Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/636678
February 2016 • The PCB Magazine 39 users to offer their customers unparalleled com- petitive advantage. Matties: That sounds like a prudent move. There's no reason for getting it out there and then having recalls or issues of any kind. You want it to work perfectly. Tzhori: Exactly. It's also about selecting the right customers. We had a year to plan, we chose carefully the strategic partners to work with. We believe that the market is waiting for them to qualify the process. Again, unlike AOI where we have been a big player for many years, we're not selling just a system but rather a full pro- cess, therefore the qualification process is much longer. It's not only about whether the system is doing its job or not, that's not enough. It's the process that needs to be qualified from start to finish. We need to pass UL approval for the process, not just for the system or the ink. Matties: I was recently at Bay Area Circuits in Cali- fornia, one of your qualification sites, and they're quite proud to be doing this. Tzhori: We are also very proud of the technol- ogy. We believe that this is the future and that we are on the right track. Matties: I believe so too. Moving to your AOI, you've obviously been a strong player in that market for many years and I've seen your prod- ucts all around the world. In fact, I was recently at the Whelen facility in New Hampshire and saw your equipment there. Tzhori: It's an amazing facility. Matties: But what I notice here at the HKPCA show is you have a robotic arm now in front of your equipment. Tzhori: Unlike employees the robot doesn't ask for a salary raise every year, and the aver- age turnover in China is very high. We are a very strong believer in automated systems, but ours is the only system on the market that has kept the original design with the ability to sup- port back and front, loading and unloading. The rest of the market has moved to systems with a smaller footprint. We believe this is the future and we are a bit ahead in terms of our anticipation that the automation concept will be accepted in the market. We are not there yet, but it's coming. The new robotic arm is a new technology in that market. Matties: Is Camtek building the arm? Tzhori: No, but we are cooperating with some- body else in a joint venture, you could say. It's not a commercial joint venture, but a technol- ogy joint venture. We share our knowledge with them and they share their knowledge with us, and we try to improve the product together. It's much the same as the printing technology, it will take the market but it's just a matter of time. Also, here in China the automation tech- nologies keep on improving. The robotic arm that we're showing here is, in terms of speed, comparable to a human for loading and unload- ing at around four to five seconds. Until now it wasn't like this, as automation solutions usually were a bit slower. Matties: Is the arm capable of going into any fa- cility and adapting to your existing systems? Tzhori: Yes, it's very easy. There are a lot of dif- ferent possible configurations, but we are show- Gryphon printing sample, top view. CaMtek takes inkjet teChnology into the future