Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1466505
54 SMT007 MAGAZINE I MAY 2022 Johnson: It seems to me the key is in the data and being able to use that data to make itera- tive changes that make it more efficient for higher yield on the manufacturing floor and so forth. is takes us back again to sending the data back up and down the whole flow of the design. Caissie: Right. You can feed those automated reports that you're going to get out of the machine, showing the analysis of the compo- nent placement, the solder fill, and you can feed that back into manufacturing, where they can use that data and adjust the process accord- ingly to bring that yield up. Johnson: It's interesting right now, how X-ray inspection used to be a point solution. It was historically a pass/fail. Now it can be very much a part of the feedback loop. Caissie: Absolutely. We have several great tools built into the soware to make it easy to iden- tify where those problem areas are and bring that information back to the attention of the design and manufacturing teams. Johnson: What makes the Apo- gee itself such a compelling product? Caissie: It's a closed tube design rather than an open tube design. It's going to have less main- tenance, lower costs, and it's reliable. We typically rate these at about 10,000 hours of service on these closed tube designs, which is a lot different than the open tube designs that require a lot of maintenance. ey require cycling vacuums. ere's a full system of vacuum pumps and seals that must be maintained. at's all elimi- nated in closed tube designs. We also have, as I said, all the soware that is key to bringing that feedback to your manufacturing line and pre- venting any issues that might impact or lower your yield. Johnson: In the current market, there is plenty of demand for EMS manufacturing right now. At the same time, it's difficult to find staff, which creates a conundrum in which you have work to be done, but your old processes required too much on-hand operators, and processes need to change. What's your vision for helping automate the processes? Caissie: ere's definitely a focus on automa- tion with our products going forward. We have the ability to automate a number of dif- ferent routines within the Apogee. We have some more features planned down the line to import CAD files and be able to identify within that file the components that you're interested in inspecting so that you don't have to manu- ally program these routines. All these features reduce the need for an operator to spend time manually inspecting components and solder joints.