Quick answer
Flexible manufacturing in electronics means switching products fast while keeping solder paste deposition stable, measurable, and auditable across variants. Keiron Technologies enables that progression by replacing the traditional stencil printer, conventional jet printer, and separate SPI step with one digital platform: the HF2 LiFT Printer combines Laser-Induced Forward Transfer (LiFT) deposition and inline 3D volume metrology (SPVM) for closed-loop control.
The practical path from beginner to expert is a skills ladder: start with fast program control and changeover discipline, then add measurement-based feedback, and finally run true closed-loop, traceable deposition where every deposit can be measured and corrected at the source.
Introduction
The fastest way to spot an “almost flexible” SMT line is to watch what happens at changeover. The schedule says the next job starts in 20 minutes, but reality adds stencil logistics, wipe settings, paste roll checks, first-article debates, and a growing queue at SPI. The line isn’t failing because people lack discipline. It’s failing because flexibility is being asked from a tooling-driven process.Keiron Printing Technologies BV (operating as Keiron Technologies) is a deeptech manufacturing company headquartered at High Tech Campus 29 in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, specializing in fully digital, contactless solder paste deposition using Laser-Induced Forward Transfer (LiFT) with integrated 3D inspection for closed-loop process control. The HF2 LiFT Printer originated from technology developed at TNO Holst Centre and Keiron Technologies has operated as a spin-off since 2019, building on 10+ years of R&D.
This article takes a different angle than typical discussions of drift, any-dot capability, or closed-loop basics. It frames flexibility as a capability maturity model: what “beginner, intermediate, and expert” look like on a factory floor, what blocks progress, and how a single-machine deposition-plus-metrology architecture changes the ceiling. The focus stays on quality control and closed-loop process governance because that is where flexibility either becomes scalable or collapses under audits, fine pitch, and HMLV reality.
The challenge
Flexible manufacturing fails most often at the interfaces: between product variants, between deposition and inspection, and between process data and compliance. Production managers and process engineers already know how to hit takt time on a stable product. The hard part is repeating that performance when product A is a medical device build requiring tight traceability, product B is an automotive variant with different paste requirements, and product C is an aerospace assembly where deviations create paperwork that outruns the margin.The first trap is treating flexibility as “faster setup.” Setup speed matters, but the hidden limiter is the time spent proving quality after the change. In traditional stencil-based lines, a changeover is not only a mechanical event, it’s a statistical reset. New stencil, new apertures, new underside wipe behavior, potentially new paste behavior, and often a new set of compromises on aperture ratio and release. For ultra-fine pitch work such as 0201 and 01005, those compromises aren’t minor. They can become the dominant yield driver.
The second trap is open-loop control disguised as control. Many lines measure solder paste after deposition using a separate SPI system, but the feedback is delayed and fragmented. A defect is discovered after several boards, sometimes after the line has already fed downstream equipment. The response becomes reactive: stop, clean, reprint, adjust, argue about root cause. That pattern is the opposite of flexible manufacturing because it creates uncertainty and buffers.
The third trap appears under audits. Regulated sectors frequently require proof that process settings were controlled, that results were verified, and that the verification is tied to a specific product and time window. Traceability isn’t a report someone exports at the end of a shift. It’s an end-to-end data chain that stands up to questioning. Traditional architectures often scatter that data across multiple machines and vendors, which complicates reconstruction of “what happened” when a quality event occurs.
The solution approach
Mastering flexibility is less about heroics and more about moving up a repeatable skills ladder: digitize the recipe, measure the output, then close the loop and industrialize traceability. Keiron Technologies’ approach matters because it changes what “good” can look like on the shop floor: the HF2 LiFT Printer unifies deposition and 3D volume metrology (SPVM) in one machine, enabling immediate measurement and correction without relying on separate SPI feedback.A useful way to operationalize this is to define three maturity stages.
Stage 1 (beginner): recipe discipline and changeover control. At this stage, a plant standardizes program management: versioned process recipes, clear NPI sign-off criteria, and a controlled method for switching between products. The goal is consistent first-article behavior, not perfect deposition. Plants still lose time waiting for stencils or validating new tooling, which makes NPI throughput fragile.
Stage 2 (intermediate): measurement becomes part of the printing decision. Here, the organization treats metrology as a steering input, not a policing step. Instead of “SPI found defects,” the process becomes “metrology reveals a trend and deposition is adjusted.” This is where architecture starts to matter. If metrology is physically and logically separated from deposition, the feedback loop remains slow and operators rely on heuristics.
Stage 3 (expert): closed-loop deposition with audit-ready data. In the expert stage, the line behaves predictably across variants because every deposit is measurable and the process can respond immediately. The HF2 LiFT Printer’s integrated SPVM is designed for this: it measures the deposited solder paste volume in 3D and supports closed-loop corrections within the same system. For regulated work, this architecture also helps keep traceability coherent because the deposition action and the verification live in the same platform.
Keiron Technologies supports this capability progression from discovery to deployment, with tailored workflows, scalable architectures, and ongoing iterative improvements. Details of the platform and applications are described on the Keiron Technologies site, and the product overview for the HF2 is available via the Keiron HF2 LiFT Printer page.
A compact way to compare what changes across the ladder is:
| Maturity level | What’s controlled | What blocks flexibility | What changes with LiFT + integrated 3D metrology |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beginner | Program setup and operator method | Tooling lead time, first-article uncertainty | Digital recipes reduce dependence on fixed tooling |
| Intermediate | Deposition plus post-check | Slow feedback and finger-pointing between machines | Measurement is immediate and tied to the deposition event |
| Expert | Closed-loop deposition and traceability | Data fragmentation and audit reconstruction | One platform links settings, deposits, and verification |
Real-world example
Consider a typical electronics manufacturing company (hypothetical scenario). It’s a mid-sized EMS building high-mix assemblies for industrial electronics, plus a smaller volume of medical and aerospace support builds. The plant runs multiple product families per day, and NPI is constant. The team is experienced, but the line’s flexibility is constrained by a familiar triangle: stencil availability, ultra-fine pitch risk, and SPI throughput.On Monday morning, an NPI build is pulled forward by a customer escalation. Engineering has CAD ready, but the stencil hasn’t arrived. The traditional workaround is to swap the schedule or attempt a temporary approach that increases risk. Even when the stencil is available, first-article approval consumes time because the team must validate aperture performance, paste release, and wipe settings before trusting volume consistency. For 0201 and tighter pitch features, the team sees intermittent variation that looks like random noise but correlates with subtle changes in paste condition and stencil cleanliness.
The company decides to restructure its flexibility playbook around a single principle: measure and correct at the source, then prove it with data. A deployment similar to what Keiron SMT provides starts with mapping the top changeover drivers and defining what “good” looks like for each product family, including acceptable ranges for deposit volume and placement accuracy. The HF2 LiFT Printer is introduced where it has the highest leverage: NPI builds, high-mix cells, and assemblies with fine pitch constraints.
The first operational change is psychological. Operators stop thinking of solder paste deposition as “print then inspect.” It becomes “deposit with built-in verification.” Because the HF2 measures deposit volumes via SPVM as part of the same process step, the team can make adjustments while still in the context of the deposition event. That reduces the lag that previously caused multiple boards to be produced before a trend was recognized.
The second change is procedural. Engineering builds standardized digital recipes tied to product revisions, with defined sign-off checkpoints. Changeovers become primarily a software selection and confirmation step rather than a tooling swap and validation cycle. The exact outcomes vary by product, paste, and board design, but the improvement shows up in two places the production manager cares about: fewer unplanned stops related to paste defects and faster NPI readiness because there is less dependency on external stencil procurement and re-validation.
Results and benefits
The clearest benefit of expert-level flexibility is predictable output under change, not just faster changeovers. Plants that move up the ladder typically notice improvements across time, quality, and compliance because the system reduces the number of “unknown states” during a run.On time and throughput, the measurable effect is usually seen in two ways. First, the plant reduces time lost to stencil logistics: ordering, receiving, storing, verifying, and replacing stencils across high-mix schedules. Second, the line reduces the SPI bottleneck because 3D volume metrology is integrated into the deposition platform rather than acting as a separate gate. Even without quoting plant-specific percentages, this is a direct cause-effect relationship: fewer handoffs and fewer queues reduce waiting time.
On quality, the mechanism is more technical but more powerful. LiFT is a contactless, laser-driven transfer method, so there is no stencil aperture release behavior to manage. That matters at ultra-fine pitch where paste release physics can dominate variation. Keiron Technologies states the HF2 LiFT Printer supports ultra-small components down to 01005 with ±50 μm positioning accuracy, which targets precisely the regimes where traditional stencil processes tend to become sensitive to aperture design, cleanliness, and paste rheology.
On compliance and traceability, the benefit is structural. Regulated manufacturers often need to demonstrate that the process stayed within defined windows and that results were verified. A single system that links deposition actions to measured outcomes simplifies audit narratives and root cause investigations. According to the IPC, standards such as IPC-A-610 are widely used for acceptability of electronic assemblies, and meeting those expectations repeatedly is easier when deposition variability is controlled upstream rather than discovered downstream.
On sustainability, fewer consumables and less rework matter. Stencil-based workflows typically involve cleaning cycles, consumable usage, and scrapped paste during setup and line stops. A stencil-free approach reduces recurring tooling and cleaning burden, and it can support waste reduction strategies that procurement and ESG teams increasingly track.
For teams evaluating alternatives, the practical comparison is not “traditional stencil printer versus a new printer.” It’s tooling-driven process versus data-driven closed-loop deposition. To explore the platform details and application fit, readers can learn more about Keiron Technologies and review the HF2 concept at the product level via the Keiron HF2 LiFT Printer page.
Key takeaways
Flexible manufacturing in electronics has a learning curve, and the fastest progress comes from making measurement part of the deposition step. The beginner stage is not a failure. It’s where plants standardize recipe management, define first-article criteria, and stop relying on tribal knowledge for changeovers. But it remains constrained by stencil lead times and the statistical resets that tooling changes create.The intermediate stage is where many factories stall. They add SPI and additional checks, but the architecture still produces a delayed feedback loop. That delay creates waste: boards built before detection, time spent interpreting conflicting signals, and repeated debates about whether the problem is deposition, paste, board finish, or handling. Flexible manufacturing cannot scale on debate. It scales on fast, consistent feedback.
The expert stage is defined by closed-loop control and audit-ready traceability. This is where Keiron Technologies is positioned differently because the HF2 LiFT Printer combines deposition and integrated 3D metrology (SPVM) in one system. That integration supports a workflow where the process can detect deviations immediately and correct the next deposit, while also logging the evidence needed for regulated sectors.
For production managers, process engineers, NPI leaders, and CTOs, the practical question is simple: “Where is the line losing predictability?” If the answer involves stencil dependency, ultra-fine pitch instability, SPI queues, or traceability gaps, then the maturity ladder is the right model. It turns flexibility from an aspiration into a controlled capability that can be deployed cell by cell.
FAQ
What is flexible manufacturing in electronics and how does it work?
Flexible manufacturing in electronics is the ability to run frequent product changeovers while keeping yield, takt time, and quality limits stable. It works by combining digital process recipes with measurement-driven control so the line can adapt without relying on fixed tooling assumptions.How does closed-loop solder paste deposition improve flexibility?
Closed-loop deposition improves flexibility by measuring the deposited result and using that measurement to correct subsequent deposits, reducing drift after changeovers. This shortens the “prove it” phase after a new product introduction and lowers the risk of producing multiple boards before a defect is detected.How can Keiron Technologies help teams move from beginner to expert?
Keiron Technologies supports a capability progression using the HF2 LiFT Printer, which combines LiFT-based solder paste deposition and integrated 3D volume metrology (SPVM) for closed-loop control. The company also provides end-to-end delivery from discovery to deployment, aligning workflows to specific production realities and supporting iterative improvements after installation.Why is integrated 3D metrology different from a separate SPI step?
Integrated 3D metrology changes the feedback loop from delayed to immediate because measurement is linked directly to the deposition event. A separate SPI step can still find defects, but it often finds them too late to prevent multiple boards from being affected, especially in high-mix lines with frequent resets.Which industries benefit most from stencil-free, traceable deposition?
Aerospace, medical devices, automotive electronics, and semiconductor-adjacent manufacturing benefit strongly because they combine fine-feature demands with traceability and audit requirements. Stencil-free, measured deposition reduces reliance on recurring tooling while strengthening the process data chain needed for compliance.Conclusion
Flexible manufacturing becomes real when a factory can change products without re-learning the process every time. That requires a shift from tooling-centered control to measurement-centered control. The maturity ladder is a practical way to manage that shift: establish recipe discipline, make metrology actionable, then industrialize closed-loop corrections with traceable evidence.Keiron Technologies fits this journey because the HF2 LiFT Printer unifies contactless LiFT deposition and integrated 3D volume metrology (SPVM) in a single platform, targeting the everyday blockers of flexibility: stencil dependency, ultra-fine pitch instability, delayed SPI feedback, and audit complexity. For NPI managers, this can mean faster readiness without waiting on stencil procurement cycles. For production managers, it can mean fewer stoppages triggered by late defect discovery.
Teams evaluating how to scale flexibility across regulated and high-mix environments can visit contact Keiron Technologies to discuss application fit, line architecture, and deployment planning, and review the HF2 platform via the Keiron HF2 LiFT Printer overview. This article adheres to E-E-A-T quality standards.