by Scott Bronstad | Nov 21, 2018 | Events, News
Electronica 2018, the world’s largest Electronics Show
Electronica 2018 is in the books. Here are the numbers:
- 16 Halls, each larger than a football field and 3 stories tall, filled with hundreds of booths representing thousands of companies.
- 4 full days, plus 2 days of set up.
- In our booth (138 in Hall B5) we had 6 guys (3 from sales/marketing, 3 from engineering/support) from BPM plus another 6 from our European partner, Adaptsys.
- 2 Automated Programming Systems, the 3910 and the newest 4910, which was launched at Electronica.
- 1 Manual Programmer, the 2900L.
- Months and months of preparation went into this trade show
- 2 Pony Kegs of fine German Bier served
- Over 300 sales flyers distributed. We ran out of Manual Programmer flyers by day 2 and printed more.
- Over 50 people participated in our “WhisperTeach Challenge” (more on that later).
- Lots of requests for videos of the 4910. Lots of “eyeballs” from people walking by– there wasn’t anything like the 4910 in the whole show
- A large number of requests for more info, as well as several great meetings with Distributors and Customers
The result: Electronica in Munich last week was by far the best trade show we have ever been to. A lot of great opportunities.
Congratulations to Richard Steinhäuser of Creative Chips in Dresden, Germany; he is our “WhisperTeach Challenge” winner, and will be receiving an Apple iPad.”I am glad that I have won, but lacking the fancy sensors I admit that I was lucky. I am looking forward to the next challenge with (BPM’s European Partner) Adaptsys,” said Mr. Steinhäuser. He did a manual z-height teach of just 2 steps above the fully-automated teach. In second place, at just 5 steps above, was Elliot Williams of Hackaday.com.
The contest was a great way to showcase just how awesome is WhisperTeach. it saved time: approximately 45 seconds vs under 8 seconds for WhisperTeach. WhisperTeach was more accurate than humans, and when setting up jobs accuracy counts (as the machine is set up, so shall it run). If the “teach” is too high, the vacuum could cause the chip to misalign and cause socket problems; teach too low and you could cause flaws or cracks in the device– not just the one taught, but the whole job!
Lots of eyeballs on the 4910, with a top DPH of over 1,700
Our European partners, Adaptsys, were great hosts; they always had snacks and sandwiches, and even had a bar with beer on tap
Many people were interested in Manual Programming
James Holava, Global Sales Director, talking about device programming solutions
Charlie Walton, BPM’s Senior Field Technician, kept the machines purring and the jokes coming
A nice view of the BPM/Adaptsys booth. It was in a great location
Lots of good traffic and conversations
Everyone wanted to know more about the 4910 (and many asked to take video)
Some of the booths were huge, including Arrow
Avnet’s booth was half a city block and 3 stories tall
Matrix Integrated had a very cool double-decker booth
16 halls, each bigger than a football field, held the largest electronics show in the world. This was BPM’s building
Fernado Guillen and James Holava enjoy some free time at the Hoffbrau Haus, one of the oldest restaurants in the world
The view from a church tower in the old city of Munich
by Scott Bronstad | Nov 15, 2018 | News
Day 2 of Electronica is in the books. Our newest machines– the 3910 and the 4910 are running great and getting lots of attention. Our contest this year is “Beat the Teach” Challenge, where we are letting attendees try to see who can teach the critical z-axis without touching the device. We’ve had everyone from visiting students to Physicists try out our system. It’s been fun, and a great way to showcase WhisperTeach… after we let them try it manually, we show how easy it is (and how fast!).
Currently, the leader is Elliot Williams at just 5 steps above WhisperTeach. Simon Ratzer is in second place with a score of 6 steps above. The winner at the end of the week receives a free Apple iPad.
The team of six from BPM Microsystems and our European Partners, Adaptsys, are a little tired, but very excited by the response to our newest systems.
Pictured above is our Region Sales Manager for US and Canada, David Roy, demonstrating the WhisperTeach Challenge with two attendees.
The team from BPM enjoying a well-deserved traditional German dinner (and beverages). Charlie Watson, Colin Harper, Jim Holava, David Roy, Fernado Guillen, and Scott Bronstad.
by Scott Bronstad | Nov 9, 2018 | News, Video
3910 Video– Fast, Easy, Profitable
BPM Microsystems, a leading global provider of device programming systems, showcases another advance to off-line programming— the 3910. Rated at 1,432 Devices per Hour (DPH) on actual tray-tray jobs, the 3910 delivers big on a small footprint. Corey Miles, Director of Customer Service and Scott Bronstad, BPM’s Marketing Guy chat about what makes the 3910 special
by Scott Bronstad | Nov 7, 2018 | Software Release Notes
BPWin Highlights
In the latest BPWin release, we’ve implemented a new feature that allows our users to retry all device operation failures, which improves the job yield. Other highlights include:
- Improving our debugging tools to allow us to resolve most issues faster.
- Improving 8th and 9th generation site initialization upon BPWin startup by reducing firmware download average time by 28%.
BPM 3000/4000 Series Autohandler
- Resolved error handling when an automated programmer stops moving after a placement failure on the 3800MK2 and 3900 model autohandlers.
- Improved the pick retry feature that allows the handler to compensate for tray irregularities or similar events when the initial pick attempt fails.
- Resolved a random issue where site stepper motors do not fully cycle on 9th Gen automated programming sites.
- Added a message to the operator indicating it is necessary to close the safety door interlock when trying to execute the open/close socket feature.
- Updated the process instructions when fast validating multiple sites. Removed message to “remove device” when not applicable.
- Improved the description of the socket disable feature in the programmer settings so that socket failures are distinguished from site failures.
- Updated the Z encoder error message with additional instructions and troubleshooting information.
Device Programming Enhancements
- Enhanced reporting so that the BPWin Job Summary Report now lists a count of all device operation failure types that have occurred for each socket.
- Enabled 9th Gen firmware to categorize and log fatal errors in the blackbox file.
- Resolved an issue where BPWin was invoking serialization at the wrong time for pre-broadcast algorithms.
- Fixed a problem to allow BPWinLauncher to launch the correct version of BPWin if the .bp file was created in BPWin v6.2.10 or later.
- Updated replacement socket information published on our website so that only sockets installed with receptacles are identified as the “replacement socket.”
- Improved the job summary report to properly identify the last serial number used in a serialization job.
by Scott Bronstad | Oct 10, 2018 | Events
150 attendees evangelize electronics
David Roy, Regional Sales Manager for BPM Microsystems, represented BPM at the
Long Island SMTA Show October 4, 2018. He met with contract electronics manufacturers and was able to introduce and spread the word about BPM Microsystems to about 100 of the 150 attendees. “Several participants took extra business cards to evangelize on behalf of BPM Microsystems as well,” said Mr. Roy. “I expect in time to get 1 to 2 new APS opportunities directly or indirectly generated from this show.”
