Development and manufacturing of network and control products for industrial and building automation
Contemporary Controls GmbH
Leipzig (DE) · Coventry (GB) · Downers Grove, Illinois (US) · Suzhou (CN)New on Amplifa
About Contemporary Controls
Contemporary Controls develops and manufactures network and control products for industrial and building automation, including direct digital controllers (DDC), IP routers and switches, protocol routers and gateways for BACnet, Modbus and EnOcean, as well as MQTT gateways for cloud applications. In addition to its own product families (including BASautomation, CTRLink, ARC Control), the company offers Original Design Manufacturing (ODM), private-label manufacturing and Application Ready Platforms with reduced NRE costs. Manufacturing takes place at two sites in Downers Grove (Illinois, USA) and Suzhou (China) on multifunctional Panasonic SMT lines with lead-free, RoHS-compliant production of high-density printed circuit board assemblies including BGA components; the assemblies are mounted in enclosures, tested and packaged. The US site is suited for prototypes and high-mix/low-volume manufacturing, the China site for high-volume/low-mix production. Sales offices are located in Leipzig (Germany) and Coventry (UK). The products are based on open technologies such as ARCNET, BACnet, CAN, Ethernet, Modbus, Niagara Framework and Sedona.
- Site
- Leipzig
- Processes
- Surface Mount Technology (SMT) assembly of printed circuit boards, Lead-free soldering/SMT manufacturing (RoHS-compliant lead-free production), BGA assembly (Ball Grid Array) on high-density printed circuit boards, Electronics design and development (ODM/private label, Application Ready Platforms), Mounting of assemblies in enclosures, testing and packaging, Original Design Manufacturing (ODM), Private-label manufacturing, Application Ready Platforms (minimized NRE costs)
- Materials
- Surface Mount Technology, Original Design Manufacturing, Application Ready Platforms
- Certificates
- ISO 9001:2015, UL 864 (10th Edition) components for fire alarm systems, UL surveillance, RoHS-compliant lead-free SMT manufacturing, IPC workmanship standards
- Founded
- 1975
- Industries
- Building automation, Industrial automation, Life Safety, Security/Access control, Lighting/HVAC, Communication/Network technology
- 01
Electronics design and development (ODM/private label, Application Ready
- 02
SMT assembly of printed circuit boards (lead-free, BGA)
- 03
Mounting in enclosures
- 04
Testing
- 05
Packaging and worldwide shipping
Processes and Technologies
Surface Mount Technology
Lead-free, high-density assembly of printed circuit boards (PCBAs) including BGA components on Panasonic multifunctional lines.
Original Design Manufacturing
Development and manufacturing of products under the customer's brand based on open hardware and software platforms.
Application Ready Platforms
Proven hardware/software platforms with minimized NRE costs for customer-specific applications.
Locations
Leipzig
DESales, Contemporary Controls GmbH
Coventry
GBSales, Contemporary Controls Ltd
Downers Grove, Illinois
USDevelopment and manufacturing (SMT, printed circuit boards), prototyping and high-mix/low-volume manufacturing
- Lot size
- Prototypes, high-mix/low-volume
- Materials
- PCBA (lead-free, BGA)
- Panasonic multifunctional SMT assembly lines
Suzhou
CNManufacturing (SMT, volume production)
- Lot size
- High-volume/low-mix
- Materials
- PCBA (lead-free)
- SMT production line (since 2002)
Products and Components
Inside the production
Industries
Processes & technical limits
| Processes | Tolerance | Max. part | Weight | Lot size | Materials |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Surface Mount Technology (SMT) assembly of printed circuit boardsAssembly | – | – | – | Prototyping/high-mix low-volume – high-volume low-mix (China site) | PCBA (printed circuit board assemblies) |
| Lead-free soldering/SMT manufacturing (RoHS-compliant lead-free production)Joining | – | – | – | – | lead-free printed circuit board assemblies |
| BGA assembly (Ball Grid Array) on high-density printed circuit boardsAssembly | – | – | – | – | PCBA |
| Electronics design and development (ODM/private label, Application Ready Platforms)Engineering | – | – | – | – | – |
| Mounting of assemblies in enclosures, testing and packagingAssembly | – | – | – | – | – |
2 Anlagen & Maschinen
| Machine | Manufacturer / model | Quantity | Working area | Year built | Site |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Multifunctional SMT assembly line (Surface-Mount Technology) | Panasonic | – | – | – | Downers Grove, Illinois, USA |
| SMT production line | – | 1 | – | 2002 | Suzhou, China |
Additional services
Quality
Both manufacturing sites (Downers Grove and Suzhou) are registered to ISO 9001:2015 and are under surveillance by Underwriters Laboratories (UL). Manufacturing follows the IPC workmanship standards recognized in the electronics industry.
| Evidence | Downers Grove (US) | Suzhou (CN) |
|---|---|---|
| ISO 9001:2015 | ||
| UL surveillance | ||
| UL 864 (10th Edition) components for fire alarm systems | ||
| RoHS-compliant lead-free SMT manufacturing | ||
| IPC workmanship standards |
Company History
- 1975
Contemporary Controls founded by George Thomas as a system integration and consulting company for microcomputer and PLC applications.
- 1983
Transition to hardware manufacturer with STD-BUS microcomputer modules, including an ARCNET adapter.
- 1987
Co-founding of the ARCNET Trade Association (ATA).
- 1997
Founding of Contemporary Controls Ltd (CCL) in Coventry, England, on the University of Warwick Science Park.
- 1998
Introduction of EXTEND-A-BUS for extending CAN networks.
- 2002
Founding of Contemporary Controls GmbH (Eisleben, later Leipzig) and Contemporary Controls (Suzhou) Co. Ltd. with an SMT production line; CTRLink wins the Editor's Choice Award from Control Engineering.
- 2003
Founding of the Industrial Ethernet University.
- 2004
Introduction of the first self-developed managed Industrial Ethernet switch.
- 2005
Acquisition of the German partner's shares in CCG; relocation to Leipzig.
- 2006
Conversion of both manufacturing sites to lead-free SMT processes (RoHS).
- 2007
Introduction of the BACnet-compliant BASremote product family.
- 2008
Introduction of the BASrouter (BACnet/IP to BACnet MS/TP).
- 2010
Sedona Framework certification as one of the first companies.
- 2011
Tridium OEM partnership (Niagara Framework); ISO 9001:2008 registration for CCC by SGS.
- 2012
Registration of the BASautomation trademark ("Building on BACnet").