Yamaha Robotics SMT section has supplied a complete surface-mount production line including printing, mounting, and 3D-AOI capabilities to Inter-Company, based in Goor, Netherlands, which builds specialised assemblies for high-end applications.

Among the many exciting projects the Inter-Company team has accomplished, building ultra-low-noise, high-frequency, high-precision electronic assemblies for research into quantum computers must be one of the most intriguing. Not only does this low-volume work require care and attention to detail, the engineering teams racing to scale qubits and realise quantum advantage expect a fast turnaround to evaluate their latest ideas quickly.

Among other exacting projects that call for advanced capabilities, high quality, and rapid response times, Inter-Company has produced weather stations for the Dutch meteorological office, complex control systems for battery charging applications, and advanced medical devices. Maritime equipment producers, also, put their trust in Inter-Company to ensure ruggedness, reliability, and safety.

Operating in these markets, Inter-Company needs to start production as soon as possible after receiving any new order. On the other hand, getting new product introductions (NPI) right first time without trial and error, and instantly fixing any problems that creep in during production, are vital from a commercial standpoint. When choosing their all-new SMT line, the team sought a supplier that could offer solutions to these challenges, in addition to the underlying component-placement capabilities.

Together, Yamaha’s YSP10 printer, YRM20 component mounters, and YRi-V 3D AOI system deliver such a solution by connecting through the unique Yamaha YSUP software platform that supports complex interactions between all the machines in the line. Special YSUP features include automatic program creation, component teaching, and building libraries, which help streamline typically time consuming and laborious tasks. Moreover, automatic real-time analysis of inspection data, during production, indicates any defects as they happen and pinpoints the causes, allowing fast remedial action. These are long-standing advantages of the Yamaha YSUP platform, made even more powerful in the latest software releases that introduce additional AI-based capabilities, which help production teams accelerate NPI and maximise end-of-line yield.

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