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Well known in the U.S. as a Marubeni import,
Shinkawa’s wire bonders had also been recognized throughout the
world as among the best of class.
The UTC-40 emerged from their long line of automated bonders that
date back to 1977 when Shinkawa introduced the world’s first fully
automated wire bonder by making use of a digital head. The UTC-40
came at a time when Japan’s dominance of technology was unquestioned
and yet it was peaking. While the UTC-40 unquestionably had the
world’s best reliability, it had fallen behind in the computer
controls that were essential for subcontract manufacturing. Without
the flexibility of this new generation of computer controls,
Shinkawa retrenched back to just a supplier to the Japanese market
and focused more on TAB technology.
As such, this system represents a high point in Japanese wire bonder
technology.
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