Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/699765
28 SMT Magazine • July 2016 less test performances to help manufacturers detect faults on much smaller devices. We are also working on innovations using XML tech- nology to help our customers connect better as they gear towards Industry 4.0. These innovations are highly appropriate for various markets, such as the automotive sector, where we see customers testing multiple pan- els simultaneously, especially for sensor boards. These are small form factor boards similar to IoT boards where you can run multiple paral- lel tests. Keysight is continuing our investments to push test coverage for new IoT and wireless products such as 5G Analysis Reference Solu- tions, EXM IoT Reference Solutions. Another area of Keysight's focus is modular test technologies, which will help manufactur- ers standardize their test strategies while pro- viding flexibility of reusable modules instead of expensive customized systems. Las Marias: With all the common test stations built into a typical SMT line—bareboard testing, solder paste inspection, AOI, X-ray inspection, and ICT/flying probe—why is there still a need for func- tional testing? C hari: OEMs and contract manufacturers con- tinue to see the addition of test stations as one way to improve their test coverage. However, we believe new technologies provided by in- circuit test, embedded tests with boundary scan are providing very high value where it's common to see extremely high functional test yields of over 99 % with the test coverage pro- vided by in-circuit test. This enables custom- ers to reduce the functional test needs, espe- cially at the board level. However, functional test is still needed at the assembled product level because it's the only way to validate and verify the performance of a finished product in an "in-situ" environment to make sure it still operates as it was designed to when op- erating alongside other functions in a system. Board level functional test is very useful in ar- eas where coverage is weaker with in-circuit or inspection. Keysight continues to offer func- tional test solutions in a number of industries which continue to see that need for perfor- mance validation. Chari: Concurrently, increasing labor costs are driving manufacturers to really think about, and start adopting automation for smart facto- ries to be in place so that they can maximize their resource utilization and improve their yields and performance. The drive towards In- dustry 4.0 will mean looking at integrating the entire manufacturing process, from design for test to automation. With costs going up con- siderably, we can see the trend of our custom- ers manufacturing closer to their end markets. For instance, Mexico manufacturing for the American markets and Europe for the European markets. These will put new demands and re- quirements on manufacturers as they will need common global test processes that can be used across different sites worldwide and more auto- mation. Las Marias: What innovations in test and inspec- tion technologies are happening to help customers address these challenges? Chari: From a board test stand point, apart from driving automation in board test, Key- sight's new Mini In-Circuit Tester is compacting test capabilities into a compact, powerful form factor, and it can be enabled for parallel test- ing to offer excellent test coverage and increase throughput for handling smaller boards used in IoT products. We are trying to enable more em- bedded tests with our boundary scan technolo- gies and are continuing to improve our vector- ADDRESSING NEW TESTING AND INSPECTION CHALLENGES