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Annual Pick-and-Place Round-up
December 31, 1969 |Estimated reading time: 11 minutes
Each year, SMT surveys vendors and users of pick-and-place equipment to understand where the market is headed and what innovations to expect in the near future. We asked major suppliers to assess the industry and flash forward to future user requirements. Answers were as varied as the companies presenting them. What a difference a year makes in pick-and-place.
Pick-and-place suppliers fill us in on the large discrepancies evinced between the July 2007 time period1 and this article.
How has the pick-and-place equipment market changed over the past year?
“The convergence of semiconductor packaging and traditional SMT pick-and-place underlies investment,” says Scott Gerhart, GM, surface mount division of Universal Instruments. “Much of the existing installed base is not capable of handling applications with direct die attach, package-on-package (PoP), system-in-package (SiP), or even passive components smaller than 0402s. Consumer demand for smaller devices with higher performance continues to drive much of the capital investment in this market.” Martin Ziehbrunner, CEO of Essemtec, adds that the market has become segmented, and that his company focuses on the low-/mid-range market. “Technology is driving the need for higher placement precision, eliminating some of the smaller players that cannot meet requirements.” “A growing number of companies realize their 6- to 10-year-old SMT equipment will not carry them forward to have a competitive edge,” says Vera Chang, marketing manager, Sony. “Special requirements for environmentally friendly, energy-efficient, and value-added equipment have increased. What can new equipment do for my business now and five years down the road?”
Robert Gothner, VP of MYDATA, asserts that speed and flexibility have been the emphasis over the past year. “We just launched our new pick-and-place machine, the MY100, offering higher speeds while keeping flexibility. It features two linear drive mount heads, each equipped with a high-speed, multi-nozzle head and a high-precision single-nozzle head.”
Scott Wischoffer, marketing manager, Fuji America expresses that the installed base of existing equipment is getting older and more difficult to support. “The need to place 0201 and 01005 components is increasing and the trend toward high-mix/low-volume production continues. The accuracy level of older machines does not lend itself well to many of the new, higher-density PCBs.”
“01005 placement joined the broad list of requirements by flexible, high-volume assemblers,” adds John Perrotta, VP of Europlacer North America. “Customer requirements are driving finer pitch and smaller components,” agrees APS Novastar’s John Malboeuf, VP sales and marketing. He notes that market opportunities continue to rotate from western economies to Asia. Last year, this was one of the major points all vendors discussed with us at length.
Although the capabilities of placement machines continue to improve to fit emerging technological needs, one of the basic things that most vendors mentioned in these economically stressed times is the need to keep costs down. “As placement system manufacturers, we must continually make our machines faster with smaller footprints, more accurate to deal with new components, and less expensive in cost per placement,” says Bob Black, CEO of Juki.
“Today’s pick-and-place shoppers expect better pricing,” agrees Henry Mann, CEO of Manncorp. “They also want smaller-footprint machines that are dependable and deliver longer uptimes. New systems must have more capability and flexibility. I believe that’s why we’re noticing an uptick in demand for systems with increased smart feeder capacity, expanded component mix, and multiple flying vision heads.” Tom Foley, product manager for Siemens Energy and Automation Inc., mentions that the placement equipment market is feeling the effects of the overall slowdown in the U.S. economy, considering the broader picture with housing declines, rising fuel prices, and lending shortages. “On the positive side,” he adds, “We’re seeing steady growth in the mobile phone market, which has been more resilient to economic factors.”
Jeff Malek, manager, marketing and communications at Panasonic Factory Solutions Company of America, notes a move to smaller lot/batch sizes; a focus on efficiency and productivity; tighter supply chains with more communication, and automation to eliminate waste; increased traceability in depth and scope; outsourcing with increased logistical and transportation controls in place; and shorter delivery times. “More or less, customers are requesting more capability for each dollar spent,” adds Matt Wyglendowski, sales engineering manager of Hitachi HTA EASD. “Customers need every penny’s worth of manufacturing capability.” Vendors must also meet the customers’ future needs.
Costs are not the only issue. “One major trend has been away from long and straightforward production runs where the output is placed in stock,” says Jan Michiels, CEO of Assembléon. Shorter runs are making changeover flexibility increasingly important. An ideal machine would be able to change between products on the fly with no loss in placement rate. “And of course, equipment manufacturers are working more closely than ever with customers, so we are merging our own roadmaps with customer ones.” Mike Foster, director of sales, Samsung, adds, “Customers are looking for a partner in today’s environment, not just an equipment supplier. Our strategy of offering a complete turnkey line from a single-source supplier allows customers to take advantage of our resources when designing the line and calculating productivity.”
What have you done to lower the cost of your equipment?
Most manufacturers tied this question to the location where their equipment is built. Siemens launched their manufacturing site in Singapore a few years ago, which helps them build and source materials in more dollar-based economies. Hitachi recently built a state-of-the-art lean manufacturing facility for the GXH Series flexible mounters in Japan. Juki sources some non-critical parts in low-cost areas, such as China and Vietnam, while their precision assemblies are fabricated in Japan or the U.S. Essemtec still produces their machines in Switzerland to ensure quality control, adding that higher efficiencies, stock control, quality control, and using common building blocks all contribute to reduced costs.
Universal Instruments builds their machines in Binghamton, N.Y., which has an educated, loyal, and stable workforce. “When compared to the real estate, tax, and labor costs of our competitors manufacturing in Japan, Korea, Singapore, and Germany, it’s almost unfair for them,” says Gerhart.
Partnerships are key for some. “Our partnership with Yamaha resulted in a new feeder platform for our MC-12 machine. The system is compact — placing 20k components per hour (CPH) per square meter of floor space,” says Assembléon’s Michiels. Samsung’s Foster adds that expensive buildings have never been part of their business model; when determining actual cost of equipment, they leverage the strength and experience of other Samsung divisions, sharing resources and knowledge.
Juki has been able to lower cost through increased volume selling. “By keeping quantities high, we have leverage with our vendors for the lowest costs,” says Black. Fuji America and Europlacer have consolidated their equipment platforms. “We’ve consolidated our previous platform from two into one rigid frame design,” says Perrotta of Europlacer. “As a result, we’ve been able to modularize our subsystems and reduce the cost of our service cabinets, along with other operational items inside the machine.” Wischoffer of Fuji America says, “We have found a unique way to combine the chip shooter and the flexible placer into one machine without giving up speed, accuracy, or flexibility.” This reduces the total cost of the line by eliminating a second machine.
Panasonic and Manncorp representatives both talk about changes at their factories to help control the cost of building equipment. Manncorp shortened lead times and ships directly after factory pre-testing. “Panasonic embedded six sigma, greenbelt-style programs into all aspects of our business to refine manufacturing costs, enhance machine capability, and advance technological trends continuously — in essence, to offer more for less,” says Malek.
“Strategically, MYDATA has stayed devoted to our main theme of delivering the best products in the industry and meeting the customers’ demands for flexible SMT solutions,” says Gothner. “Our Agilis magazine concept is fast to load and easy to use. Not only does it deliver great customer value in itself, but we made the feeder system compatible with all our product lines.”
How have you increased the value for customers?
Hitachi has become more flexible. “Previously, a customer would need one machine specifically for chip components, one for fine pitch, and possibly another for tray-fed components or flux dipping,” says Wyglendowski. “Hitachi increased our value to the customer by providing one machine that can do it all. Want to place 01005? Check. Want to place a PoP device with flux dip on the same machine? Check. Need coplanarity inspection as well? Check. Customers used to have a hodge-podge of machines in a line to meet their placement requirements. A total solution in one machine in a much smaller footprint frees up valuable floor space.”
Sony added more controls and tracking so that speed will increase as well. “We instituted a vigorous parts-tracking system,” says Chang. “That system allows us to ship the majority of parts in an order on the same day. Also, we have released our MKII upgrade on the G200 series. This has resulted in a significant increase in run speed with no increase in price.”
Siemens upgraded operational cost and controls. “Looking at operational cost, Siemens machines are producing twice the throughput per square foot compared to just a few years ago,” says Foley. “An innovation called i-mode enables our X4i machine to achieve low cost per placement. Developments in digital division and motion control enable production yields of less than 10 defects per million (dpm).”
Assembléon’s Michiels also talks about distributed control. “When the A-Series was introduced two years ago, it was revolutionary, and it still sets the benchmark for lowest dpm. That means higher customer first-pass yield. We now are making evolutionary improvements throughout the placement process, particularly with the equipment modules — fine-tuning placement heads, robots, cameras, and other production modules. We are increasingly distributing control around the individual modules.”
Juki’s Black focuses on improving the robustness of their pick-and-place equipment. “In addition to reducing cost per placement, we have improved the MTBF of the machines over the years. Our longer warranty also gives greater value and security to the customer. We have more than 750 machines aged over 15 years old running in North America alone.”
Both Samsung and Panasonic emphasize total customer commitment and support as their method for increasing value for customers. “We feel that one of Samsung’s traditional strengths is delivering high value for the investment,” says Foster. “Our machine capabilities as well as the warranty, training, installation support, and applications engineering support have always been second to none. With the introduction of the turnkey line business, customers can further take advantage of a streamlined specification and purchase process, as well as a single point of contact for all installation, process, and follow-up support.”
“In addition to technical improvements in the equipment itself, we are significantly increasing the value that Panasonic provides with our total solution approach,” says Malek. “This assists customers in maximizing the business and operational performance of manufacturing, not just the technical aspects that traditionally have been supported by equipment vendors. The total solutions extend beyond the equipment to include operational support.” This includes operational technology and tools such as the PanaCIM manufacturing execution system (MES), traceability systems, industrial engineering R&D, and consulting.
APS Novastar LLC and Manncorp both try to make it easier for customers to reach and communicate with them. “Our cost-savings direct-to-user inbound marketing format continues to generate excellent response, allowing shoppers to configure and obtain instant equipment quotes online,” says Mann of Manncorp. At APS Novastar, increasing value for customers is their fundamental goal. “A few select examples would be our recent update to our Website’s knowledge-base content, making it easier for customers to both learn about SMT process workflow as well as how our offering can fit their needs,” says Malboeuf.
Software is an area of interest for Fuji, Europlacer, Essemtec, MYDATA, and Universal Instruments. “The new equipment has better utilization, better efficiency, lower cost of ownership, and the modular design allows many preventive maintenance functions to be done off-line, increasing the time available for production,” says Fuji’s Wischoffer. “In addition, tools like Multi-Job Line Balancer, Dynamic Head Exchange, Borderless Optimization, Auto Shape Generator (for the creation of part data files), and placement Simulation Software lower the cost per placement and increase the value to the user.”
“We’ve added 01005 placement process capabilities to our broad range of standard capabilities,” says Perrotta of Europlacer. “Earlier this year, we also released our ERP inventory management system, which ultimately raises visibility for our planners/buyers who support inventory logistics on the production floor.”
“The machines offer a variety of standard features in combination with MIS software that allow them to run more efficiently than in the past but for the same amount of money,” says Ziehbrunner of Essemtec. “The machines have been improved to offer the lowest possible cost of ownership. Additionally, Essemtec’s FLX2 services include financing offers, buy-back programs with investment protection, worldwide preventive maintenance, real-time remote access all machines, process and machine training, a 24 hr/7 days worldwide hotline, and guaranteed spare parts deliveries.”
“We designed a complete software suite that enables us to support the entire workflow from LCAD import to production and management control, providing advanced support for traceability,” says Gothner of MYDATA.
“We’ve introduced the AdVantisX Platform, bringing class-exclusive technologies and setting a higher performance standard for the low-cost markets,” says Universal’s Gerhart. “This, in conjunction with other equipment advancements, will help our customers improve product yields, overall output, and flexibility at a lower cost. In addition, we’ve enhanced our focus on line-level software as an integral component of the solutions we offer our customers.”
Conclusion
Some have said that pick-and-place isn’t as exciting as it was when surface mount first began. But compare how much time attendees at tradeshows spend mesmerized in front of pick-and-place machines to that spent at any other major purchase. Or measure the enthusiasm of equipment vendors; the innovative spirit remains. From this survey alone, we learned about major equipment changes in software, vision, cost control, lean manufacturing, customer commitment, keeping up with packaging styles from bare die to stacked packages, and energy efficiency.
Look for more information as we publish the user survey on pick-and-place machines in the near future.
REFERENCES
1. “Survey Insights on Pick-and-Place,”SMT, July 2007.
Gail Flower, editor-in-chief, SMT, may be contacted at gailf@pennwell.com.