 Recent News from Barric Ltd
Barric Sponsors City College Prize for Excellence in Electronics
Barric Sponsors City College Prize for Excellence in Electronics
UK electronics manufacturer, Barric, has announced that they are to sponsor a prize for excellence in electronics. The prize is to be awarded annually to the most accomplished student studying electronics at the City College in Norwich.
 photo by Sally of Energi
"We are very pleased to be sponsoring this prize," said Karl Hain, Managing Director of Barric. "The UK is a world leader in the development and manufacture of electronics and in order to maintain this lead, we think we should be providing encouragement and support to the students who choose electronics as their career. The Barric prize will hopefully offer this encouragement and also demonstrate to students that their studies really do matter to those of us in the industry."
Barric manufacture electronic products for companies around the world. Using sophisticated pick and place machines, Barric are a leader in the production of complex, modern electronics. Their customers include companies making marine safety devices, broadcast audio systems, automotive electronics and technology for the health sector. In addition to their manufacturing services, Barric also offer inspection and repair services to other European electronic companies.
"As electronics has become more complex and far more dense, repairing this kind of technology can be very challenging," said Karl. "We've had to invest in a special 3D x-ray machine, automated optical inspection machines and a special scope that can view the components in microscopic detail. Electronics has moved on a long way in recent years and we are expecting that our new relationship with the college will help us share this knowledge and experience with up and coming engineers."
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photo by Sally of Energi - appeared in Electronics Weekly March 2007)
The City College Norwich runs a broad range of engineering courses that includes studies for National Diplomas in Electronics and Higher National Diplomas and Higher National Certificates. The college currently accommodates about 75 full time students on its electronics courses with many more students also studying mechanical engineering and attending on a part-time basis. The college has gained a good reputation within industry, for the quality of the engineers it has produced over the years.
"The college has always had a strong engineering department, in fact it dates back to the days when the college trained many of the Lawrence and Scott engineers, many decades ago," said David Devaney, Programme Manager for Engineering Technician courses. "We very much welcome Barric's sponsorship of the electronics prize and their willingness to share their experience and technology with our students. The UK remains very strong in the technology industry, so it is good to have this kind of support for the training of our engineers and technicians of the future."
The Barric prize will be awarded at the college prize giving evening, which takes place at St Andrews Hall in September. The successful student will be awarded the prize by Barric's Managing Director, Karl Hain and may have the opportunity of a work placement at Barric's Diss factory.
Barric Launches Surface Mount Rework and Repair Lab
Contract electronics manufacturer, Barric, have announced the creation of a dedicated electronics rework and repair lab.
This new facility will undertake the test, inspection and repair of surface mount and BGA based electronic systems for technology manufacturers across Europe. In addition to Barric's extensive experience in this field, the new facility is equipped with a 3D tilt and rotate X-Ray machine, an ERSA Scope, the most advanced Automated Optical Inspection systems and boundary scan technology for the internal testing of BGA devices.
"The new test and rework lab has been an essential investment that we have had to make in order to stay at the forefront of electronic manufacturing," said Mike Bayley, Director of Business Development at Barric. "We are increasingly taking on complex surface mount projects, many of which require a safety critical performance and a very high level of manufacture. This facilities will enable us to ensure the quality of our manufacturing process and the quality of any repairs that we are asked to undertake."
Barric currently manages circuit board warranty inspection and repairs for some of the most recognized technology companies in the world and provides X-Ray inspection services to a diverse range of engineering companies. The new facility will enable Barric to grow this side of their business, offering small and large technology companies the benefits of this facility.
"Inspecting and repairing modern circuit boards requires a lot of investment and expertise," said Mike Bayley. "For complex devices such BGA microprocessor devices, multi-layer boards and surface mount connectors, the 3D tilt and rotate X-Ray inspection machine is essential to ensure the integrity of the placement and that no short-circuits or mis-alignments exists. Equally important is the role of the Automated Optical Inspection Systems. These machines use a similar technology to optical character readers and can inspect a finished circuit board to ensure all the components are not only placed correctly but that they are also of the correct value or type. We feel sure these facilities will be very attractive to manufacturers who do not currently have this technology and do not have the volumes to justify such an investment."
Since 1992 Barric have been providing surface mount pcb manufacturing services for products such as forecourt petrol pumps, broadcast audio systems, commercial vehicle data logging systems, marine safety systems and medical products. Working within a RoHS and ISO9000 compliant environment, Barric have become a recognised leader in this field and supply technology companies as far away as the US.
"Over the years we have certainly gained a lot of specialist knowledge in the area of reworking surface mount components and re-balling BGA devices," said Mike. "For the newer RoHS compliant devices, we have invested in thermal profiling technology, this ensures that we work within the narrow temperature window that is essential for these components."
Barric To Provide 'Cable Assembly' Production Services for Embedded Systems
Contract electronics manufacturer, Barric, have announced that they will now be providing a service for the production of high quality 'cable assemblies' and ‘cable harnesses'. Cable assemblies are essential components for embedded systems and play a critical role in the long-term performance and reliability of modern equipment. Barric have been manufacturing cable assemblies for many years, as a part of the complete electronic product manufacturing service that they provide to clients across Europe and the US. These products range from safety critical marine systems to terabyte hard disk storage equipment for the broadcast industry.
 Photography by Sally of Energi.
"Although our main focus is the high speed manufacturing of surface mount electronics and BGA placement, increasingly we have been manufacturing complete products for a number of our clients," said Mike Bayley, Director of Business Development at Barric. "This has involved a lot of investment in cable manufacturing machinery and engineering staff. In fact, two of our engineers previously worked for a leading supplier of cable assemblies to the motor sport sector, so we now have a great deal of expertise in this area."
Barric currently manufacture a broad range of signal and data cables for both the internal wiring of electronic equipment, as well as for external connections to other systems. They also manufacture cable harnesses for complex power supplies and motor control within electronic systems.
"With over 20 years experience of manufacturing electronics, we understand more than most what an important role a cable assembly can play in ensuring a system is successful in the field," said Mike. "As with everything else we do, we take the manufacturing of cable assemblies very seriously and look to provide a consistently high quality of product as well as working closely with our clients at all stages of the design to ensure the design is optimised for manufacturability as well as reliability. With so much expertise and experience available to us in this area of electronics, we have decided that this is a service we should open up as a stand alone part of our business."
About Barric
Barric manufacture electronic products for large and small companies across the world. With 20 years of experience, investment and success, Barric are very much leaders in this field. Equipped with the latest surface mount manufacturing equipment, hi-tech inspection technology and a team of expert engineers, Barric works closely with ‘cutting edge' development companies from early stage design right through to volume shipment. Whether it is simply the production of electronic assemblies or complete product manufacture, Barric provide one of the best facilities available in Europe. http:// www.barric.co.uk
Contract Electronics Manufacturer Barric Appoints Mike Bayley To European Sales Position
European contract electronics manufacturer, Barric, have appointed Mike Bayley as Director of Business Development and Marketing. Mike has worked at Barric for over 20 years having held several senior technical positions. His appointment is a part of Barric's current growth strategy and is intended to help Barric ensure that existing customers continue to receive the high quality of service for which Barric has become known, as well as winning new customers from across Europe.
"What makes Barric successful, is the fact that the management team each have many years of hands-on embedded systems manufacturing experience," said Karl Hain, Managing Director of Barric. "Mike's experience with surface mount and BGA technology is extensive and his understanding of industry issues such as lead-free regulations, procurement and quality systems makes him an ideal person to take on the critical role of managing the relationships we have with our customers."
Although Barric's core expertise is the contract manufacture of embedded electronics, using high speed pick and place technology, Barric also undertake complete product manufacturing and have a specialist cable-assembly manufacturing department. Since the company's formation thirty years ago, Barric have undertaken projects for many of the world's leading technology companies, ranging from automotive systems to marine safety systems.
"This is an exciting appointment," said Mike Bayley. "I think Barric are now a leader in this field, there are very few companies that can match Barric's technology, inspection systems and expertise. My main role will be to work with our clients from the design stages into the early stages of production. Working with our customers in the early stages of design we can ensure that the design is optimised for manufacture and in-field reliability - both of these aspects can have a big impact on the profitability of the overall project and its success in the marketplace."
Barric are based in Diss, Norfolk and currently manufacture products for customers as far away as the US. One of Barric's recent projects seems to confirm that there is a trend emerging whereby European manufacturers are starting to bring projects back to Europe from locations of low wage economies. Although recent out-sourcing strategies have put Asia and Eastern Europe in the spotlight, manufacturers are increasingly looking at on-shoring opportunities closer to home in response to higher than anticipated total landed costs, quality issues, longer lead times, port congestion, higher fuel costs and maybe also as a part of their environmental strategies.
"Yes, we are currently manufacturing a product that was being made in Eastern Europe," said Mike. "The UK owners of the product came to us because they had suffered from recurrent quality issues that involved the managers in a lot of air travel. Since we have been working with this company we have advised them of several design changes that have not only improved quality but have also improved production rates."
About Barric
Barric manufacture electronic products for large and small companies across the world. With 20 years of experience, investment and success, Barric are very much leaders in this field. Equipped with the latest surface mount manufacturing equipment, Micro BGA placement technology, hi-tech inspection technology and a team of expert engineers, Barric works closely with ‘cutting edge' development companies from early stage design right through to volume shipment. Whether it is simply the production of electronic assemblies or complete product manufacture, Barric provides one of the best facilities available in Europe. http:// www.barric.co.uk back to the top>>
Barric Help Toby Churchill Bring Quality of Life to Thousands with Text to Speech Technology
Contract electronics manufacturer, Barric, has announced that it is working closely with Cambridge company Toby Churchill in the future development of their acclaimed 'text-to-speech' LightWriter technology, a technology that enables the speech impaired to communicate.
Photo (left to right): John Drake (Toby Churchill), Mike Bayley (Barric) and David Mason (Tony Churchill)
Each year, thousands of the LightWriters are shipped around the world, enabling those who have lost their power of speech through injury or disease to communicate via a keyboard that can translate text into spoken words. In many instances this technology can enable text entry through the simple use of buttons or limb movement, allowing severely disabled people the chance to communicate with the world and enjoy a far better quality of life. "We are currently providing the early stage manufacture of the complex computer board that is at the heart of the new LightWriter system," said Mike Bayley, Director of Business Development at Barric. "The new design uses one of the very latest embedded microprocessors and a lot of memory and the overall design is very compact and very challenging to manufacture. It’s been one of our toughest projects to date, but very rewarding."
The current LightWriter technology can be programmed with up to 15 languages and a number of voice variants such as male voice, female voice and child voice. The future design will bring a lot more functionality to the LightWriter, extending many of the features that enhance quality of life for its users.
"With the next design, we are really pushing the barriers, especially with regards to the internal technology. It needs to be powerful, yet portable and robust," said John Drake, R&D project resource coordinator.
"The engineers at Barric have been enormously helpful. They are very approachable and have been very understanding when we have had to make revision changes at short notice. We have very much benefited from their expertise in surface mount technology and BGA placement technology".
With the hardware developed, the engineers at Toby Churchill are busy developing the software that will further transform the lives of people around the world. They hope to launch the new version sometime in 2007.
What makes this company so special and so expert in this field is that the person after whom the company is named, Toby Churchill, became disabled and lost his speech in the late 1960s following an attack of encephalitis while studying as an engineering student. Dissatisfied with the communication aids then available, he designed the first Lightwriter for his own use and, after meeting other people with similar needs, started to manufacture them. In addition to Toby's contribution of the LightWriter, his company has created other technological products that continue to transform the lives of physically and mentally challenged people.
"It feels good to be working on a project that will have such a positive impact on peoples lives," said Mike Bayley. "Toby Churchill are a very special company and we are very pleased to be working with them."
About Barric Ltd
Barric manufacture electronic products for large and small companies across the world. With 20 years of experience, investment and success, Barric are very much leaders in this field. Equipped with the latest surface mount manufacturing equipment, hi-tech inspection technology and a team of expert engineers, Barric works closely with ‘cutting edge’ development companies from early stage design right through to volume shipment. Whether it is simply the production of electronic assemblies or complete product manufacture, Barric provides one of the best facilities available in Europe. www.barric.co.uk
About Toby Churchill Ltd
Toby Churchill Ltd is a world leader in the development and manufacture of communication aids. This unique company is run by someone who is himself physically and speech disabled and the user of a communication aid and the designer of the company’s products. Toby Churchill believe this unique combination gives the company a deeper understanding of the particular needs of people with speech disabilities, and helps design better products through greater first hand experience. www.toby-churchill.com
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