OMRON Automation Americas is exhibiting at IPC APEX 2025, held at the Anaheim Convention Center from 18 to 20 March 2025, at booths #2900 and #2910. The company is using the event to introduce new AI-powered functions within its Automated Optical Inspection (AOI) portfolio, targeting measurable efficiency gains in SMT production environments.
The headline claim from OMRON concerns programming efficiency: the new AI-assisted features are stated to reduce inspection program creation time by up to 90%. In practice, AOI programming has long been a significant overhead in SMT line changeover, particularly for complex or low-volume, high-mix assemblies. If substantiated in production conditions, a reduction of this magnitude would materially lower the barrier for smaller contract manufacturers or in-house operations with limited programming expertise.
Alongside reduced setup time, OMRON cites improvements in solder-quality inspection accuracy and a reduction in false positives — two metrics that are directly linked to overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) on an SMT line. False calls remain a persistent challenge in optical inspection, often resulting in unnecessary manual re-inspection and increased cycle times.
On the X-ray side, OMRON is presenting its 3D CT Automated X-Ray Inspection (AXI) systems, which the company says maintain fast inline cycle times while delivering full PCB coverage. Highlighted application areas include PCBs designed for generative AI hardware, eAxle automotive components, and Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors (IGBTs) — components that present challenging inspection scenarios due to complex solder joint geometries and high-density packaging, where conventional 2D X-ray has known limitations.
Process-line integration is addressed through QupNavi+Opti, described as a smart factory monitoring tool that connects data from Solder Paste Inspection (SPI) through to AXI. This closed-loop approach to process monitoring aligns with broader industry movement toward MES-level traceability and real-time SPC, enabling engineers to identify and correct process drift before defects propagate downstream.
OMRON is also bringing its Mobile Technology Center to the show floor, providing hands-on demonstrations of its automation portfolio beyond inspection. Brad Ward, Engineering representative at OMRON, noted that the AI function is intended to make program creation accessible to a wider range of users, reducing dependency on specialist AOI engineers.
For European electronics manufacturers following developments ahead of Productronica cycles, OMRON's IPC APEX 2025 showcase provides an early indicator of where AI-assisted inspection programming and integrated SPI-to-AXI data workflows are heading commercially within the broader OMRON inspection product family.
Quelle: OMRON Inspection – https://automation.omron.com/en/us/news/omron-at-ipc-apex-2025
