Competitors in Semi-Automatic Printer market?

Just out of curiosity, who's holding the market for the semi-automatic screen printers these days aside from Transition Automation? I know MPM offers some printers in that price range, but are they holding any real market share in that niche?

DEK and MPM seem to have the lion's share of the mid-range to high-range automatic market with some presence of Fuji and Panasonic, and Elite appears to hold court in the manual end.

Just a curiosity as I try to weed my way through this ever changing (and relatively incestuous!) business.

Jennifer

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Jennifer,

AMI sells some SMT printers, 908-722-7100. Also, some of the pick and place vendors have printers available for assembly line integration with their own equipment. Universal is affiliated with DEK and MPM is affiliated with the whole Speedline/Cookson product mix. Both of the latter have corporate owership ties with their affiliates. Dan.

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| Jennifer, | | AMI sells some SMT printers, 908-722-7100. Also, some of the pick and place vendors have printers available for assembly line integration with their own equipment. Universal is affiliated with DEK and MPM is affiliated with the whole Speedline/Cookson product mix. Both of the latter have corporate owership ties with their affiliates. Dan. |

Yeh Dan,

Bought one of those DEK/Universal 265's awhile back. Swear it went faster with their name on it. Never done AMI. What's it all about?

Earl Moon

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| Yeh Dan,

| Bought one of those DEK/Universal 265's awhile back. Swear it went faster with their name on it. Never done AMI. What's it all about?

| Earl Moon

Hello Earl!

I have spoken to AMI a couple times while trying to do some research on printers in general. Their website is located at "www.ami-presco.com." I can't speak of their quality or customer service, as I'm still playing phone tag with them.

I'm trying to determine mainly, who else is playing in that market? Is there anyone else holding market share? How much market share does everyone think AMI has of this segment? Like with my initial question, I know Elite holds the market in manual, DEK & MPM hold tight in the mid to high range automatics, but then there's the semi-automatic segment that I'm just not familiar with.

That's all - just thought this would be the best place to pose this question before I did extraneous research.

Thanks!

Jennifer

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| | Yeh Dan, | | | Bought one of those DEK/Universal 265's awhile back. Swear it went faster with their name on it. Never done AMI. What's it all about? | | | Earl Moon | | Hello Earl! | | I have spoken to AMI a couple times while trying to do some research on printers in general. Their website is located at "www.ami-presco.com." I can't speak of their quality or customer service, as I'm still playing phone tag with them. | | I'm trying to determine mainly, who else is playing in that market? Is there anyone else holding market share? How much market share does everyone think AMI has of this segment? Like with my initial question, I know Elite holds the market in manual, DEK & MPM hold tight in the mid to high range automatics, but then there's the semi-automatic segment that I'm just not familiar with. | | That's all - just thought this would be the best place to pose this question before I did extraneous research. | | Thanks! | | Jennifer |

Jennifer,

I hope this is not appropriate, but it sure is nice to talk with someone of your gender. These damn guys drive me nuts. Hoping this kind of talk not offensive, I'll continue without currently knowing anything about the semi-automatic world anymore (since 1993).

I do know that even these type machines have become more sophisticated - many beyond the micrometer setup era. I agree that DEK and MPM own nearly 100% of the higher end printer world. If your just setting up an SMT line and money is tight (when isn't it) it's tough justifying one of the big guys equipment. However, both DEK and MPM make some interesting stand alone machines though I know you checked them out.

Wish I could help more, but I don't even know where to start as it's tough getting smaller shops, as an example, to even have objective information concerning their performance/capabilities. There was this outfit in San Diego though. Was it AMI or some other three letter reference designator?

Best wishes on your trek,

Earl Moon

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| Just out of curiosity, who's holding the market for the semi-automatic screen printers these days aside from Transition Automation? I know MPM offers some printers in that price range, but are they holding any real market share in that niche? | | DEK and MPM seem to have the lion's share of the mid-range to high-range automatic market with some presence of Fuji and Panasonic, and Elite appears to hold court in the manual end. | | Just a curiosity as I try to weed my way through this ever changing (and relatively incestuous!) business. | | Jennifer Hi there - seems we are on the same quest. I believe Earl's three initials are SMT for Surface Mount Technologies in Laguna Hills Ca. 714/768-0178. As I recall, they make a variety of machines similar to the Transition Automation machines. I have not used them| but I hear good things. Quad also markets a modest machine, the VMP20, that I understand is made by MPM. I'm leaning towards a refurb MPM SPM. |

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| Just out of curiosity, who's holding the market for the semi-automatic screen printers these days aside from Transition Automation? I know MPM offers some printers in that price range, but are they holding any real market share in that niche? | | DEK and MPM seem to have the lion's share of the mid-range to high-range automatic market with some presence of Fuji and Panasonic, and Elite appears to hold court in the manual end. | | Just a curiosity as I try to weed my way through this ever changing (and relatively incestuous!) business. | | Jennifer | | Jennifer,

I've had some experience line intergrating some Semi-automatic printers as I deal with Pick and Place machines. A few I don't see mentioned are Suface Mount Techniques(SMT) in Laguna Hills, CA . They make good flexible tooling and specialize in large board size 24x 30 and up. Also there is ASMTEK(sp) that is out of England but was recently bought by MPM for a lower end printer offering. I think that they are still selling under this name. This is not the dispensing company with a similar name. There is also HTI in MA along with Transition Automation which you already have mentioned.

Hope this helps.

Ed R

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| Just out of curiosity, who's holding the market for the semi-automatic screen printers these days aside from Transition Automation? I know MPM offers some printers in that price range, but are they holding any real market share in that niche? | | DEK and MPM seem to have the lion's share of the mid-range to high-range automatic market with some presence of Fuji and Panasonic, and Elite appears to hold court in the manual end. | | Just a curiosity as I try to weed my way through this ever changing (and relatively incestuous!) business. | | Jennifer | | Jenn: DEK and MPM sales reps love to tell people about their market share. Manual printer suppliers also know their market share. You should ask them to share that information with you.

I low loaded shops,I see:

* A lot of HTI and Trans printers. * Some Elite, as you mentioned.

But as John stated, I too would rather have a rebuilt SPM any day.

TTYL

Dave F

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Thanks Earl for your insight! I sometimes feel conspicuous as one of the few women I've seen frequenting this board, but everyone's been helpful and has resisted the overwhelming temptation to pat me on the head.

From what you and some of the other "guys" on the thread have mentioned, there's MPM, AMI, HTI Engineering, Surface Mount Techniques, and Transition Automation.

Anyone heard anything about APS? Are they a decent size segment player or a niche market company? Do I assume again, from the fact that some of you have stated that you'd rather buy an MPM SPM that they are the market leader in this segment as well?

Right now I'm just doing research - not in a position to buy.

Any insight into this market is always interesting to me! Thanks to all of you for your posts.

Jennifer

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| Thanks Earl for your insight! I sometimes feel conspicuous as one of the few women I've seen frequenting this board, but everyone's been helpful and has resisted the overwhelming temptation to pat me on the head. | | From what you and some of the other "guys" on the thread have mentioned, there's MPM, AMI, HTI Engineering, Surface Mount Techniques, and Transition Automation. | | Anyone heard anything about APS? Are they a decent size segment player or a niche market company? Do I assume again, from the fact that some of you have stated that you'd rather buy an MPM SPM that they are the market leader in this segment as well? | | Right now I'm just doing research - not in a position to buy. | | Any insight into this market is always interesting to me! Thanks to all of you for your posts. | | Jennifer | Jennifer,

At the risk of driving you off, I must say it's not your head we would pat. We are women starved on this forum. We just can't help it, or is it just me?

If you haven't left for good, let me say I too would look to MPM stand alone systems. You know all the rest. All the micrometer tweaking, pneumatic driven, non vision stuff has gone. If it hasn't, don't bother.

It's got to have servo and/or stepper motor drive capabilities with some type stencil/board alignment system, and a good vision system to recognize fids. And on it goes.

Earl Moon

And yes Justin, I'm a dog. Wisconsin in the summer, or winter as I think of it, will drive you to this condition/species.

Moonman

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| Thanks Earl for your insight! I sometimes feel conspicuous as one of the few women I've seen frequenting this board, but everyone's been helpful and has resisted the overwhelming temptation to pat me on the head. | | From what you and some of the other "guys" on the thread have mentioned, there's MPM, AMI, HTI Engineering, Surface Mount Techniques, and Transition Automation. | | Anyone heard anything about APS? Are they a decent size segment player or a niche market company? Do I assume again, from the fact that some of you have stated that you'd rather buy an MPM SPM that they are the market leader in this segment as well? | | Right now I'm just doing research - not in a position to buy. | | Any insight into this market is always interesting to me! Thanks to all of you for your posts. | | Jennifer | Jenn: APS is a distribtor/importer. The product they have this week may be different from the product they have next week. Be careful, unless you consider low-end/prototype lab stuff like that throw-away.

I think you should get customer lists from your top three suppliers, call those folk, quiz them using a structured questionare approach, and determine how well those users and their machines match with you intents.

My 2�

Dave F

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