NEWS
Juki Automation Systems Partners with Cogiscan for RFID Smart Feeders
05 November 2004


Juki Automation Systems Europe signed an OEM re-selling agreement with Cogiscan to integrate RFID Smart feeder technology in the new generation of SMT placement machines.

The Cogiscan solution is replacing the previous smart feeder technology that required electrical contact between the feeder and the machine feeder bank. Juki selected RFID because of its unique benefits in terms of flexibility and reliability. In addition this technology offers all the capabilities of the most expensive smart feeders at a very affordable cost, further lowering the overall cost of ownership for Juki customers.

David Kvavle, Manager of Technical Services for Juki Automation Systems: "When we started looking at RFID we heard about Cogiscan and we contacted them to discuss our requirements. We were impressed by their expertise with RFID, the result of 5 years of working with this technology in the electronics manufacturing environment. Cogiscan already had a proven solution that only required minor adaptation and integration to work with our existing machines and software. This allowed Juki to come up with a world-class solution in a very short timeframe. Our customers will also appreciate the fact that the solution can be further expanded and seamlessly integrated with the entire range of material tracking solutions available from Cogiscan."

The new RFID smart feeder technology is called IFS-X, which stands for Next generation of Intelligent Feeder Systems. The software products offered by Juki take full advantage of the information captured by the RFID smart feeders to enable several critical applications, including feeder setup validation and real-time inventory, both online and offline, as well as component lot traceability.

The new RFID smart feeders were officially introduced at the recent SMT trade show in Nuremberg and the market response has already exceeded expectations with several systems on order from key customers for the new KE-2050 and KE-2060 machines. Other machines models are under development and will be available as field retrofit kits.
About Cogiscan Inc.
Cogiscan supplies automated material control solutions to the electronics manufacturing industry. The Cogiscan platform includes a range of specialized data acquisition hardware and software applications. This unique approach allows manufacturers and equipment OEMs to benefit from current and leading edge technologies such as barcode and RFID (Radio Frequency Identification). The modular system architecture enables seamless integration with legacy and third-party systems, such as ERP, MRP, CIM and MES. Cogiscan customers include many leading top-tier electronics OEM and EMS companies. Sales and customer service affiliates are located throughout the world, including the Americas, Europe, and Asia-Pacific.

www.cogiscan.com
About Juki Automation Systems:
Juki has now installed more than 12,000 placement systems worldwide, establishing us as a world leader to the global SMT market. Currently we are shipping an average of 200 machines per month. Thanks to our many years of experience building flexible and modular placement systems Juki gained an outstanding reputation. Data from the market has shown that compared to systems from other manufacturers, Juki clearly provides the highest reliability and lowest cost of ownership in the industry. To be close to our customers Juki established a worldwide net of sales, service and application offices.

www.jas-smt.com