2019_2q_omron_e

23/42 IAB: Revolutionary Application Example (Sensory Testing)

Starting first with the automated sensory inspection solution. Please turn to slide 22. As a result of increasingly demanding requirements for higher performance levels or improved quality levels in compact electronic components, production processes for electronic components and lenses has made inspections for super fine defects essential. Until now, it had been considered virtually impossible to automate inspections for such super fine defects; all inspections were done visually by human beings. Because the defects are so small, it had been challenging for inspectors to visually detect such defects without changing the angle of light or using magnification; the inspection process was very physically demanding. This process has long been an area that customers have strongly wanted to automate; in very large facilities, customers still have hundreds or thousands of people involved in the inspection process. OMRON has been able to fully automate the visual inspection process. Why is OMRON able to achieve this? It became possible through the acquisition last year of dedicated FA camera maker Sentech. Sentech has vision sensor technology that is superior to human vision. We were able to combine this with OMRON’s proprietary sensing technology, a software that captures human observation behavior and decision-making process in an algorithm, and lighting technologies to create a single application package for our customers. I cannot provide you with specifics, but I can tell you that for one of our electronic components’ customers, we are now poised to reduce the number of workers in the inspection process in one of their facilities from 400 to zero through full automation. We will be looking to apply this solution to other customers as well. I will talk about the traceability system next.