68 SMT007 MAGAZINE I MAY 2022
Shaughnessy: Right. at's really cool.
Moreau: For the longest time, it was an educa-
tional process for the customers. ey under-
stand running a profile to see what the temper-
ature of the board is, but why do you need to
monitor the process in real-time? Why do you
need to know what every single board is see-
ing? For the past 20 years, we've been show-
ing them, "is is why, here's the value you
gain, we can improve your quality by automat-
ing, and you reduce your cost." We demon-
strated this to help the customer justify what
the value is. Now, as the smart factories come
on, the KIC solution is the perfect fit, and the
customer is seeing that.
Shaughnessy: You were already there, right?
Moreau: Maybe we were even a little bit before
our time.
Shaughnessy: You had a foot in the door.
Moreau: It has worked out well to be involved
in developing those standards because our
system is a key to that whole smart factory
solution.
Shaughnessy: Everybody says they want to
evolve, but when you talk to them and you
hear about the pain of change, you realize they
don't really want to change. But you did and
it's working out.
Moreau: It's exciting because we're looking
at newer technologies and seeing how we can
be more integrated into the manufacturing
process so that even at the automating, at the
NPI level, we have tools where high-mix facto-
ries have to change boards four or five times a
day. ey get new customers coming in. ey
might have 10 assemblies they need to set up
every week or every couple weeks. How do
you get the process ready?
We look at how we can automate that.
How can we have another solution for our
customers? We focus on machine mainte-
nance, of having this strong core technology
to monitor and improve the process, but also
all the areas of thermal process in the manu-
facturing enterprise. When looking at design
for manufacturing all the way through to the
final board, we ask, "Where is the thermal
process involved and how can KIC provide a
solution there?" We try to interconnect the
full ecosystem of solutions so we can see
what the customer needs and provide value.
Shaughnessy: Is there anything else you want
to mention?
Moreau: Today we had a lot of visits to our
booth, and it really hit two areas which we've
discussed here. A couple of customers were
looking for the automation. ey run profiles
now and they see that this is a much better way.
Because they can automate, they might only
have to run a profile every few months.
We've also had some customers in the areas
of high-reliability products in automotive and
so forth that need the traceability require-
ments for those products that they're building
for their end customers. We had those conver-
sations at IPC APEX EXPO, and here at SMTA
Dallas, so it continues.
Shaughnessy: ank you, Miles. It was good to
see you again.
Moreau: ank you as well. SMT007
More Information
• KIC's Ecosystem: Solutions to Your
Thermal Reflow Problems—KIC Thermal
• Connectivity for Improved Utilization and
Quality—KIC Thermal
• How the Factory Ecosystem Positively Drives
Exponential Value—KIC Thermal.
