Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1129312
46 PCB007 MAGAZINE I JUNE 2019 available to the customer, is this something that they're going to be able to plug in and have it optimize their systems automatically? Kaplan: That would require the type of server that oversees the entire process, so we already have built-in abilities to change parameters based on the input, but it's not done automati - cally yet. Now, that comes down to automating the entire process. We also have a tool that we give to our customers that enables them to ex- tract any data that they want from the AOI pro- cess and everything that runs in our databases. The risk with database access is it's not something that you can just go in and extract information from because that can break it. There must be a safe way to do that, which is another tool that we developed—the Software Development Kit (SDK). It's a programming environment that allows a third party, which could be the customer or someone hired by them, to extract the data, analyze it further, etc. We believe that all of the data that we gen- erate belongs to the customer; it doesn't be- long to us. Therefore, our goal is to provide full and safe access to such data while ensuring integrity if the database. Again, making this kind of data extraction safe is the first priority and is exactly what our SDK tool is designed for. Using this tool, any- one who's familiar with the databases, includ- ing IT personnel on the customer side or third- party suppliers, will be able to figure out how to get the data out. Everything that we col- lect—types of defects that the system detects, utilization rates, yield data, how many panels it scanned, etc. —can be safely extracted from the database using this tool. Matties: Regarding the software, is this some- thing that they can purchase and add to their existing equipment? Kaplan: Yes. As long as they're running the lat- est version, they have this ability. We don't even charge anything for SDK access, so we can give it for free to whoever's interested, so they can build their own tools on top of it. Matties: Nice. How many users are currently taking advantage of this? Kaplan: We have quite a few. They're still fi- nalizing the whole concept and want to make sure that we have this capability. Large com- panies have been the most interested in this type of tool. They have a lot of equipment, so they're more forward-thinking in terms of inte- gration and Industry 4.0 compliance for all of their equipment. Last year, we did a series of training for the most advanced customers. We brought our top software engineers from head- quarters and R&D to train those customers and their IT personnel. Our people went from cus- tomer to customer, teaching them what's pos- sible, what kind of tools they need, and what the tools can do. Matties: For people using the VVS, what ben- efits have they reported back to you? Kaplan: The most obvious benefit is that they reduce a lot of false calls before going to physi- cal verification. Matties: Have they said they've reduced it by a certain percentage? Kaplan: They're still in the evaluation stage. As I said, it's very different from customer to cus- tomer, and it depends on how many false calls you have. If you have a lot of oxidation—may- be 70% of what the AOI reports is oxidation— so you can get rid of pretty much all of it. Some customers have a much cleaner environment and don't have a lot of dust that leads to false calls. Most defects are real, so you maybe get less benefit from it because you don't have a We believe that all of the data that we generate belongs to the customer; it doesn't belong to us.