Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1002143
JULY 2018 I PCB007 MAGAZINE 49 gloss and matte. There's a huge difference in performance between them. Goldman: So the customers are switching be- tween all the colors, the matte, maybe even different manufacturers, all on one machine. Kojima: Well, some customers. Not all of them, but many do. Goldman: I understand you have your equip- ment at Whelen, which is now GreenSource Fabrication. Is there anything you can tell us about that? Lindland: We have had some success with GreenSource, and in their upcoming expansion we were fortunate enough to be one of the few American suppliers selected to supply the next round of equipment, which we'll be doing very soon. We're excited about what they're doing with automation and getting into some of the higher end boards back in North America. Barry Matties: In terms of automation, what does that look like? Would North American manufacturers consider that? Meeker: Almost all of our equipment in the U.S. is semi-automatic, and a high percentage of what we ship out of the U.S. is fully auto- mated. The newest machine that we're build- ing for GreenSource has the capability of full automation, which means you scan in a recipe and it takes a panel horizontally in and coats it, dries it, and brings it back out horizontal- ly. The challenge with the new Whelen project is that the machine must be capable of han- dling all thicknesses, from flexible materials to backplane panels. So it was a big challenge to integrate a machine capable of doing flex and backplanes at the same time. This is with no operator making the changes to the recipes or anything. This is strictly recipe throughout off a barcode reader. Goldman: And you said that was horizontal? Figure 1: Automatic loader system.