Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1288481
SEPTEMBER 2020 I PCB007 MAGAZINE 23 Matties: In terms of inks, how many suppliers are you working with? Most of them are now in that realm of jetting. Harding: We work with the main three: Agfa, Electra, and Taiyo. We have multiple installs with each of these companies. Most recently, we installed a two-ink system with Electra sol- der mask and legend in Europe. We're ink ag- nostic because our main goal is to sell print- ers first. Therefore, we allow our customers to choose which ink they would like, and we can offer our inks as well. We produce ink in a variety of colors, whereas the main solder mask manufacturers are, for the most part, focused on green. Because we have the ability to rapidly tweak our machine and our ink on demand, we're able to innovate quite a bit faster on both the equipment and ink side. Matties: When companies look at their tech- nology strategy, do they come to you as a sup- plier for the testing and look at complete strat- egies, or do they typically come in with just a piecemeal approach? Harding: I would say a piecemeal approach is common, but in some cases, they want to make sweeping changes to their factory floor. For example, some customers want to change just their legend or solder mask processes and others want to change their whole surface prep and plating processes as well. Matties: Do you do a process audit before they even know if they're well-suited for this? Harding: Absolutely. For solder mask, we need to understand their surface prep, plating, and their current solder mask process to decide whether it makes sense to move to inkjet. If it does make sense, then we can make a rec- ommendation to get the best results and then prove this with testing. On the other hand, most customers don't want to change multiple areas of their factory just to accommodate inkjet, so we can also recommend different surface prep products or methods to pair with their existing equipment to achieve optimal results. Matties: Is there a lot of interest in this? Harding: There's a very large interest. We're headquartered in Japan, and we have a new facility there. That facility has a dedicated floor for the sole purpose of doing inkjet bench- marks. It has six to 10 printers at any given time for testing. Fabricators and OEMs from all over the world send their boards there. Currently, there is a two-month wait to do a benchmark, and it is first come, first serve. In addition to an overwhelming number of benchmarks, we have five installs currently in the U.S. jetting solder mask: three are R&D or captive shop type of facilities doing low-pro- duction numbers but high-tech work, and then two recent, well-known high-volume PCB fab- ricators printing solder mask. Nolan Johnson: What's driving the customers to be looking now? It sounds like this is a rela- tively new occurrence in your sales funnel. Harding: There has been a great interest even before I started at MicroCraft, but now the quality and speed are there to be considered by mid- to high-volume shops. As I just men- tioned, two large-volume production PCB cus- tomers purchased this year, and even more are in production in Asia and Europe. For fabricators, the main drivers are reduc- tion of equipment, labor, electricity, and facto- ry floorspace, which all amount to significant cost and time savings. When you remove the steps involved in the traditional mask process For solder mask, we need to understand their surface prep, plating, and their current solder mask process to decide whether it makes sense to move to inkjet.