and place machine manufacturers include: Juki Fuji Panasonic Yamaha (bought I-Pulse, however they were marketed to the US and Europe as Assembleon. Yamaha was marketed to primarily Asia, until the acquisition of Assembleon by K&S.) Hanwha Precision Machinery (formerly Hanwha Techwin after the acquisition of Samsung Techwin by Hanwha Holdings.) Kulicke & Soffa (K&S) (former Philips and later Assembleon) Sony (Now Juki) ASM Assembly Systems (former SIEMENS / SIPLACE and DEK) Universal Instruments Mycronic Europlacer Essemtec Nordson (Bought Dima) Hitachi (Former Sanyo, SMT division sold to Yamaha) DDM Novastar Opulo Operation The placement equipment is part of a larger overall machine that carries out specific programmed steps to create a PCB assembly. Several sub-systems work together to pick up and correctly place the components onto the PCB. These systems normally use pneumatic suction cups, attached to a plotter-like device to allow the cup to be accurately manipulated in three dimensions. Additionally, each nozzle can be rotated independently. Component feeds Surface mount components are placed along the front (and often back) faces of the machine. Most components are supplied on paper or plastic tape, in tape reels that are loaded onto feeders mounted to the machine. Larger integrated circuits (ICs) are sometimes supplied arranged in trays which are stacked in a compartment. More commonly used ICs will be provided in tapes rather than trays or sticks. Improvements in feeder technology mean that tape format is becoming the preferred method of presenting parts on an SMT machine. Early feeder heads were much bulkier, and as a result it was not designed to be the mobile part of the system. Rather, the PCB itself was mounted on a moving platform that aligned the areas of the board to be populated with the feeder head above. Conveyor belt Through the middle of the machine there is a conveyor belt, along which blank PCBs travel, and a PCB clamp in the center of the machine. The PCB is clamped, and the nozzles pick up individual components from the feeders/trays, rotate them to the correct orientation and then place them on the appropriate pads on the PCB with high precision. High-end machines can have multiple conveyors to produce multiple same or different kinds of products simultaneously. Inspection and visual system The part being carried from the part feeders on either side of the conveyor belt to the PCB, it is photographed from below by using high