Belgium-based weapon and firearms manufacturer FN Herstal has invested in creating its own clean-room production line for surface-mounted devices – the electronic components mounted on printed circuit board assemblies (PCBAs) – to guarantee availability of these elements, the company revealed on 13 June 2023.
FN Herstal has deemed such components as critical for the development and production of weapon systems such as its deFNder range of land and naval remote weapon stations. This additional production capability meets the Belgian company’s continuous need for reliable supplies of PCBAs, the quality of which it can now guarantee.
The production line, located in the main FN Herstal manufacturing facility near Liege, has been operating successfully full time for a year, meeting the needs of the company’s own research and development and manufacturing departments. The line, which is lead free, electrostatic discharge safe, and meets EU health and safety regulations, is capable of small, medium and large production runs and can also deal with high levels of production changes and variability of components, the company stated.
The production line has now reached “cruising speed”, according to FN Herstal, which has now started to offer production of components for third parties with similarly stringent production standard requirements or the desire to have a supplier based in Europe.
Peter Felstead
