PLYMOUTH, UK – Bentec is pleased to announce that it has installed the “Bentec AOI Island” into its UK demonstration facility in Yaxley near Peterborough. The AOI Island is proving to be popular, with multiple customers using the setup to replace reliance on a dedicated operator. Typical payback is only a little more than a year compared to a system requiring an operator and, at this time when recruitment and retention of staff is proving to be so difficult, the AOI Island offers manufacturers a cost-effective solution.

The AOI Island is fed from one direction; simply take a magazine of PCBs to the loader/unloader and push the start button. The boards load and unload into the AOI from the same side, and after inspection they are sorted into either good or no-good magazines, allowing the good boards to be removed and continue the production process, whilst the failed boards can be taken to the remote repair area.

The AOI system is the multi award-winning Mirtec MV-6 Omni 3D Inspection system, which is recognised as having the best cameras, 3D sensors, Z-axis and double-sided inspection capability available, as well as a lighting array combined with automatic programming and debug software to provide unparalleled inspection quality.

“We have more than 140 Mirtec installations within our marketplace, and many of our customers are looking for a more automated solution due to the labour issues that do not seem to be improving any time soon,” said David Bennett, Managing Director of Bentec Ltd. “We developed the AOI Island and, with so many wanting to see it for themselves, it became obvious we needed one at our demonstration facility. There will always be customers who choose the benchtop solution that Mirtec leads the world in, but as both the inline and benchtop are identical in specification, we can offer the best solution that suits our customers’ needs.”

Bentec is the UK/Ireland distributor for the Mirtec inspection range with 15 years of equipment experience having evolved from the Mirtec Europe team, which launched the brand across the whole of Europe. The team remains together within the Bentec organization, offering unequalled technical knowhow on this market-leading range of inspection technologies.