The Electronics Assembly Systems Division of Siemens' Automation and Drives Group has gained the Global Technology Award for its Siplace D-Series placement machine platform.

The Electronics assembly systems Division of Siemens' Automation and Drives Group (A and D) has been honoured with the Global Technology Award for its Siplace D-Series placement machine platform which was introduced earlier this year. The Global Technology Awards, now in its second year, are designed to recognise companies and people that are achieving the highest standards and driving the industry forward. The new Siplace platform impressed the independent panel of judges with innovations such as the digital vision system, linear direct drives and state-of-the-art software that produce significant time and cost savings in the manufacturing process.

The award was presented at the Assembly Technology Exposition in Rosemont, Illinois, USA.

The new Siplace platform, which was globally introduced in May 2006, meets the requirements for both standard and high-performance applications.

It is based on the modular Siplace platform and features the digital Siplace vision system as well as the latest Siplace software.

With this combination, it meets the needs of all electronics manufacturers in terms of flexibility and price-performance ratio.

Equipped with the innovative digital camera technology, the machines of the Siplace D-Series are able to recognise and reliably place an extremely wide range of components at maximum placement speed.

Its special high-resolution sensors identify components based on their geometry and colour.

Furthermore, the vision system can be pre-optimised for the next measurement to quickly and reliably detect faulty components.

This is extremely beneficial when placing components with leads that are difficult to distinguish from the background.

The vision system then transfers this new data to the Siplace Pro programming system, which makes it available to the placement machine.

Any adjustments can be made directly on the machine or offline on the Vision Teaching Station.

Representing the award sponsor, Global SMT and Packaging, Trevor Galbraith summed up the award: 'The independent jury of Chinese, European and American industry experts felt that the D-Series from Siemens AandD met all the criteria required for this prestigious award.

It was judged on the supplier's capability to meet industrial challenges and apply existing technologies in a creative manner.

The panel also felt that the system excelled in overall quality, economic efficiency and consistent performance.' Ray Bruce, divisional director of the UK and Ireland EA division of the Siemens Automation and Drives Group commented: 'I am delighted to accept this award and that the D Series has achieved this recognition.

It is testament to our ongoing work and commitment to build solutions that deliver true technological and efficiency advantages to our customers.'