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60 The PCB Magazine • May 2016 so forth, and obviously automation. We can re- ally offer, for the first time, a solution that can overhaul this industry, the mass-market, mass production industry, with this machine. This machine will be fully automated, offering up to 95 prints per hour. It offers superior quality, registration and all those aspects that not only can replace traditional silk screens but make it more efficient, save on the ink and material, make this a greener type of solution to some - thing that is considered a base line production in the industry, and as I mentioned, in an au- tomated way. Starkey: I think you've made a very signifi- cant statement in saying that you now have de- veloped inkjet printing to the level where you are confident to place it in a mass production envi- ronment. Always the association of inkjet is that it is a great technique for quick turn, small batch. In the past that's never really been suitable for the sort of volumes and the sort of throughputs you've been talking about. Waisman: Very true. For the first time we've really managed this breakthrough from, as you mentioned, the small batch, quick turnaround, to mass production. It has been an evolutionary way, but it is a revolutionary step. This is the Sprint 200 that we're showcasing here, and I'm very confident that we are now seeing the begin - ning of the revolution, the era of turning analog into digital in this specific production phase. Starkey: You have approached digital from two separate directions. You have for many years been identified as the leader in laser direct imaging for primary imaging. Now at the oth- er end of PCB manufacturing sequence, you've brought a different digital imaging technology automation is tHe talk of tHe town at CpCa sHow 2016 into play that can handle the sort of volumes and, as you say, you're helping to drive the in- dustry into a fully digital, fully digitalized imag- ing technology. Waisman: You're absolutely right, this is an additional step in the digital revolution that started about 10–15 years ago. It's obviously ap- parent in each and every one of our tools. We haven't discussed the general advantages of digi- tal versus analog—I think this is quite clear by now, with the flexibility and the other capabili- ties. But I think that specifically in silk screen this very important also because of the green trends and the need to have greener technologies that are digital, cost efficient, etc., and reduce the ma- terial waste. I think this is all very important in transforming this particular part of the industry. Starkey: I can understand clearly what you're saying from personal background. I saw what could be achieved with screen printing. And screen printing can achieve very good, very pre- cise, very high throughput results. Probably not to the level of definition that's required by today's design technology. There was a period when the interim solution was with a photoimageable ink but, as you make the point, it is a very waste- ful process—probably 95% of the ink you use becomes an effluent treatment problem for you. With a digital process that's capable of very high definition, high resolution and high precision of registration, you're only using a fraction of the ink when you would be using, and you're not re- ally creating any effluent problem at all. Waisman: You're absolutely right. There are many other benefits, whether its serialization or enabling different types of prints in a much more flexible way, which we haven't discussed. I think the main points here are really the abil- ity to have a digital, automated, mass market, mass production product in this tool. Starkey: We see an increasing amount of au- tomation in PCB manufacturing. We're very con- scious of Industry 4.0, the Internet of Things, and all of the things that you have mentioned are modules that will build into this fully integrated system. " it has been an evolutionary way, but it is a revolutionary step. "