i-Pulse, a Yamaha Group company, was formed in March 2000. At that time, Tenryu Technics was acquired by the Yamaha Group, and i-Pulse was born as a result of this acquisition. Since taking over the company, Yamaha has invested heavily to produce a new generation of placement systems, and these are now available in South Africa from Zetech.
i-Pulse, a truly international company, has most of its sales outside Japan and agencies are established worldwide. Some are well known such as Blundell Production Equipment in UK, Electron Schilag Agencies in Israel, Amistar in USA, Seika Sangyo in Germany, and others.
Zetech says that the i-Pulse M1 Plus placement machine combines high speed placement of chip components with the flexibility to handle the very latest SMT package including BGA, CSP, TSOP and odd-form components. This is the mounting centre concept that is unique to the i-Pulse technology.
Features of the i-Pulse M1 are:
* On the head fly scanning and correction.
* Six heads with independent Z-axis control.
* Up to 120 feeders.
* Dual drive servo motors.
* Windows NT software.
* 0201 capability.
* 460 x 410 mm placement area.
* Unique forced cooling of machine frame to ensure stability.
* Better than 0,3 mm lead pitch capability.
The i-Pulse M1 can be configured to suit both high volume and high mix production requirements. This unique single platform design eliminates the need for costly two-machine set-ups with chip shooter and flexible placer combinations. The result is a reduction in feeder types and machine consumables, reduced floor space and simplified training requirements.
New models
At Mounter Zone in Inter Nepcon, Japan 2003, the company introduced new models at the Fine Art Workshop.
Further development in the performance and ability of the M1 mid-range machine resulted in a new mounting centre called the 'M1 plus'. This delivers the performance of the M1 at a higher accuracy, with more flexibility and faster throughput.
Also shown was a small but powerful mounter called the i-pulse M CUBE. This is a mini module mounter that has been developed with the concept of compactness, high-efficiency, and minimum cost. The machine size is 1195 (w) x 1275 (d) x 1350 (h) mm, and performance is over 11 000 CPH (based on IPC-9850). More- over, a wide range of components from 0603 (0201) to 31 mm square, can be applied.
In addition to these, i-Pulse exhibited the high-efficiency dispenser - D1 - and the ultra-compact dispenser - SDR - as well as other products that allowed free customisation according to customer requirements.
SA implementation
The first i-Pulse M1 Plus pick and place machine in South Africa was installed at IO Tech Manufacturing in Johannesburg. The installation and customer training was extremely quick and trouble-free, and customer products are already being produced with this new machine. According to Zetech, customer production currently runs faultlessly and at great savings compared to the quality, throughput and efficiency of pick and place equipment used prior to the i-Pulse M1 Plus installation.
The machine was installed by Zetech with an i-Pulse engineer arriving soon after installation of the first machine to provide additional support and training, as planned.
About Zetech
Established in 1986, Zetech supplies manufacturing equipment, materials and technical support to the electronics industry. Most of its customers are major South African electronics manufacturers. The company says that its strength lies in expertise, market exposure, access to international technology resources and a hard-earned reputation in the industry. More than just a supplier of equipment and materials, Zetech also analyses customers' requirements and develops recommendations for production process, equipment and materials. It also provides full technical support for the majority of the supplied equipment, which includes installation, training, maintenance, spares and process support.
Additionally, systems integration services are provided by Zetech, and these range from CAD/CAM software to turnkey manufacturing lines integration. Consulting services are provided in specialised equipment and in the technologies of surface mount and hybrids.
For more information contact Zalman Orlianski, Zetech, 011 789 3230, [email protected]
| Tel: | +27 11 609 1244 |
| Email: | [email protected] |
| www: | www.zetech.co.za |
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