SAN DIEGO, CA -- XLR8 EMS, a leader in fast, reliable and high-quality PCBA manufacturing solutions, is pleased to announce the appointment of Steve Dutton as Chief Sales Officer.

Dutton brings more than 30 years of leadership experience in the electronics manufacturing industry, with an extensive background in business development, operations, engineering and strategic growth. Throughout his career, he has worked with customers in the aerospace, defense, medical and industrial markets, helping build long-term partnerships while supporting complex, high-reliability manufacturing programs.

Most recently, Dutton served in executive leadership roles overseeing business development, sales, marketing, supply chain and operations for electronics manufacturing organizations. His experience includes managing multimillion-dollar defense programs, leading cross-functional teams, driving revenue growth and developing strategies that improve operational performance while strengthening customer relationships.

“Steve understands what our customers expect from an EMS partner because he's spent his career helping manufacturers solve challenges and deliver results,” said Faiyaz Syed, President and CEO of XLR8 EMS. “His combination of sales leadership, operational experience and industry knowledge makes him an outstanding addition to our executive team as we continue to grow.”

As Chief Sales Officer, Dutton leads XLR8 EMS’s sales strategy and business development efforts while working closely with customers to support new program opportunities and strengthen existing partnerships. He also collaborates across engineering, manufacturing and customer support teams to ensure customers receive the responsiveness, technical expertise and service they need from prototype through production.

“I’m excited to join XLR8 EMS at such an exciting time for the company,” said Dutton. “XLR8 has built a strong reputation for quality, responsiveness and customer service. I look forward to working with our team to expand those relationships, develop new opportunities and help our customers bring innovative products to market.”

XLR8 EMS delivers high-performance electronics manufacturing services for customers whose products demand precision, reliability and speed. From rapid prototyping through full-scale production, the company provides advanced PCB assembly, engineering support and manufacturing solutions backed by rigorous quality standards, complete traceability and responsive customer service for the aerospace, defense, medical, industrial and energy markets.

For more information about XLR8 EMS and its electronics manufacturing services, visit www.xlr8ems.com.

San Jose, CA -- Javad EMS (JEMS), a leading global EMS company that provides low to medium volume, high-mix applications, has added a SEHO PowerWave 3.0 wave solder system to its production floor, strengthening its through-hole soldering capabilities to better serve customers in the military, aerospace and other high-reliability markets.

The new system provides improved process control and soldering consistency for leaded applications while increasing capacity to support growing customer demand. With precision flux application, configurable preheating and local nitrogen inerting, the PowerWave is designed to deliver repeatable, high-quality solder joints across a wide range of through-hole assemblies.

“We continue to see strong demand for leaded soldering from our military and aerospace customers,” said Gary Walker, President of JAVAD EMS. “The SEHO PowerWave gives us a more capable process with better control and consistency, while increasing our capacity to support that growth.”

The PowerWave features an HVLP spray fluxer that provides uniform flux coverage while reducing flux consumption, configurable preheating zones for a variety of board designs, and advanced solder nozzle technology that helps produce reliable solder joints. Its modular design also provides the flexibility to accommodate a broad range of production requirements.

The addition of the SEHO system gives JAVAD EMS greater flexibility for through-hole production while providing customers with a more robust leaded soldering process as demand for these assemblies continues to grow.

JAVAD EMS provides electronics manufacturing services including SMT and through-hole PCB assembly, box build, testing and supply chain support for customers in the medical, industrial, military, aerospace and commercial markets.

For more information, contact JEMS at 408-770-1700, info@javadems.com or visit www.javadems.com.

Plymouth, WI -- Kurtz Ersa Inc., a leading supplier of electronics production equipment, will host two VERSAFLOW 4/55 training courses July 27–31 at its U.S. headquarters, located at 1779 Pilgrim Road in Plymouth, Wisconsin.

The training is designed for operators, technicians and process engineers who want to expand their knowledge of the VERSAFLOW selective soldering platform through hands-on instruction led by Kurtz Ersa specialists.

The VERSAFLOW 4/55 Maintenance Class will be held July 27–29 and focuses on keeping the system operating at peak performance. Attendees will learn machine calibration, troubleshooting techniques, system layout, electrical schematics and preventative maintenance practices that help reduce downtime and improve equipment reliability.

Immediately following, the VERSAFLOW 4/55 Application Class will take place July 29–31. The course covers programming, process optimization and best practices for achieving consistent selective soldering results. Topics include flux selection, preheating, defect reduction, cycle time optimization and ERSAcad offline programming, giving users the ability to create and modify programs without interrupting production.

Each class combines classroom instruction with hands-on experience using the equipment, allowing participants to apply what they learn in a production-like environment. Enrollment is limited to provide plenty of opportunities for questions, discussion and one-on-one instruction.

Registration is now open. To reserve a seat or learn more, contact David Miller at david.miller@kurtzersa.com.

For more information about Kurtz Ersa Inc., visit www.ersa.com.

OMRON Corporation (HQ: Shimogyo-ku, Kyoto. President and CEO: Junta Tsujinaga) Industrial Automation Company announced in Japan an expansion of its integration of NVIDIA technologies by combining OMRON's Automated Optical Inspection (AOI) and 3D-CT X-ray Inspection (AXI) with NVIDIA Omniverse libraries. Specifically, this will make it possible to visualize substrate warpage caused by heat and to implement AI-driven "skillless" inspection, aiming to revolutionize the semiconductor inspection process.

Achieving higher accuracy for skillless substrate inspection equipment.

Recently, as digital society has advanced, including the rise of AI factories, the innovation of various electronic devices, such as ultra-high-speed, high-capacity information processing, has accelerated. As a result, the mounting of printed circuit boards (PCBs), which support these devices, has become more complex, and advanced mounting technology and strict quality assurance are required. In manufacturing sites as well, the shortage of skilled technicians is becoming increasingly severe worldwide. Semiconductor manufacturers experience challenges related to substrate yields and quality control as a result of these shortages, making it urgent to shift to AI-driven quality control that can help scale individual expertise and know-how.

The technical integration of OMRON and NVIDIA AI and simulation technologies began in 2022. In this further collaboration, as part of an expanded, OT (operational technology) and IT (information technology) are linked to integrate manufacturing data that had previously been siloed, providing new insights (potential information) that lead to improved productivity, quality, and yields. Furthermore, OMRON will expand the application area of digital twins to PCB (printed circuit board/advanced semiconductors) inspection processes that require micron-level precision, promoting real-time optimization on the manufacturing floor. OMRON is engaged in the following three initiatives that leverage physical AI and simulation technologies.

Initiatives with NVIDIA

1. Visualizing board warpage through reproduction in digital space

“Board warpage,” which occurs when heat is applied during the manufacturing process, is one of the key challenges in electronic component manufacturing; while it can lead to solder joint defects and quality abnormalities in components, it is difficult to recognize with the naked eye. In this collaboration, we will reproduce and visualize "board warpage" with high precision in digital space. By integrating NVIDIA Omniverse libraries, OMRON can use physics-based simulation to reproduce board deformation and the force resisting deformation, enabling real-time visualization of subtle changes that were previously difficult to grasp. With these simulations, manufacturing sites can pre-adjust the time-based temperature changes (thermal profile) in the heating and cooling process, making it possible to predict and prevent critical solder joint defects before they occur.

2. Investigating hidden causal relationships through the spatial overlay of AOI and AXI

OMRON uses digital twins to overlay the 3D surface data acquired by AOI (automated optical inspection) with the data on internal structures acquired by AXI (3D-CT X-ray inspection). This enables engineers to instantly identify the causal relationships behind phenomena occurring on the surface—such as pinpointing tiny internal bubbles that caused misalignment of surface components—and to make visible information that had previously been unseen, dramatically enhancing the essential value provided by inspection equipment.

3. AI Agent Assisted Inspection

To address the global challenge of a shortage of skilled engineers and make inspections more AI-driven, OMRON will introduce visual inspection agents powered by NVIDIA Metropolis Blueprint for Video Search and Summarization (VSS) and NVIDIA Cosmos. VSS uses Cosmos Reason, an open vision language model (VLM), to analyze images, together with a LLM to understand historical data, enabling the agent to reason and propose next steps to users.

For example, when a user asks, "Why is this board warped?", the AI agent searches historical data for images of warped boards with similar characteristics, analyzes the root cause, and returns a detailed answer with insights to the user in an easy-to-understand summary.

"Leveraging OMRON’s know-how in automation rooted in a real on-site perspective, together with high-speed, high-precision control technology, we will realize highly accurate digital twins as part of the solution. By combining our inspection data with NVIDIA’s physical AI, customers will be able to visualize the factors affecting production, rapidly upskill novice operators, and maximize the ROI (return on investment) of production lines," said Motohiro Yamanishi, Company President of the Industrial Automation Company (IAB), OMRON Corporation.

OMRON has launched its medium-term roadmap, "SF 2nd Stage," from fiscal 2026 and has defined 13 focus businesses that will drive business growth. This time, Inspection Systems Business Division HQ is one of the core businesses that will drive innovation in manufacturing sites with NVIDIA physical AI. By combining its strengths across automation devices with inspection technologies, OMRON is delivering innovative inspection solutions for the semiconductor industry. Through this collaboration, OMRON aims to further strengthen its value creation for the semiconductor industry and contribute to solving customer issues to realize a more digitalized society.