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32 SMT Magazine • October 2017 processes have a closed loop to make sure that any deviations in the process are caught before the defect appears, and that this is sufficiently agile for the line operator and line supervisor to use. By outstanding quality sensors, we also mean an SPI/AOI inspection that has no noise: no machine noise (often referred to as false calls) or human noise often referred to as (false accepts) In addition to making sure that each individ- ual process is and stays within control, we add a smart layer that is the combination of infor- mation of quality sensors to remove the noise and ultimately add onto the test and quality coverage. This is really what we're aiming at quite successful- ly with our 3D SPI, 3D AOI and SIGMA LINK Suite —of- fering quality sensor excel- lence through very easy to use and automated equip- ment, capturing the entire defect spectrum of the pro- cesses, making sure that we take most of the correlation between printing, pick-and- place, and reflow process to operates within the Six Sig- ma boundaries. Las Marias: Is it like the In- dustry 4.0 approach? Pirou: Exactly. With Indus- try 4.0, you have the combi- nation of horizontal and ver- tical communication. What we just described is the hor- izontal approach. Then you have the vertical integration, which ensures that if any of the deviation is occurring within the line, you have a strict control of what needs to happen. If something goes wrong, you have the connec- tion with the MES to decide. The idea is, within that in- formation hub, to link up hor- izontally in the line and vertically towards MES or other customer systems to have smarter op- erations Las Marias: Olivier, what soldering problems continue to persist? Pirou: Miniaturization is in there. The printing process has its challenges with the increasing miniaturization, and more complex assembly processes, so we still see soldering issues. 3D SPI today is making even more sense in this type of environment. But the same is true for pick-and- place and reflow because the components that are placed are very different from one anoth- Olivier Pirou MOVING TOWARD THE ZERO-DEFECT LINE