Wide-Ranging Technical Discussions, Much Customer Interest and a Prestigious Award for Viscom

Hanover, Germany, December 10, 2021 – Viscom AG hails this year’s electronics trade fair productronica, which took place from November 16 through 19 in Munich, Germany, as a complete success. Despite the strict hygiene precautions, important extra value was added by face-to-face discussions with customers, the trade media and experts from partner companies – all in all, great incentives for future projects. A Global Technology Award, won by the Viscom iX7059 PCB Inspection XL inline X-ray system during the trade fair, also contributed to the up-beat mood.

Carsten Salewski, Executive Board Member for Sales, Marketing and International Business at Viscom AG, speaking in one of the Global SMT & Packaging publication’s live panel discussions, explained where inspection technologies in electronics production are currently headed. This included highlighting the benefits of 3D-AXI/3D-AOI combination systems as a reliable post-reflow inspection gateway, pointing out the importance of large databases of inspection images and other key information for sound offline programming, and providing insight into Viscom’s current strategy of gradually introducing artificial intelligence as a hybrid solution – a topic that took on a particularly important status at this year’s productronica.

Viscom provided information about its wide range of advanced inspection solutions at its own booth, with systems for 3D-SPI, 3D-AOI, 3D-AXI, 3D-MXI, 3D-Bond as well as CCI and UFI on offer. Visitors interested in this technologies discovered, for example, how they could implement smart communication between machines using data interfaces and software applications such as Viscom Quality Uplink, IPC HERMES 9852 and IPC CFX. The focus was also on the very wide range of inspection objects covered by Viscom’s new iX7059 systems in the field of inline X-ray – with fields of application such as electromobility, renewable energies, LED lighting as well as 5G and server technology. Peter Krippner, Executive Board Member Operations of Viscom AG, took his audience on a deeper dive into the topic of AXI innovations during a presentation at the Innovation Forum of the trade fair, with its wide-ranging program of many different topics on offer.

The iX7059 PCB Inspection XL 3D AXI system from Viscom was presented with a Global Technology Award from Global SMT & Packaging during productronica. A major innovative benefit of the system is its revolutionary, fully dynamic 3D image acquisition with a new generation of flat panel detectors and the ability to inspect very long, fully-assembled PCBs up to 1600 mm (63") in length. In order to ensure a highly accurate and fast 3D inspection, the iX7059 PCB Inspection XL takes, for example, in just 5 seconds up to 120 X-ray images for one field of view from a variety of perspectives. The sectional images from planar CT show all the essential features of the inspected objects in impressive detail. Voids in solder joints are measured for their number, size and proportional area. It is also possible to call up representations of complete 3D volumes at the verification station. Another plus is the machine’s compact size, saving valuable space at the production site.

Visitors could experience how a Viscom inspection system communicates with its production environment – not only at the Viscom booth itself, but also in a line presented by ASM SMT Solutions during productronica. ASM presented a comprehensive, open, modular concept for seamless M2M communication, integration of third-party solutions and integration of existing systems, headlined “Open Automation in the Integrated Smart Factory”. Viscom's S3088 DT 3D AOI system acting as a pre-reflow inspection gate was incorporated into the demonstration line. The data from this was integrated into ASM’s expert solution via the open IPC-CFX interface. Together, they demonstrated how electronics manufacturers can discover the level of automation and also the pace of implementation that is best for their own situation. One of the things Viscom chief developer Detlef Beer emphasized in this context during an ASM video interview at the trade fair was the importance of confidently being able to handle large amounts of data.

Messe München GmbH revealed that around 20,000 visitors from 70 countries were at productronica. In a follow-up report, the organizer quoted Viscom co-founder and member of the Supervisory Board Volker Pape as saying: “We are happy that we could meet face to face with our customers once again and make live presentations of Viscom technology, even amid all of the restrictions. productronica proved its importance as a leading trade fair even in these times. The number of visitors was certainly below the levels seen during ‘normal’ times, but it was still much higher than expected.” The next productronica will take place from November 14 through 17, 2023.