en.Wedoany.com Reported - Clarity Design, an electronic manufacturing services and design engineering company based in Southern California, USA, recently introduced Koh Young's automatic solder paste inspection and automatic optical inspection systems, filling a critical gap in automated inspection capabilities on its SMT production line. Clarity Design is not a traditional contract manufacturer; its operational model encompasses two roles: it is both a full-service electronic manufacturing services provider and a design and engineering team with complete staffing. Company President and Founder Tom Lupfer stated that this dual structure creates a positive cycle between manufacturing and design under one roof—the engineering team can design around its own manufacturing capabilities, while the manufacturing department can provide design-for-manufacturability feedback to the design team.
This engineering-driven approach is exemplified in one of the most demanding areas of electronics manufacturing: medical device manufacturing. Clarity Design holds ISO 9001 and ISO 13485 (medical device design and manufacturing) certifications, is registered with the US FDA as a Class II device manufacturer, and is ITAR-registered to handle restricted military products. Entering the medical field began with supporting the growth of a key customer and subsequently evolved into a core business segment for the company. Under such high compliance requirements, process control is non-negotiable: every circuit board is fully traceable, and every process step is documented.
However, before introducing Koh Young equipment, Clarity Design's SMT production line had a clear shortcoming: a lack of automatic solder paste inspection (SPI) and automatic optical inspection (AOI) equipment. Manufacturing Director Blake Carlson admitted that this was the next improvement the company hoped to make. The team evaluated various used equipment options, even connecting one machine to the production line for testing and evaluation, but failed to achieve satisfactory value. After this comparison, management realized that to invest in inspection technology, they had to choose the right solution, not just an adequate one.
The opportunity to choose Koh Young came from feedback from a potential customer. Lupfer recalled that a company evaluating Clarity Design pointed out its lack of SPI and AOI equipment. When asked which equipment these manufacturers most commonly used, the customer indicated that the most frequently seen brand was Koh Young from South Korea. Shortly after, Lupfer met with Koh Young's Southern California representative, Spencer Boone from PMR, at a trade show, and subsequently arranged a field test that went far beyond a standard showroom demonstration. Clarity Design's process engineer, Gabe Krishnadasan, participated in this evaluation: the team brought fully assembled circuit boards and boards with solder paste applied to the Koh Young facility, ran the equipment for inspection, and proactively created common defects such as tombstoning on the assembled and pasted boards to see if the machine could accurately identify them. This real-world testing on their own products became the decisive basis for collaboration.
Installation of the equipment upon arrival was fully supported by Koh Young. After the SPI and AOI equipment were unpacked, positioned, and leveled, Koh Young's startup support team arrived on-site to inspect and confirm the status of safety interlocks, conveyors, and rails. For training, Koh Young's local representative from San Diego was on-site daily for two consecutive weeks, focusing on SPI training in the first week and AOI training in the second. Krishnadasan stated that after completing the training, he was fully capable of programming both machines, performing daily operations, and interacting with the generated data; within a week after training, he could independently start production lines for new boards. Ongoing support is also a hallmark of the collaboration. Krishnadasan noted that after submitting a ticket to Koh Young America, an engineer typically provides remote assistance within 30 minutes.
Operational improvements after introducing SPI and AOI are evident on multiple levels. In terms of production line efficiency, issues can be detected immediately, and production can be halted to prevent batch defects; offline programming allows process engineers to prepare programs for new boards without interrupting the production line; data from the equipment has become a tool for continuous process improvement—for example, when a certain type of defect occurs frequently, the team can adjust parameters at the front end of the line and monitor the effect of adjustments through AOI. Since Clarity Design also designs many of the products it manufactures, this data feedback loop extends directly to the engineering team, enabling rapid iteration between design and manufacturing.
The cumulative effect is making manufacturing operations leaner, exposing problems earlier, and enhancing competitiveness when dealing with customers. Carlson stated that the production line requires only one operator and one process engineer during steady-state operation, and the introduction of automated inspection makes this configuration more than sufficient. Whenever potential customers visit the factory and see the SPI and AOI in actual operation, they can intuitively understand their value.
Clarity Design, headquartered in Southern California, USA, is an electronic manufacturing services and design engineering company specializing in medical devices, defense, and high-reliability commercial electronics. Koh Young is a global provider of 3D measurement-based inspection solutions for the electronics manufacturing industry.
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