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SMT Placement Equipment Market
Frost & Sullivan, Aug 2011, Pages: 155
SMT Placement Equipment Market Opportunities Driven by Consumer Electronics Market and Manufacturing Expansion
Demand for Smartphones and Tablets Spurring Sales
The surface mount technology (SMT) placement equipment market has benefited greatly from intensifying focus on product innovation in smartphones and tablets, which are pushing the limits of miniaturization. Equipment manufacturers are ramping up their product portfolios with strong value-added offerings and software solutions. Increasing global manufacturing capacity, available funds to purchase equipment, new product enhancements, and features are major factors spearheading this growth. Apart from this, flexibility, speed, and improved accuracy of placing components are fuelling market momentum. Flexibility requirements in terms of fixing feeders, versatile amount of feeders, and quick changeovers are on the rise, engendering demand for new equipment globally. Electronics manufacturing service (EMS) providers are benefiting from a resurgence of OEM outsourcing. This has encouraged additional investments for SMT placement equipment purchase and upgrades. Electronics manufacturing has regained its momentum with burgeoning end-user demand. “Strong end-user demand from consumer electronics, telecom, automotive, and industrial markets has helped boost sales for SMT placement equipment; there is also a demand upsurge for SMT placement equipment from the rapidly growing LED market,” notes the analyst of this research service. “The growing spotlight on industrial and renewable energy is also engendering incremental opportunities for SMT placement equipment.”
The SMT placement equipment market is under pressure from contract manufacturers and OEMs alike for solutions that offer optimized placement speeds for smaller components. Customers are demanding SMT placement equipment that offers high accuracy and eliminate component infringement and misfits. Miniaturized components such as 01005s and ball grid arrays (BGAs) in the electronics industry are increasing rapidly. Prolific uptake of smartphones and other compact devices is further amplifying the demand for shrinking board assemblies. Smaller component sizes involve greater complexity in accurate pick rates and placement. With such small components, making an accurate deposit is an onerous task. Although this factor acts as a driver for more automated SMT placement equipment, manufacturers have to conduct more vigorous R&D to come up with fitting solutions.
Continuous innovation for maximizing efficiency without compromising speed will remain crucial. SMT placement equipment manufacturers are equipping the product with more monitoring and traceability with enhanced software to minimize pick and placement defects. Improving pick rates and optimizing pick positions with increased communication with feeders can yield significant reduction of misfits and, thereby, alleviate the impact of this challenge.
Competition in this space is intense, and machine vendors realize that product differentiation through hardware will not suffice to sustain growth. After-sales services and software will play a dominant role in differentiating one vendor from another. “Direct competition for sections within the equipment market has companies vying to gain customers for entire SMT product lines,” concludes the analyst. “Capturing customer loyalty is the key to keeping customers throughout the entire process.”
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