IN Brief:
- APEX EXPO 2026 in Anaheim will put process control and traceability back in the spotlight for PCB assembly.
- Nordson is bringing upgrades to conformal coating flow control, plus live selective soldering demonstrations.
- Retrofit-friendly metrology and footprint-efficient soldering platforms are pushing throughput without expanding lines.
Nordson Electronics Solutions will use APEX EXPO 2026 (Anaheim Convention Center, 17–19 March) to show updated conformal coating and selective soldering capabilities at booth 1831, with an emphasis on traceability and reliability in high-volume electronics manufacturing.
On the conformal coating side, the company will highlight the ASYMTEK Select Coat SL-1040, now set to feature a new non-contact flow meter intended to measure and adjust coating flow rates across a broader range of materials. That includes particle-filled fluids and newer “green” chemistries that can be more variable in viscosity and prone to settling, where a conventional contact meter and frequent maintenance can become a bottleneck. Nordson says the flow meter is ultrasonic and designed for virtually maintenance-free operation, with installation intended to be straightforward on existing SL-1040 and SL-940 systems that run non-circulating fluid setups.
The focus on flow control lands in a part of the process that tends to get expensive quickly when it drifts. In selective conformal coating, under-application risks corrosion and leakage paths, while over-application can create clearance problems, pooling, and rework. As boards become denser and more mixed-technology, consistency in deposition rate and coverage becomes less tolerant of “close enough,” particularly when coating materials are chosen to meet environmental targets as well as electrical performance.
Nordson is also expected to discuss broader SL-1040 platform developments during the show. The SL-1040 has already been positioned as a high-volume platform with preventative maintenance features and tighter placement accuracy, and APEX is being used to preview additional coating updates beyond the flow meter.
For through-hole and mixed-technology production, Nordson will run live demonstrations of its SELECT Synchro selective soldering system, pitching a compact footprint and high throughput. The Synchro line is built around concurrent fluxing, preheating, and soldering zones, and Nordson offers multi-pot configurations intended to keep lines running without the stop-start cadence that often defines legacy selective soldering cells.
Nordson is leaning on a recent customer deployment at Kamstrup, the Danish metering manufacturer, where the company says a SELECT Synchro 5 installation delivered a 20% throughput uplift versus traditional six-pot selective soldering machines while reclaiming six metres of factory floor space. Nordson also cites a compact 2.5 m system footprint that enabled installation within an existing through-hole line without a major redesign — a point that matters where selective soldering is being introduced as a wave soldering replacement but production layouts are already at capacity.
With APEX’s show floor dominated by practical yield problems rather than theoretical process windows, Nordson’s pitch is that metrology upgrades and space-efficient soldering platforms can raise output without expanding headcount or footprint — and without accepting traceability gaps as the cost of higher takt.
