What’s Japan talking about?

Japan leads the world of electronics. Technologies and products developed in Japan set the trends for the global markets. Here’s a peek into the exciting technologies and products being talked about in this country

By Rahul Chopra

Saturday, June 28, 2014: If you want to spot technology trends in the world of electronics, you should look at Japan—that’s what a thought-leader told us a few months ago. So, we decided to do just that, and not only look at products coming out of Japan, but also those making waves across the country, even if manufactured elsewhere.

The foundation for this story was laid during our visit to NEPCON Japan early this year, in the course of discussions with exhibitors and visitors. And the final story took shape based on exchanges we had with many of them after the show.

Rapid prototyping products

Being the ‘in thing’, it was natural to find firms promoting 3D printers and related services at this big show. One brand that stood out was Stratasys, a maker of industry-grade 3D printers. Many partners of the company demonstrated the abilities of different Stratasys 3D printers at NEPCON.

A glimpse into future business models was provided by the Japanese firm, KOIWAI, which specialises in ‘rapid proto casting’. At NEPCON, KOIWAI promoted its 3D printing services and showcased its acquisition of the EOSINT-S Series of 3D printers (EOS is a US-based 3D printer manufacturer). So if you do not have the budget to buy a commercial-grade 3D printer, KOIWAI will print a 3D prototype for you at a nominal fee—just like your neighbourhood photocopier!

Germany’s LPKF had a booth filled with prototyping equipment that R&D professionals would love to get their hands on. A highlight at the booth was the LPKF PhotoLaser U3, which is positioned as ‘the multi-purpose tool for electronics labs’. It’s a compact system that uses UV lasers to machine almost all materials, for applications such as cutting individual boards out of large boards, drilling holes and micro-vias, cutting through solder masks, and even structuring laminated substrates. Another product that caught our fancy was the cute looking LPKF Protomat S63, which according to the LPKF team is an ‘all rounder for rapid PCB prototyping’.

EDA tools

It was pretty clear that the ‘cloud’ was making an entry into the world of EDA (electronics design automation) software too. Quite a few vendors showcased their cloud-based options—Japan’s Quadcept was the first we came across. It provides a Circuit Designer and a PCB Designer on a software-as-a-service basis—so that you don’t have to buy the software, but only rent it on a monthly plan. Unfortunately, the software is only in Japanese for now, but English editions are expected to roll out before the end of 2014.

Japan’s Cloud Testing Service Inc (CTS), which is part of the Advantest Group, was promoting the new phenomenon called cloud-based testing. Aimed at providing testing solutions to designers and manufacturers of semiconductors and components such as MCUs, SoCs, discrete devices, sensors, etc—CTS offers its CouldTesting Station, which is connected to its servers over the Internet and allows you to connect to a library of testing IPs, thus allowing you to create your own testing environment.

VLAB Works offered a pretty interesting range of design solutions—for semiconductor and IC design, embedded software design, system design, et al. Altair HyperWorks, another leading vendor, offered a range of CAE (computer aided engineering) solutions for the electronics sector with specific tools for modeling and automation, design optimisation, impact simulation, structural analysis and mechanism design.

Future Facilities Inc. provided a unique tool named 6SigmaET that uses ‘advanced computational fluid dynamics techniques’ to create accurate thermal models of electronics equipment. The tool is used by designers and manufacturers of components, LED lighting, IT equipment, consumer electronics, power electronics, etc.

Automotive electronics

Thanks to the concurrent Automotive World show, we saw a range of innovative electronics solutions. Two key trends were clear—first, the increasing role of electronics in automobiles resulting in the launch of innovative components, products and platforms; and second, the emergence of new categories of products linked to electric vehicles (EVs) and hybrids.

For example, a range of charging connectors for EVs was demonstrated by Japan’s Yazaki Group, which also demonstrated a connector that could not only charge but even discharge an EV. China’s VAPEL showcased a 1.4 KW charging power supply, a 500 W DC converter and electric vehicle charging stations ranging from 10.8 KW to 126 KW. Korea’s Signet showcased special battery packs for any machine or vehicle operated by electric power.

There was a lot of exciting stuff on the components side too. For example, Microchip’s MGC3130 was demonstrated as ‘the world’s first E-Field-based 3D gesture controller’. And, going by what the Microchip team members said, they expect automotive firms to use such sensors in the future to enable drivers to give gesture-based instructions to their vehicles. ROHM demonstrated a range of solutions based on its wide range of offerings including its body control module, smart key system, camera system, LED headlamp system, and systems to control electronic fuel injection and electric power steering. AMS (earlier Austria Micro Systems) not only showcased its IC solutions for automobiles but also highlighted the firm’s ability to create customised ASICs based on the demand from its customers.

The highlight of Renesas’ demonstration was its range of devices (MCUs and MOSFET/IGBTs) and its R-Car Series platform. There was special emphasis on its power-saving MCUs (RL78 and RH850) designed especially for automotive applications like body control systems, in which an MCU needs to periodically monitor sensors even when the engine is turned off.

Manufacturing equipment and consumables

The first machine to catch our fancy was Samsung’s SLM100 Series, which was showcased as ‘the world’s first LED mounter’ because, as the team explained, it has the capability to do multiple pickup operations simultaneously, with one feeder.

Didn’t Fuji have something similar? We had that question in mind since Fuji is typically associated with very high speed applications. Thanks to a very patient team at Fuji’s booth, we got introduced to its AIMEX IIS platform, which is a range of machines known for their flexibility to handle different applications. A key highlight of this series is DynaHead (HX)—a head that can continue operating even while automatically changing between the 12-nozzle, 4-nozzle and single-nozzle tools—something that could benefit a high-mix, low-volume production system.

On similar lines, Japan’s Alpha Design showcased its Board-Packer AMI, touted as an ‘odd shape parts insertion machine’. The machine has multi-type insertion through a rotary head, and claimed to automate the process in which odd-shaped parts are typically inserted manually.

Talking about high technology, a reflow simulator for production (SMT) engineers was demonstrated by Cores Corporation, Japan. Its Microview (BETA) is a heating observation and measurement system. Essentially, it’s a combination of hardware and software that allows production engineers to recreate reflow conditions, observe, record, analyse issues and develop reports with ease.

Test equipment for manufacturing set-ups

PARMI’s Sigmax stood out first. It’s a laser-based 3D solder paste inspection (SPI) system. The Sigmax team claimed that its smart looking machines were at least twice as fast as its competitors. Hioki showcased two new products: its FA1240 Series of flying probe testers, and UA1780, its fit-line inspection data creation system. TRI demonstrated its TR7700 SIII Series of automated optical inspection systems. Jutze, a Chinese firm, staked its claim on the optical inspection systems space by demonstrating a range of AOI machines.

Shimadzu unveiled its SMX-1000 and 1000L Plus inspection systems. Shimadzu’s team claimed that since these systems were built using microfocus X-ray technology, they could be used for inspecting a larger range of products and applications.

More to come

While we have shed light on some trend-setting products showcased at NEPCON 2014, there are many that we could not cover. Expect information on more products in the near future. 

Electronics Bazaar, South Asia’s No.1 Electronics B2B magazine