Jan 28, 2015 Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. is finalizing an aggressive transition plan to incorporate the Hitachi Sigma Mounter platform into their already extensive portfolio of SMT Mounters, Printers, Dispensers, Hybrid Placers and Inspection / X-Ray Machines. This follows the announcement in September 2014 whereby Hitachi High-Technologies Corporation (TOKYO: 8036; Hitachi High-Tech) resolved to withdraw from the chip mounter business, and concluded a contract to partially transfer assets related to the surface mounter business to Yamaha.
“The addition of Hitachi High Tech’s Sigma™ Series Mounters will complement our existing portfolio of SMT Mounter Machines. In addition to this, we welcome Hitachi High Tech’s entire customer base and want to ensure them that we remain committed to supporting not just the Sigma™ Series Platform, but also will continue to provide world class support to legacy Hitachi Mounter users,” says Yamaha Motor IM America’s President Naofumi Tanaka.
Tanaka goes on to say that “The effective date of the transition will be February 1, at which time Hitachi’s entire North American Mounter Support Staff will become Yamaha Employees. This merging of our service and support groups will ensure that the service that Hitachi users have come to expect will remain constant though the transition. As we move forward, these staff additions will be augmented by our extensive network of more than 20 service engineers in the Americas, ensuring a full coverage of support and service throughout North and South America.”
Strategically, Yamaha believes that the transfer of assets from Hitachi High-Tech Group will strengthen their technical foundations in the high-speed mounter market and create more opportunities for expanding their customer base and ultimately enhance their surface mounter business. Yamaha is committed to the philosophy of providing world-class PCB production and inspection equipment; under the concept that every product with the Yamaha brand is completely designed and manufactured in a Yamaha facility by Yamaha personnel. “We are proud to apply the Yamaha brand to the Sigma™ series and welcome the addition of the Sigma™ series mounters to Yamaha’s existing line of mounters, screen printers, dispensing and AOI systems,” Tanaka continues.
In the short term, Hitachi customers will interact primarily with the same Sigma experts as they have in the past; however Yamaha has an aggressive plan to add substantial technical depth and resources to the team to further enhance their engineering support. In addition, legacy users of the TCM and the GXH Series Mounters will still have access to the same level of support as well, assuring a seamless transition between the two companies. In addition, many of the design, sales and production engineering staff in Japan will make the transition at the same time, ensuring a continuity of development and Quality Assurance that Sigma™ users have come to expect.
Hitachi High-Tech Instruments has been responsible for the development, manufacture, and servicing of chip mounters and peripheral equipment since their acquisition in 2003 of Sanyo High Technology Co., Ltd. and its many patents including turret technology. This transition to Yamaha is expected to be a similar success.
Yamaha expects to aggressively merge both companies’ technologies into their future machine designs, but plans to continue the individual development path already set for the Sigma™ Series platforms as well.
Yamaha plans to showcase the Sigma™ Series G5 Platform at IPC APEX 2015, scheduled for February 24 – 26, 2015 at the San Diego Convention Center, in Booth #3211.
For additional information, visit: http://www.yamaha-motor-im.com or contact George Babka at Yamaha Motor IM America, tel. +1 770-735-2139; E-mail: george_babka@yamaha-motor.com
