Northwest Aerospace News October | November Issue No. 11 | Page 34

T
oday, Qualitel is one of the highest reliability electronics manufacturers for the aerospace, medical, industrial, and mil-
itary markets. Qualitel’s name is derived from Quality Electronics where Tuanhai worked as a computer engineer for Intel
(Intelligent Electronics). Qualitel now specializes in niche, high-end, high-mix, high-complexity tech assembly specialties.
Qualitel manufactures electronics products that require soldering of components onto circuit boards. This entails solder-
ing manually with a soldering iron, using a wave soldering system, or a surface mount technology (SMT) pick and place
machine.
If a customer requires a new product,
which happens frequently in the tech
industry, prototyping will need to be com-
pleted prior to it going into production.
Qualitel offers two independent divisions,
Qualitel Express and Qualitel. Qualitel
Express can build specialized proto-
types and products quickly and when
the product is ready, Qualitel puts it into
production. Prototyping mandates close
work with engineering. Qualitel Express
has two independent SMT lines, X-rays,
soldering stations, and rework machines
that allow a prototype to be produced in
as little as a few hours to a few days.
When production ready, Qualitel can
ensure supply chain and inventory is
pipelined to meet daily, weekly, or month-
ly deliveries. Tuanhai differentiates,
“Where most of our competitors share
the same SMT lines, Qualitel has three
SMT lines to support production includ-
ing additional X-rays, wave soldering
and selective machines. We are the only
electronics manufacturer in the Pacific
Northwest to have parylene conformal
coating to support flight critical products.
We also provide sustaining engineering to
support obsolescence typical in the aero-
space industry. Change requires major
re-certifications and delays. Prior to obsolescence Qualitel provides advanced notice for mitigation and last-time buys.”
Quality electronics is not just Qualitel’s namesake; it is the blood that runs through the company’s veins. The company’s
lifeblood flows from investing in the best, whether that is its people or the machinery and technology that allow them to
remain at the top of the industry’s reliability index year after year. “We can deal with a lot of different products and we do
it very successfully,” states Tuanhai. He goes on to mention that Qualitel is the only EMS in the Northwest that has a certi-
fied FAA repair station to do in-service repair for electronics; however, they currently only service Qualitel-made parts.
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NORTHWEST AEROSPACE NEWS