Jan 20, 2019 
Renowned independent industry analyst firm, Frost & Sullivan (F&S), has declared Europlacer its 2019 Company of the Year in the Global SMT Pick & Place category. This latest accolade represents the fifth prestigious Frost & Sullivan award win for Europlacer since 2014.
The Company of the Year award is significant in granting leadership recognition not only from Frost & Sullivan’s own industry observers and analysts, but from a process that includes critical assessments and input from industry peers and customers. The F&S assessment in each category measures demand generation, brand development, and competitive positioning. The results form the foundation of predicted future success in areas such as visionary innovation, business performance and customer impact.
In its narrative, Frost & Sullivan describes Europlacer as “a company that consistently offers unique value propositions to its customers.” It cites the new atom platform as an example, and one that proves technological leadership. In analysing its investigative interviews with a broad spectrum of Europlacer customers, F&S highlighted the experience of several iineo placement platforms owners who report zero equipment downtime, noting that such dependability is exceptional in the market.
Other areas of the comprehensive F&S report point to a myriad of competitive advantages when using Europlacer platforms, including minimal changeover times, easy operator training, backward compatibility of platform software and accessories, and the best value for money – all endorsed by Europlacer customers. The company’s customer service experience is also lauded as a competitive differentiator in the key areas of installation, training and maintenance, as well as in Europlacer’s application engineers whose remit is to conduct performance audits to help customers improve efficiency and productivity to boost return on investment.
“It is especially rewarding to see not just our product platforms being recognised as superior in capability and performance, but also our customer support commitment,” says Europlacer’s Business Development & UK Sales Manager, Andy Jones. “We consciously put it at the very centre of our global operation and have a succession of industry Customer Service Excellence awards to prove it, but further independent recognition from F&S is most welcome.”
In its summary, the 2019 Frost & Sullivan award narrative concludes that “Europlacer provides the best-in-class customer service and value.” This strong performance is behind the organisation’s decision to award Europlacer the accolade of 2019 Company of the Year in the flexible surface mount technology placement equipment industry.
The Blakell Europlacer Group comprises the Speedprint Technologies, Europlacer, and Blakell Europlacer Distribution business units. All three are active and pre-eminent in the electronic circuit board assembly sector with advanced product and service solutions for electronics manufacturers in the UK, US and globally. Speedprint Technologies is a provider of screen printing equipment used in surface mount assembly processes. Europlacer is a provider of surface mount component placement equipment. Blakell Europlacer Distribution augments the provision of screen printing and pick & place platforms in the UK with a range of associated equipment, including AOI, reflow and PCB handling.
