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Cornell Dubilier Deploys Two Baxter Robots
Boston, MA — Cornell Dubilier, a power capacitor manufacturer, is now using two of Rethink Robotics’ Baxter robots in its Liberty, South Carolina manufacturing plant. The robots will streamline its capacitor labeling and inspection processes, and fill gaps in production. The Baxter systems have two
applications for the company. In the first, the robot will work
on the line to load and unload a con- veyor which places a label on each ca- pacitor. Previously this was a tedious manual process which required a sig- nificant amount of employee time and effort. With Baxter, the operator can
focus on more complicated tasks. The second robot will be used in the in- spection of new capacitor installa- tions. The robot uses a vision system developed in a Cornell Dubilier re- search and development lab to load and unload parts for inspection. Baxter has become a litmus test
of sorts for the Cornell Dubilier team; testing new equipment and process
Baxter robotic system in action.
changes to see if employees can easi- ly perform the task. The team is working on finding new applications for the robot, and plans to use it in a variety of ways in the future.
Contact: Cornell Dubilier Elec-
tronics, Inc., 140 Technology Place, Liberty, SC 29657 % 864-843-2626 Fax: 864-843-2402 Web:
www.cde.com
KIC Unveils Global Rebranding Plans
San Diego, CA — KIC plans to re- brand the company in an attempt to better capture its products and serv- ices. To better represent its goals, the company has also introduced a new tagline, “Making Ovens Smarter.” For nearly 30 years, KIC has been in- volved in the business of automated thermal process tools and systems for reflow, wave, curing, and semi- conductor thermal processes. Over the last decade, reflow oven
manufacturers have done much to make their products more stable, reli- able and less expensive. Looking for- ward, KIC believes that the majority of additional customer value will be created in the utilization of the ovens, and continues to develop new smart technologies in the area. These new advancements lead to reduced produc- tion cost, high quality and new capa- bilities that the electronics assembly
market is starting to demand. The company’s new focus can be
grouped into four categories: process transparency, speed and flexibility, automation, and reduced energy con- sumption. Automatic measurements of the PCB profile and its match to the relevant process window should be shared continuously, and in real- time, with all authorized personnel and MES over the factory’s LAN. This kind of process data helps main- tenance workers troubleshoot and fix issues faster. As electronic product variety
keeps growing, the result is more fre- quent production line changeover. Productivity is lost when a multimil- lion dollar line waits on an oven to stabilize on the new recipe. The com- pany’s technology can provide near instant oven changeover time, or dra- matically reduced downtime.
Though humans have many tal-
ents, automation is increasingly be- ing handed the responsibility of con- sistency in repetition. Automatic sys- tems eliminate manual tasks such as periodic manual profiling and reduce the opportunities for human error in setting up and running the oven. The company is also focusing on
reducing electricity consumption. Ac- cording to KIC, its oven software has been shown to reduce electricity used by up to 15 percent in case studies. One exciting aspect of these develop- ments is that they can be fit into vir- tually all oven models already in use. Now the entire factory can use smart
oven technologies. Contact: KIC, 16120 W.
Bernardo Drive, San Diego, CA 92127 % 858-673-6050 E-mail:
abailey@kicmail.com Web:
www.kicthermal.com
Alpha Partners with the National Graphene Institute to Develop New Materials
Somerset, NJ — Alpha, a producer of electronic bonding materials, has partnered with the National Graph - ene Institute (NGI) at the University of Manchester to develop new graphene-based electronic materials for the electronics assembly, packag- ing, energy and power markets. The collaboration is a multi-
year effort and will focus on soldering materials for applications that re- quire higher connectivity, mobility and sustainability. Graphene-based materials pro-
vide significant improvement in ther- mo-mechanical reliability and are particularly useful in the energy and power industries. “We look forward to many inno-
vative applications for graphene in our products and marketplaces,” stated Richard Ertmann, President of Alpha. “Alpha is thankful to the University of Manchester for this opportunity to work closely with their respected scientists and tech- nicians.”
According to representatives of
the National Graph ene Institute, the decision to partner with Alpha was made on the basis of the company’s commitment to product development. In the time since the opening of the National Graphene Institute build- ing at the University, an increasing number of companies have been working on graphene projects. The organization will be further bolstered
by the planned Graphene Engineer- ing Centre, also located in Manches- ter, which is to be completed in 2017. Dr. Bawa Singh, EVP for Tech-
nology and Corporate Development at Alpha stated that the partnership between the company and NGI will afford many opportunities to develop next generation materials. As the use of graphene-based technologies spreads, Mr. Singh believes the equipment and facilities of NGI will enable the company to make sub-
stantial contributions in the field. Contact: Alpha, 300 Atrium
Drive, Somerset, NJ 08873 % 908-791-3045 fax: 908-791-2399
E-mail:
lkneller@alent.com Web:
www.alpha.alent.co
Business news Physik
www.us-tech.com February, 2016
Auburn, MA — Physik Instrumente (PI), a provider of motion and preci- sion positioning systems, has ex- panded its worldwide offices to Benelux. ALT, a long-time distribu- tor for the company, with a strong presence in the dense marketplace of the high-tech industry, has joined the PI group. The company now op- erates direct offices or production fa- cilities in 12 separate countries. Born out of leadership and en-
trepreneurship, the team remains strong — led by founders Dick Moer- man and Erik Keune, with Markus Spanner from the company’s head- quarters in Germany adding to the subsidiary as an additional manag- ing director. President and CEO of PI, Dr.
Karl Spanner commented on the ex- pansion, “Our motivation and philos- ophy is to give the best, exclusive service to our customers by being represented with a PI subsidiary.” The company’s new location in
Sint-Oedenrade, Netherlands, will serve its motion control equipment, piezo motors, air bearing stages, and hexapod parallel-kinematics to a
wider area of Europe. Contact: Physik Instrumente
L.P., 16 Albert Street, Auburn, MA % 508-832-3456
E-mail:
info@pi-usa.us Web:
www.pi-usa.us
Exar Sensor Interface Wins Award as one of Hot
Instrumente Expands in Europe
100 Products Fremont, CA — Exar Corporation, a supplier of analog mixed-signal prod- ucts, has had its XR10910 16:1 Sen- sor Interface included on EDN’s 2015 list of “Hot 100 Products.” These awards, announced annu-
ally by UBM’s EDN magazine cele- brate some of the electronics indus- try’s most significant products of the year. The products are chosen based on innovation, usefulness and popu- larity. The awards span multiple prod-
uct categories including analog, processors, logic, power, and EDA. Exar’s analog front-end IC picked up an award in the sensors category. Products like Exar’s sensor in-
terface enable force sensing, pres- sure and temperature sensing, and
power monitoring. Contact: Exar Corporation,
48720 Kato Road, Fremont, CA 94538 % 510-668-7000 E-mail:
press@exar.com Web:
www.exar.com
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