This year, Birk Manufacturing celebrates its 35th anniversary! We’ve been reflecting on our journey which has been highlighted by innovation, quality, and a relentless commitment to continuous improvement.
Over the past three and a half decades, Birk has grown to become the leading provider of flexible heaters, sensors and thermal solutions, trusted by many industries ranging from medical to aerospace. This milestone is thanks to YOU – our customers – who have put your faith in us. In turn, we strive every day to better support you.
In the last five years, you have asked for more – quicker prototyping, faster turn-around, tighter tolerances, competitive pricing, more heat! And we have answered by making significant investments in cutting-edge equipment and technology to ensure we continue to meet and exceed your expectations.
Here are just a few of our investments over the past 5 years and how they better support you:
- Laser Direct Imaging – this equipment and technology provides you with higher circuitry density per unit, meaning lots of heat in a small space! It also reduces steps in our process, leading to better turn-around times and improved quality for you.
- Allows fine line width and high-density circuitry
- Increases repeatability
- Facilitates the alignment of multi-layer heaters and sensors
- 3D Optical Measuring System – this microscope is a fantastic addition to our quality lab allowing us to see features on a micro-level ensuring you get the highest quality thermal solutions. It increases the speed and accuracy of our inspections to give you quicker turn-around times and a better product.
- Enables reverse engineering of your parts without drawings
- Offers quick Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GD&T)
- Improves speed and accuracy, eliminating human error in the process
- Performs precise measurements up to 0.1 μm or 0.000005” with the click of a button
- UV Laser Drill – This piece of equipment gives you quicker prototyping, higher quality, and tighter tolerances.
- Incredible increase in tolerance capability from 0.01” to 20 microns
- Enables small features with tight tolerances, borders and spacing, as well as controlled depths of skiving on multi-layer circuits.
- Allows us to provide you with rapid prototyping – low iterations and low tooling
- High Temperature Vacuum Press – this provides you with longer lasting thermal solutions by eliminating oxidation and laminating unique alloys at higher temperatures for a stronger product with superior bond.
- Temperature and Humidity Chamber– this equipment brings important testing in-house, which improves your turn-around times and ensures that the quality of your solutions meets your exact needs.
- Facilitates tests for thermal cycling and power conditioning
- Enables space flight NASA qualification and testing
- Built an electrostatic discharge (ESD) room – this increases the quality of your thermal solution and assures that we can work with your sensitive sensors and chips without damage from electrostatic shock.
- Added an Automated Optical Inspection (AOI) system – this system improves your turn-around times while also increasing the quality of your solutions by automatically detecting circuit defects such as pinholes, bridges, surface etching, staining, FOD, and so on. It also reduces human error factors by reducing fatigue and increasing repeatability.
- SolidWorks 3D Thermal Analysis Software upgrade – this software helps us create your prototypes more quickly and allows for steady state and transient thermal analysis for complex assemblies.
Our investments are dedicated to meeting your needs. We continuously strive to enhance our offerings and invest in areas that matter most to you. We’re committed to being here for you, adapting and growing to address your heating and sensor requirements, from the simplest to the most complex, with speed, efficiency, and the highest quality.
Reach out to learn more about how our investments can benefit your currents needs and projects!
