Inspection challenges associated with high reliability electronic manufacturing can often be mitigated by investing in automation. With the ever increasing demand to drive down material waste, costs and maintain quality, Automated Optical Inspection (AOI) equipment is well recognized by electronic manufacturing management as a cost-effective process solution. Within the last five years advancement in AOI technology has resulted in the availability of extensive range of real-world solutions to meet the ever-changing requirements facing electronic manufacturing centers and production facility. Today’s generation of Automatic Optical Inspection (AOI) equipment efficiently addresses density, diversity, and quality requirements, eliminating the subjectivity and variability found with manual visual inspection processes. Advanced optical inspection systems detect errors during the assembly of the electronics, and enable measurement and process control at the highest speed and accuracy. Inspection coverage encompasses solder paste, pre-reflow and post-reflow/wave inspection of SMT and mixed technology boards. Features and benefits drive the selection and purchasing process of new equipment acquisition. Equipment features should include comprehensive integrated optical inspection solutions with off-line programming capabilities, flexible repair solutions, extensive SPC tools, and provide the user an inspection platform to support inspection of product anywhere in the process, this enabling accurate and repeatable real-time process measurement and process control. AOI equipment today must provide to management a configurable software-solution SPC package to achieve real-time process feedback, manage, analyze, filter, display measurement output as well as statistical analysis of defect information on the part and board level; Key areas of real time measurement should include Paste: area , pad area coverage (%), height (micron), volume (x) / Pre-reflow: x and y offset (micron), rotation (degrees) / Post-reflow: x and y offset (micron), rotation (degrees), solder fillet size (%) all of which allows process engineers to understand the process window and recognize process shifts as they occur

Paramount to the management team of electronic manufacturing centers is meeting client contract requirements of product traceability and real-time data logging; a typical application is output in a spreadsheet format for use in programs such as Excel. Data outputs should be automatically generated, configured to client/contract requirements, collected in real time and be sent to a host automatically after each inspection.

Real-time data analysis helps identify process problems, for example placement translation and rotation, which can be detected, and corrected, at the source.

AOI Equipment at EMPF MVP has developed a new 3D inspection approach by integrating the latest available high-speed smart cameras into the existing design of the AutoInspector Series. The MVP AutoInspector Supra offers a high performance package with excellent resolution and thru-put capability. The MVP Supra provides defect detection coverage for paste, pre-solder, and postreflow inspection, is designed for the medium volume/high mix platform market and continues to be an excellent inspection solution at a reasonable price. The Compact Tabletop Inspection System is the first inspection system released in the GEM Series of inspection solutions. The Compact offers the same inspection capabilities as the AutoInspector inline systems, but in an off-line, small, portable package. Using the same software as the AutoInspector, MVP’s Compact brings accurate, extensive defect detection at a price point conducive to those facilities requiring a valuable tool in their manufacturing process. For additional information on the MVP Automatic Optical Inspection equipment or to schedule a demonstration, please contact Robert N. Berta, American Competitive Institute, by telephone at 610-362- 1200 ext 253 or via e-mail at rberta@aciusa.org.