FUJI Corporation has expanded its product lineup of mounters in its effort to expand its business. While meeting the growing needs for automation around the globe, the company proposes a simple and easy-to-use surface mount technology (SMT) line.

At the JISSO PROTEC 2023 held in June in Tokyo, Japan, FUJI premiered AIMEXR, a new scalable all-in-one placement machine (mounter). AIMEXR is excellent in general versatility, and features flexibility and expandability. Thus, meeting the needs for variable-mix, variable-volume production. 

FUJI is aiming AIMERXR to become an “all arounder,” which delivers flexible and stable production from new product introduction (NPI) through mass production. 

Furthermore, the mounter can produce panels up to 1,068 x 610mm in size. It can mount up to 130 types of components, and reduce the product changeover time, thereby alleviating a workload on an operator. 

Common Cutting-Edge Head

FUJI has been deploying FUJI Smart Factory (FSF), its original solution that combines the system and automation technology. This year, the company launched the NXTR next-generation mounter, and has been steadily increasing sales. AIMEXR adopts the same R-generation platform as NXTR and features the common cutting-edge head. 

Joji Isozumi, President and Chief Operating Officer of FUJI, said, “AIMEXR is a new product in the AIMEX Series with high general versatility and has been adopted in a wide range of fields. It best suits various applications, including automotive printed circuit boards and large-size printed circuit boards for industrial equipment, general-purpose electric appliances, and communication infrastructure.”

In addition, Isozumi said, “It has achieved improved productivity and ease of use compared with its predecessor. With the addition of AIMEXR suitable for high-mix, low-volume production to the modular NXTR, we meet diverse customer needs.” 

At present, the market, especially mobile products in China, is stagnant.  Even under such situation, demand in the automotive electronics, base stations, and industrial equipment fields have been steadily increasing. FUJI has been receiving many inquiries. Specifically, investments in the United States, India and countries in Europe have been increasing. 

Isozumi said, “This year, investments have been slack across the board.  Nonetheless, inventory adjustments of semiconductors have progressed. I expect that investments will start kicking in at the beginning of next year. As the time is tough, all the more, we bolster our development and production system, preparing for the rebound.” 

State-of-the-Art Factory in Okazaki

FUJI will build a new factory at its Okazaki Plant in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. Particularly, introducing leading-edge robots and internet of things (IoT) technology. The company plans to start operations of the new factory in Sept. 2024. The completion of the factory will boost the company’s production capacity to 1.5-fold. 

FUJI also actively invests in digital technologies. In February this year, the company formed a capital alliance with DATAFLUCT, Inc., which has artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. It is considering services that would lead to the reduction of working man-hour and demand prediction. Furthermore, the company will also nurture digital human resources through reskilling its employees.

“AI makes significant contribution to automation and labor savings. We would like to further advance intelligence capability and propose automation with balanced costs and ease of use,” notes Isozumi.  FUJI aims to develop simple and easy-to-use systems.