On July 22, technology leader ASM Assembly Systems presented its latest products and updates in the areas of printing and placement. The event was held for the first time as an internet livestream under the title “ASM Impact – Release Summer 2020”. The international interest was strong – more than 900 customers, interested parties and media representative from all over the world attended the one-hour event and the subsequent workshops on various subjects.
The live event focused on all segments of SMT production and introduced hardware and software innovations from ASM that deliver even more performance, effectiveness, and flexibility for electronics manufacturer. Attendees were able to ask questions already during the event. Following the one-hour presentation, many electronics manufacturers took advantage of the offer to delve deeper into the individual innovations in separate video conferences and question-and-answer sessions.
“Since the pandemic makes trade fairs and larger meetings impossible, we had to come up with new ways of communicating. The livestream was a huge success for ASM, as indicated by the impressive attendance all over the world and the active participation in the sessions afterward,” says Gabriela Reckewerth, Senior Director of Global Marketing at ASM. “ASM presents its broad portfolio of innovations twice a year. This event was an experiment that enjoyed outstanding acceptance, which is why we will keep offering ASM Impact Events in the future as a supplemental format and an additional communication channel. It saves on travel expenses, and the modern, interactive streaming format allows customers to ask questions and interact directly with colleagues and our experts.”
Broad spectrum of innovations
The new ASM Release Summer 2020 featured many productivity-enhancing innovations. A new generation of the SIPLACE SX platform, which has been extremely successful in high-mix electronics manufacturing environments, is now available with even more advanced SIPLACE SpeedStar, SIPLACE TwinStar and SIPLACE MultiStar placement heads. The result: significant improvements in flexibility, placement performance and component spectrum.
For the recently introduced DEK TQ high-volume printer, the new release features a high-flow vacuum solution that provides maximum support of small and highly complex circuit boards. Also presented were improvements in software offerings for DEK printing solutions such as ASM Printer Programming. With ASM SmartStencil, users now have access to an RFID-based stencil management solution for the reliable control of stencil service life cycles. The system is not limited to ASM stencils – stencils from third-party manufacturers can be easily retrofitted with ASM SmartStencil RFID tags.
World premiere of ASM Works
One of the highlights was the world premiere of ASM Works, the new modular Software Suite with which customers can create their software structure for the integrated smart factory step-by-step in accordance with their specific requirements. Even the ASM Works Core Package provides the architecture with which machines can seamlessly exchange data and users can plan orders and setups for the entire production. It can be used to create printing and placement programs, monitoring functions can display status, order progress and material consumption for each line, and remote monitoring functionalities are built-in.
Eight ASM Works Upgrade Modules can be installed at any time and in any order to improve the most important workflows in the respective production with additional smart functionalities. All the suite’s tools can be started and administered from a common launch pad, and rights, roles and other general parameters are centrally managed for all modules. The great advantage: with ASM Works, electronics manufacturers no longer have to worry about interfaces, compatibilities, data transfers across lines, or licensing and upgrading. Projects like upgrading to a highly integrated, smart and real-time-supported electronics production can be accelerated significantly with ASM Works.
Enthusiastic attendees
The new format was welcomed enthusiastically by the electronics manufacturers who attended the event: “What ASM managed to convey in only one hour was very exciting and attractive,” said one of them. “The expert chats and spin-off discussions helped me a lot to dive deeper into the various topics,” said another. Many users were pleased that technology leader ASM will supply them with this type of information in the future live and in person, but without having to travel.
For more information, visit www.asm-smt.com
