Lenovo announces advanced PC manufacturing process

Lenovo has just announced a new patent-pending Low Temperature Solder (LTS) process that will be useful to develop and improve PC manufacturing by conserving energy and increasing reliability.

With a new LTS process, Lenovo has proved that it continues to be at the forefront of innovation, introducing a game-changing manufacturing process that is not only applicable to Lenovo products but can be universally be applied to all electronics manufacturing involving printed circuit boards with no cost or performance impact to customers.

How was Lenovo able to achieve this? The company investigated thousands of combinations of solder paste material composed of a mixture of tin, copper, bismuth nickel and silver, specific compositions of flux material and unique profiles of time and heat temperatures that was combined to enable the process. However, throughout testing and validation, Lenovo used existing materials to compose the solder paste and existing oven equipment for heating, thus Lenovo also implemented the new system without increasing production costs.

After validation of the procedure, Lenovo discovered a significant reduction in carbon emissions as a result of using the new process. The procedure was already carried out in production for ThinkPad E series and the 5th generation X1 Carbon recently announced at CES. And, throughout 2017, Lenovo intends to implement the new LTS process on 8 SMT lines and estimates savings of up to 35 percent on carbon emissions.

By the end of 2018, Lenovo aims to have 33 SMT lines with 2 ovens per line using this new process, giving an estimated annual saving of 5,956 metric tons of CO2. To put this into perspective, the equivalent reduction in CO2 emissions is equal to the consumption of 670,170 gallons of gasoline per year. Besides, through the new process, Lenovo also expects better reliability for its devices due to lower heat stress during the "oven bake" procedure.

"By implementing the new LTS process, Lenovo is continuing to show its commitment to upholding sustainable business practices across its PC business," said Luis Hernandez, vice president, Lenovo PC and Smart Devices Integrated Development Center. "Our focus on innovation extends beyond R&D and product design, to the way our products are manufactured. We are dedicated to advancing our business goals while reducing our impact on the environment and we're proud this process achieves that."

Furthermore, in 2018 Lenovo intends to offer the new procedure for use on an industry-wide basis free of charge.