Egide, an international group specializing in the manufacturing of hermetic packages for sensitive electronic components, is pleased to announce the expansion of its manufacturing facility in Cambridge, Maryland with a $2.5 million investment in facilities and equipment. The company, which has been in Dorchester County since 2000, currently employees 72 people in its Cambridge facility. As part of the expansion, it plans to add to its total number of employees.
Egide’s Cambridge facility produces a large variety of hermetic packages used for Aerospace, Defense and Optoelectronic applications. Egide provides the product design, engineering, manufacturing and product support for customers in the North American market. The expansion includes facility and equipment to produce High Temperature Co-fired Ceramic (HTCC), used in the manufacture of specific types of hermetic packages. The Expansion has been accomplished with the assistance of a technical team from its Bollene, France facility. The primary function being to transfer Egide’s intellectual property to the new facility.
The Cambridge facility will now contain a 2,000 square foot Class 10,000 clean room for the screen printing, via forming and lamination processes. A furnace room area has been created with organic burnout ovens and high temperature atmospheric furnaces for sintering. In addition, an electroless nickel and gold plating line has been installed in the current plating shop. Associated equipment for thermal cycling, hermeticity testing and geometric tolerance verification has been installed in the quality department.
Now that they are fully operational, these investments will make it possible for Egide to manufacture in the United States, HTCC components used for product supplied to markets controlled by the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). All personnel working on this project are US citizens, and control points regarding intellectual property are kept within the US site.
In addition to the technical team already in place, the company expects to hire approximately 20 new associates in the coming years.
“We are very excited about the investment we’ve made in the Cambridge facility to better serve the North American defense markets and meet our customer demands. This investment supports the goal of being a premier supplier to our markets, and indicates to the community in Dorchester County that EGIDE will be located here for many years to come,” said James F. Collins, Chairman & CEO, EGIDE.
To learn more about Egide please visit www.egide-group.com.