Jan 26, 2011 
The sale was facilitated by Torenko & Associates, MVP's sales partner in the Southwest territories of the United States and Mexico, in late December 2010. The AOI systems are expected be operational at EControls’ San Antonio, TX facility the first full week of February. Ken Lucas, Sr. Quality Inspector at EControls, LLC, Richard Osborne, MVP’s North American Sales Manager, Misael Blancaz, MVP’s Senior Field Applications Engineer/Product Engineer, as well as Ron Torenko, president of Torenko & Associates, were present at the sale.
EControls purchased the systems from MVP in order to get better first pass yields, faster line speeds, less program maintenance and reliable customer support.
EControls' current AOI software is limited to what the programmer can adjust, and there is no true linking capabilities. Its current AOI’s speed is close to that of the other machines upstream and, in many cases, is slower. Additionally, optical character verification (OCV) is limited to three-part markings, and the technical support needs improvement. The AOI system EControls is using is grayscale and results in high false alarm rates. MVP’s color system will be much more adaptable.
"The reason we picked the MVP system was the linking capability in the software, true color inspection capability, and the ability to train many different manufacturers' part markings to a single EControls part number," said Lucas. "The economic downturn has made it necessary for EControls to source parts from many different manufacturers, making linking and versatile OCR setup essential. There were other manufacturers out there that met these criteria, but their software interface was not as developed as MVP’s, which equates to a shorter learning curve and software with fewer bugs."
"Working with Ken was a very demanding and challenging process. He had extensive experience with other AOI systems and knew their shortcomings and downfalls. Also, he had looked at many systems before he came to MVP. As a result of his experiences, he knew exactly what he wanted and what he wanted to avoid," said Osborne. "This was a very rewarding experience because when all was complete, he felt he had chosen the best system on the market. MVP is excited to add demanding users such as EControls to our growing list of customers."
MVP’s latest AOI system, the Supra E provides complete inspection capabilities ranging from 2-D paste inspection to pre-reflow, post-reflow and post-wave inspection capabilities. It provides real-time feedback of specific manufacturing process details. The heart of the system is metrology and, as a result, all data reported is measurement-based as opposed to comparative as in most other systems.
The Supra E system provides fast cycle times by using an industry-unique feature ― flying technology (not start-stop) ― and a high-speed image processing capability. Additionally, MVP now offers complete inspection program generation capability in less than two hours. These programs are ready to go directly into production without losing anything, such as solder joint inspection, which can happen with other systems.
About EControls, LLC
Since 1994, EControls, LLC has maintained a primary market focus on engine control solutions, while widening its scope to include industrial control and consumer products. The company offers cutting-edge expertise in the areas of control algorithms, real-time and embedded software, mechanical design, harsh environment electrical design, and dynamic, compressible flow, combustion, and thermodynamic modeling. This expertise in industry changes and standards is enhanced with 16 awarded patents and 75 published technical papers. EControls is an OEM component supplier to several domestic and foreign diesel engine manufacturers and continues to provide consulting services to these clients and others on a contract basis. For more information, visit http://www.econtrols.com.
About Machine Vision Products Inc.
Machine Vision Products is a market innovator and leader in imaging technologies for Surface Mount, Microelectronics and Packaging Technologies. Machine Vision Products provide solutions for both commercial and military applications. The company operates globally with direct operations in the US, China, Malaysia and the UK, with additional representation in countries throughout North America, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit http://www.machinevisionproducts.com.
