2019 Is a Year of Growth and Innovation for Viscom Inc.
Viscom has successfully marketed its inspection solutions since 1984 and has grown from a pioneer in the field of industrial image processing to a market leader using a staff of about five hundred employees today. The focus is high-quality inspection systems for the electronics industry, especially automatic optical inspection systems (3D AOI), solder paste inspection (3D SPI) as well as X-ray inspection for manual operation or in-line integration (3D MXI, 3D AXI). In the field of real 3D technology and 100% defect detection of solder joints, SMD, THT, LED or wire bonds, the company has become one of the leading suppliers worldwide. Viscom inspection systems are used in virtually every branch of the electronics industry – from automotive electronics to telecommunications, to industrial electronics and the semiconductor industry. Our editors recently spoke with Jesper Lykke, CEO at Viscom Inc., to see how 2019 is going and to find out more about the company’s involvement in new industry innovations.
Jesper, we understand that you’ve been in the CEO position of the Viscom Inc. for close to a year. What would you say are the company’s strengths?
Obviously, Viscom is an innovative and organic growing company. I have been with the company since 2000 in various roles and I always appreciate the inquiring mind, pioneering approach and family atmosphere. A large part of the team in Viscom Americas has been with us a long time. This reflects to the outside as the customer receives a warm welcome, customized solutions based on forward-looking technologies and great service.
How much of a company’s success, in your opinion, is based on its service team?
A large portion! Our customers make a long-term decision on a high-quality product, and our service team keeps the machines running all the time – through our maintenance work, free of charge software releases and spare parts supply. Additionally, our technicians help to optimize the performance in respect to best first pass yield results. Our customers worldwide frequently ask us for upgrades or retrofits to keep their systems updated and able to meet current requirements. This results in a high level of customer satisfaction.
Viscom Inc. had a big presence at the recent IPC APEX EXPO 2019. The year started strong for Viscom so far. Will it continue that way?
I think the very well attended APEX was the busiest in years. We have experienced that people recognize Viscom is playing a main role in the market as an international technology leader. We are offering one of the widest product portfolios covering the highest inspection demands in electronics manufacturing. For instance, our extremely fast 3D X-ray inspection system X7056-II with superb image quality: The combination of automatic optical and X-ray inspection in one system has been awarded five times since bringing it onto the market. Thus, Viscom has proven its innovativeness on the most important international markets of the United States, Mexico, Europe and Asia. The X7056-II is operated with the extremely user-friendly vVision software and offers outstanding connectivity options within quality assurance processes in manufacturing, making it perfect for Industry 4.0 and smart factories.
Connected – or smart – factories are also an interesting topic in the electronics manufacturing industry currently. Where does Viscom fit into Industry 4.0?
The goal of the networked Viscom inspection systems is an automatic analysis of detected defects to localize and resolve their causes, so the defect rate can automatically be rigorously lowered to near zero. The Viscom Quality Uplink offers even more comprehensive networking of all inspection systems from SPI through AOI and up to AXI. The verification station is also included in the network. All Viscom inspection solutions support M2M communication via the SMEMA protocol, as well as via the new Hermes Standard. Moreover, Viscom is a partner with CFX – the connected factory exchange initiative, which collects machine data along the entire SMT line and merges it for practical applications. Viscom helps setting new standards for a more streamlined production.
How does adding 3D inspection increase first pass yield for customers?
Combined with 2D and 2.5D, you have all the best from all technologies. 3D helps the Viscom machine recognize the component types and, therefore, makes the programming a lot faster and easier for the operator. From fully-fledged, realistic 360° views of solder joints and components to informative layered X-ray images of highly complex electronics, Viscom is harnessing the advantages of 3D in an extremely targeted manner.
We are hearing more and more about artificial intelligence (AI) lately. That was one of Viscom’s highlighted areas during APEX, correct?
In fact we are leading some of these discussions. The goal is to support the human judgment of machine operators on whether components and solder joints designated as possibly defective in the automatic inspection process actually fulfill all quality criteria. Deep learning will play a progressively more important role in Viscom’s program creation and component assignment, making it increasingly possible to recognize new product introduction components fully automatically.
Last question: When looking ahead, what is planned next?
We know that there will be significant changes as a result of new markets and technologies. E-mobility, connectivity, automated driving and 5G technology are the megatrends of the future. To be prepared for these megatrends, we bring all our experts from R&D, construction and manufacturing and software development together – in order to set new standards and develop further innovations in future, too.