Rexxam Co., Ltd. deploys a wide range of products from air-conditioning equipment, consumer equipment, factory automation (FA) equipment, automotive equipment to medical equipment globally. Particularly, the company has production facilities in Japan. In Shikoku district, its facilities spread in ten locations has a total site area of 480,000sq.m.

These factories are assembling printed circuit boards (PCBs) and electronic control boards.  Overseas, the company has Rexxam Electronics (Suzhou) Co., Ltd. and ShenZhen Shinelong Electronics Industrial Co., Ltd. in China; Rexxam Thailand Co., Ltd. in Thailand; Dixon Technologies (India) Limited, a partner company in India; and Rexxam Czech s.r.o. in Europe.  These overseas bases particularly meet the needs of globally expanding Japanese companies.

Rexxam Electronics (Suzhou) has a total floor area of 40,000sq.m, and with 10 surface mount technology (SMT) lines and 43 printed circuit board assembly (PCBA) automated optical inspection (AOI) systems. It can handle 0603-size components. Meanwhile, ShenZhen Shinelong Electronics Industrial is installed with nine SMT lines and 24 PCBA AOI systems. 

Reinforces Overseas Facilities

In recent years, manufacturers have been plagued with global components shortages amid the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, China continues to experience labor shortages.

Nonetheless, Rexxam has been able to meet rapid increase in demand. This is because the company has bolstered its production capacities and advanced the automation of the production process since early on. 

At its Thai plant, the company completed a new factory building with a floor area of 10,000sq.m in April 2020. Three lines are operating in the factory with 260 workers. At the same time, the company is advancing the construction of an additional factory building with a total floor area of 10,000sq.m. Ultimately, the Thai plant will have to install seven to eight lines. 

The Thai plant has a strong partnership with Forth Corporation Public Company Limited in Thailand. As such, it is acquiring orders in Southeast Asia as one of important bases indispensable for the company’s business continuity plan (BCP) strategy. 

The monthly production capacity of all bases is 1.2 million to 1.3 million boards in terms of standard boards. Rexxam’s electronics business generates more than 80 percent of its consolidated sales. Furthermore, the two Chinese companies have accounted for 70 percent of the company’s electronics business. To establish global PCBA supply system, Rexxam has been increasing the ratios at its bases in Thailand and India. 

Showcases PCBA Coating Systems

At the recent ELECTROTEST JAPAN 2022, Rexxam showcased the Sherlock Series three-dimensional (3D) PCBA AOI system that has achieved significant enhancement in performance. In addition, the company also unveiled newly released Sherlock-SP-700 solder paste inspection system. 

The company has also developed PCBA auto coating and inspection machines.  It showcased the Pegasus-600I inline-type and Pegasus-300F desktop-type PCBA coating systems in the Pegasus Series.

The market demand for surface mount components, particularly multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs), has been heightening. To meet the miniaturization of MLCCs, Rexxam has been accelerating the replacement of equipment with state-of-art machines at its mounting lines in Thailand and India, as well as at its Chinese plants that are its main overseas plants.  The company has also been actively investing in mounting lines at its main plants in Japan as well.

Pegasus Series PCBA coating systems

It is essential to coat PCBs that are used in harsh environments, such as those in exterior units and automotive components, with moisture-proof materials. Using Rexxam’s PCBA coating system enables workers to designate the area to be coated while watching the built-in camera’s image of the entire PCB. Thus, they can program the machine with feel as though actually coating PCBs. 

Furthermore, the PCBA coating systems also have functions to check the front and rear faces and transfer direction of PCBs and inspect the coated area. It also automatically calculates the shortest coating route, thereby contributing to the reduction of tact time.   

The inline type with twin nozzle (spray & needle) and the desktop type, which features excellent cost performance, are available. 

Sherlock-SP-700 solder paste inspection system

Handling ultrasmall components requires very high solder printing precision. For this reason, Rexxam has developed an original solder past inspection system and has been installing it in its plants. Rexxam’s solder paste inspection system employs a dual line laser, and is capable of inspecting solder area, volume, height, position, and insufficiency level with height resolution of 7μm.

Inspection thresholds are automatically set through the reading of Gerber data and registration of resist color. Thus, it can create inspection data in a short time. It equips standard the statistical analysis function (height mapping, solder amount distribution, change of solder thickness with time), and backs up the setting of printing conditions and the reviewing of land design. 

Sherlock-3D-1100S 3D PCBA inspection system

As miniaturization of mounting components gains progress, the Sherlock-3D-1100S 3D PCBA inspection system is attracting increasing attention.  It measures height with a resolution of 12μm. In addition, it can inspect various qualities, such as lifting of components and IC leads, and solder amount. 

Adopting deep learning of artificial intelligence (AI) technology, it exhibits improved recognition accuracy for printed characters and detection accuracy for foreign matters and solder balls.  Moreover, it recognizes main components, such as chip components and QFPs, based on the image of the PCB.  Thus, the worker only needs to select components presented by the system, then it automatically creates inspection data.  It not only assists the worker but it also greatly reduces the time required for the creation of inspection data.