FUJI Corporation has always been at the cutting edge of innovation. Advancing the world of manufacturing and robotics has been a long-term endeavor, with the ultimate end goal of delivering solutions that enrich the lives of others. With each product, FUJI pours its innovative spirit into the meticulous development of technology that takes manufacturing to new heights.

As the world continues to move toward complete digitalization and automation, FUJI’s solutions are at the forefront of change and are designed to epitomize the term “Smart Factory”.

This year at the IPC APEX EXPO 2023 in San Diego, California, the innovations on display will further solidify FUJI as an industry leader in technology, with brand new additions to the FUJI product line being prominently highlighted in Booth #2539. The FUJI booth will follow the theme of “Industrial rEvolution”, highlighting the abundance of progress it has made

in the circuit board assembly arena. From through-hole insertion devices to fully automated factory lines, the FUJI booth will be home to machines that can cater to the needs of any manufacturer.

Smart Factory Component Mounter: NXTR A

Most prominently highlighted is FUJI’s flagship smart factory component mounter, the NXTR A. The machine was designed with FUJI’s “Three Zeros” concept in mind—Zero Line Operators, Zero Defects, and Zero Machine Stops. With built-in robots for part supply, a modular design that makes it easy to swap heads, tools, and supply units to keep lines running, and automatic quality checks to ensure pristine product conditions, the NXTR A truly embodies this design concept.

Smart Loader

The NXTR A mounting platform highlights features that no other placement device has managed to achieve, with its ultimate focus being the complete automation of PCB assembly.

An NXTR A line configuration features a Smart Loader robot at the front, constantly supplying parts to the line as the mounter continues to place components. The Smart Loader eliminates the need for manual part supply and changeover, and also ensures automatic and efficient inventory management with less people.

Placement head technology

Furthermore, the machine also expands on FUJI’s innovative placement head technology by introducing brand new heads exclusive to NXTR. With systems that come in either single or dual robot configurations, the placement heads are capable of achieving up to 90,000cph in a stable environment, and can handle a plethora of part sizes. From the smallest metrics like 0201 to large parts up to 200×150mm, the various placement heads can handle high volume placement of just about any size part.

The head technology itself is an evolution of the “quick change” head technology that FUJI has become known for.

Placement heads are designed to be instantly swappable with other heads, whether it be for changeover or for maintenance.

Being able to swap one head for another means that users no longer need to bring down entire lines to do maintenance, since the swap takes only about 15 seconds to perform. This saves users from wasting hours of production time on head maintenance alone. The same design philosophy is seen across the entire machine, as heads, supply units, and entire modules can be swapped and reconfigured quickly based on the needs of the user’s next job.

Ensures high quality PCB

The NXTR A, beyond being designed for fully autonomous production, is also dedicated to ensuring the highest product quality in PCB assembly. The machine is capable of a number of feats related to quality, from its incredible high accuracy to the built-in quality checks it can perform. Even with the smallest components, the machine can achieve placement accuracy of down to ±0.025mm and uses pressure controls to ensure placements are never handled without the proper care they deserve.

Beyond the placement capability, the machine performs automatic checks for a large variety of commonly occurring issues in production.

Intelligent part sensor

The NXTR A can be installed with an intelligent part sensor (IPS), capable of catering to a wide range of checks. Part pickup stance, part height, dropped parts, part presence, stuck nozzles, and more. The device is a major benefit for any user who wishes to prevent placement defects related to packaging, nozzles, or parts. Beyond IPS, other units for quality checks like LCR or 3D coplanarity can be installed on the machine, allowing users to prevent defects caused by operational errors and defective parts. Checking the electrical properties of chips and the leads or bumps of IC parts can be done without operator intervention and are integrated seamlessly into the placement process without wasting time in each placement cycle.

Finally, the machine can perform quality checks immediately after placement to verify results, preventing production of defective products and preventing wasted time and inventory.

Part presence, misaligned placements, and part direction are all checked for during the machine’s MPI inspection, adding additional quality controls before PCB’s even reach automated optical inspection (AOI).

AIMEXR Placement Platform

While the NXTR A is the main highlight of FUJI’s booth at APEX 2023, another of its latest innovations may yet steal the show. Slated to be revealed publicly for the first time is FUJI’s latest innovation in placement technology. The

AIMEXR, a brand new placement platform for manufacturers who need more flexibility in their production, will be officially unveiled at the FUJI booth.

Perfect for variable volume, variable mix production

The AIMEXR is designed to be the ultimate in variable volume, variable mix production, with features allowing for almost any part to be placed at the exact speed required.

Inside the machine, the placement robots are lightweight, highly rigid, and use linear motor technology to allow for both speed and accuracy during placement. The machine can utilize a single or dual gantry set-up, allowing for larger panel support and more varied production capability.

The AIMEXR also utilizes the same head technology that has been implemented on the NXTR A, allowing for comparable placement speeds while enabling it to place a wider variety of parts.

Keeps operation stable

The AIMEXR was designed to keep operation conditions stable in the face of ever-changing production environments.

The machine ensures reliability during maintenance by supporting FUJI’s automated maintenance units and managing maintenance schedules to ensure timely procedures. Beyond maintenance, the machine utilizes an immense amount of data from production in order to avoid machine stops and inform operator tasks. By saving all images and on-machine operation history, the machine can identify signs that production stops might occur and gathers information that can lead to issue resolution. This enables quick recovery from problems and ultimately helps users avoid long machine stops.

Finally, the machine was also designed with an enhanced resilience against network issues. Should communication be lost with the host system for production, the current job can continue to run and produce product on the line, which can be helpful in the event of network outages or other cybertroubles. Much like the NXTR, the AIMEXR is also capable of quality checks that support high quality production. IPS, LCR, and 3D coplanarity checks are also supported on the new machine. There also exists a new feature in its real-time sensing technology, allowing the machine to check panel heights and ensure contact is being made, further reducing defects (particularly with larger board sizes).

Innovative Products for Smart Factory

Beyond the AIMEXR and NXTR, FUJI’s booth will display other highly innovative products that cater to the needs of the industry. Other smart factory applications such as the NXTR PM, a smart solder printing platform that matches the NXTR concept, and FUJI’s extremely robust Smart Factory production Software, Nexim will be on display for visitors to learn more about.

Also on feature will be advanced robotics for back-end process automation, such as the sFAB-D and SmartWing BA. These two units can be adopted for full automation of various part insertion processes, helping to decrease reliance on labor for processes that have historically only been possible with a larger number of workers.

Improve Lives of Users

When it’s all said and done, the solutions shown at the FUJI APEX booth all serve the same purpose; improving the lives of their users. With easy to learn machines that are highly capable, manufacturers are able to ramp up production and grow without being held back by the limitations that old technology used to come with. As the world continues to shift toward full digitization and automation, the latest solutions offered by FUJI will be on the frontlines of production, helping push companies into the future by supporting the data collection, digitization, and autonomous production that defines a smart factory.