DIGITAL AND ELECTRONIC, TECHNOLOGICAL PROSPECTIVE, TOMORROW'S ISSUES...

Overview with Emmanuel Sonntag, Technical Director of AQLE

In a world that is evolving at 1,000 miles an hour, boosted by the multiple challenges of the digital transition - which concerns all sectors, all companies, but also every end user - we must not forget that there is no digital without electronics!
Interview with Emmanuel Sonntag, technical director of AQLE.

> What role does technology watch play
in your role as CTO?
Technology watch, but also regulatory and normative watch, is vital today. This subject is therefore central in my daily life, and has been for years! Today, the demands of our customers are arriving earlier and earlier in the value chain, with design phases that are not yet complete and new industrial demands, which increasingly require electronic intelligence.

AQLE's teams have access to a daily monitoring and compiling of information, thanks to the latest digital means. The fast access to information allows AQLE to accompany its customers on the markets of tomorrow, which integrate advanced technologies. In fact, it is all of our business expertise that is at stake:
> working on new printed circuit materials that allow complex environmental conditions,
> thinking about increasingly miniaturized components, which require ever more rigor and precision, which also raises the question of tomorrow's machine equipment.

On this material aspect, our ability to understand tomorrow's markets early on also allows us to target our machine investments with precision and discernment.

> An example, in terms of equipment?
We have acquired expertise in non-destructive X-ray inspection, which allows us to put wire or card production under control in a very accomplished way, in addition to automatic systems such as 3D AOI.
At the same time, we have put in place a constellation of digital tools around our production resources. With a lot of automatic control information available in real time, we can guarantee a perfect level of traceability. And of follow-up of this traceability. Other specific software is dedicated to machine loading, or continuous quality monitoring...

> You mentioned the example of Pressfit. What can you tell us about it?
The Pressfit is a good example of an advanced assembly technology in terms of production control and environmental footprint.
While Pressfit has long been used for the automotive sector, we wanted to work on this techno from the early 2000s to bring it under control for the DSA. Today, AQLE has acquired the ability to develop specific tooling for our customers' cards, while ensuring our process traceability.
At AQLE, we are proud to provide the Pressfit answer that the aeronautics industry has been waiting for!

> Finally, what would you like us to remember from this quick overview?
That technology watch and foresight are at the heart of AQLE DNA!
I think that today less than tomorrow, the good management of our knowledge is a great asset that AQLE puts at the service of its customers.

Besides, they are very interested in our technical culture. Directly or indirectly, they are all concerned and benefit, for themselves, from the quality of our techno watch and prospective. The knowledge and anticipation of tomorrow, the open and shared apprehension of this knowledge, constitute the indispensable foundation for any dynamic of continuous progress and innovation.

March 2020
Presentations collected
by Emmanuel de Chevigny.
edechevigny@verbahuit.com