Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/921680
42 SMT007 MAGAZINE I JANUARY 2018 Las Marias: From your perspective, what sort of challenges are your customers facing? Koehler: Our customers are facing multiple challenges from global competition to swiftly changing demands of their customers. This is not limited to a few, but involving all kinds of industries, from electronics, automotive and aerospace, to defense, energy, medical, and many others. It is the daily challenge to keep up with the market and stay a little bit ahead of your competitors. Las Marias: How are you helping your custom- ers with their problems? Koehler: It is all about creating awareness of appropriately dealing with hazardous, some- times highly cancer-causing particulates. We are supporting our customers to protect their labor, their parts, and their manufacturing equipment from harm and contamina- tion. Las Marias: What forces do you see driv- ing the industry as a whole? Koehler: We see that new technolo- gies are rapidly developing, especially in laser-based processes. Those, along with metal 3D printing, will be driving the industry for the next decade. Las Marias: What challenges and oppor- tunities do you see for your company in the upcoming years? Koehler: We do see a huge potential espe- cially in laser applications. For exam- ple, 3D printing from metal powder is a r apidly growing industry, with mate- rials and processes that require proper air filtration and professional disposal. We have learned from experience that almost any metal powders used in laser 3D printing are bearing a certain risk to health and manufacturing processes. We are offering off-the-shelf and custom - ized solutions for dealing with highly reactive nanoscale particulates from metal 3D printing processes. This makes us unique in the market. We are very well prepared to support any customer in any industry when air filtration from metal 3D printing is required. The major challenge for us is to create awareness and convince decision makers to invest in proper, local and dedicated air filtration. Another opportunity for further growth is air purification in electronics manufacturing. Whether it is about soldering fume or laser fume removal, extraction and filtration of dust, odors, vapors or gases, there are various airborne pollutants that may have hazardous impacts on employees, manufacturing systems and products. Here we see enormous potential and opportunities to install our air handling solutions. It is any company's target to protect their values in form of humans, machinery and product quality, which we are able to support by our fume extraction technology. Figure 1: ULT offers a versatile extraction and filtration system for the efficient removal of soldering fume.