New Littelfuse Inc. Technical Center Boosts Support for Asia-Pacific Customers

Littelfuse Inc., a manufacturer of circuit protection solutions, has opened a new Technical Center in its Wuxi, China complex to perform product evaluation and applications testing. As part of growing plans to better serve customers doing businesses in the region, the center was opened to help shorten customer product time-to-market cycles.

Staffed by experienced Littelfuse engineers and technicians skilled in circuit protection applications, the Wuxi Technical Center offers Asia-Pacific OEMs local expertise in selecting the appropriate protection solutions for applications such as automobiles, computers, consumer electronics, handheld devices, industrial equipment, and telecom/datacom circuits. Littelfuse expertise helps customers improve product designs and ensure successful agency approvals.

The new Wuxi Technical Center more than doubles the company’s circuit protection test capabilities in Asia and plans are already underway to expand the facility during 2008. When the expansion is complete, the Wuxi Technical Center will be Littelfuse’s largest product evaluation and applications testing facility worldwide.

The strategic location of the Wuxi Technical Center – about two hours from Shanghai in the heart of China’s high-tech design and manufacturing area – demonstrates the company’s commitment to Asia, which represented over 39 percent of Littelfuse revenues in 2007. The Wuxi Technical Center is co-located with Littelfuse’s Wuxi semiconductor assembly site and future wafer fab site, and is minutes away from the Wuxi Airport (WUX), which offers nonstop service to Hong Kong.

“The opening of this lab enhances our ability to apply our extensive knowledge of circuit protection in various applications and deliver tailored solutions to our customers in the region,” said Todd Marcucci, manager of the Littelfuse Global Lab organization. “As with our other Technical Centers, we can now provide expertise in regulatory and government requirements, such as UL, Telcordia, and CCC in a location and time zone convenient to the region. We offer more than 80 years of circuit protection experience and an exhaustive tool set to help our customers get their products to market faster and with more confidence.”

The lab is capable of performing customer tests to ANSI, EIA, IEC, Telcordia, CSA and UL performance standards. Customers may witness testing or submit requests for testing and receive a thorough report with recommendations on how to comply with relevant standards. The staff can also develop test plans from specific customer requirements and unique applications where no standards or precedents exist.

The Wuxi Technical Center combines the experience and capabilities of the current Technical Centers located at the company’s Des Plaines (Chicago), Illinois headquarters and the Irving (Dallas), Texas wafer fab site. This new lab has the capability to test all nine Littelfuse circuit protection technologies and their applications, and to ensure product compliance with their corresponding regulatory and safety standards in Asia, the Americas and Europe. In addition, customers can interact with Littelfuse Sales, Product Management, and Operations personnel who can develop specifications for customized devices that meet individual circuit protection needs.