing area in 2008.

Key-Tech purchases an X-Ray System:
Key-Tech has just installed a Glen Brook XRT1000x-ray system. With the ability to adjust the 80KV of power and software imaging, it is possible to look at a very wide range of BGA joints and other devices. The System also has an adjustable angled head allowing the inspection of solder joints from various angles.

Key-Tech finally acquires the building:
Key-Tech finally signed a lease on the building next door to our HQ. This will add additional 9000sq ft of manufacturing space. The building work to this additional area will start within the next 2 months. Once this new space is upgraded we are planning a grand opening. Please check these news items for reports on the progress.

Key-Tech purchases a new BGA rework station:
With the installation of an Ersa BGA rework station, the final piece of BGA technology is now in place. This completes the suit of rework /inspection and placement machines for the application of BGA technology. These acquisitions were required to keep Key-Tech at the top of our Tier3 CEM tree and to satisfy current and potential customer’s requirements. Although the equipment was expensive the plan is to use it as little as possible we should “get it right first time every time”.

Jim Spence joins the over forty club:
Actual dates withheld to avoid any further embarrassment!!
Yes that’s now both of our directors joined the over forty club.
Now that Jim is over the hill he may start picking up speed and catch up with Dave who has been in the forty club for a number of years now, (Jim is likely to pickup more speed than Dave as he suffers from a much greater gravitational pull than most other people).

MBO moves into its 3 year:
May 8th 2007 see the MBO move into it’s 3rd year!
It’s hard to believe 2 years have passed already; well it must be true what they say “time passes quicker when you are enjoying yourself” Both Dave and Jim seem to be enjoying themselves and the only visible signs are more grey hair, Jim has regular attempts to shave his off but it not working we can still see it.

Another 60th birthday at Key-Tech:
Actual date and name withheld to avoid further embarrassment.
Yes another one of our employees have reached 60 year of age.
Due to employment law and ageism laws we are unable to report who this happens to be. The data protection act prevents us from reporting any other information except Key-Tech’s average age is getting older each year. “Remember with age comes knowledge and incontinence pants”

Key-Tech corporate colour change: We are going Green?
What Key-Tech is changing colour?
No! We will still have our special mix “Key-Tech blue & orange” With the installation of our cardboard crusher Key-Tech has take our first steps on the road to being a little greener. We are looking into recycling paper and plastic bottles and hope to be implementing these in the future and in turn applying ISO14001.

Second Summer Barbeque:
13th July 2007 saw the return of the Barbeque, The sun actually shone. We closed the factory early (we close early on Friday anyway). Great fun was had by one and all. Having looked at the photos everyone was having fun and a quite a few “soft” drinks. The games went down well with everyone, including the bounce castle for the grown ups. We all managed to let our hair down except Jim who had and other close shave. (Another bad hair day for Jim.)

New quality man started:
We have recently brought on board a new quality engineer at Key-Tech who will be working on customer returns and internal and external audits initially but there are plans to look at obtaining AS9100 as an addition to our existing ISO91000, AS9100 is an Aerospace certification.

Order placed for Key-Tech’s 5th pick and place machine
An order was place for Key-tech’s 5th pick and place machine, this will provide a faster throughput rate at SMT stage as well enabling Key-Tech to place smaller BGA’s and package size 0201 keeping pace with the latest technology. Delivery will take place early December 07.

First AS9100 job complete
November saw our first AS9100 job completed with the shipment of 16 boards. This has been completed under the control of our customers quality sign off, but Key-Tech are working towards having our own AS9100 early 2008.

Christmas is coming:
Yes it’s that time of year again and all at Key-Tech are getting ready for our annual shutdown 21st December to 3rd January. We would like to wish all our customers well and would like to thank them for the business this year. We are currently preparing for our traditional big Christmas party (lookout for the photos) we will see you next year with a few sore heads I am sure.