The Cluso First Article Inspection System was first developed as an inspection aid for its own manufacturing department to assist and streamline the SMT setup of the Surface Mount Loaders in 1987.

Since then Cluso Vision Systems has refined and enhanced the system with additional time saving tools and introduced QA tools into the program to aid in the traceability of production runs. This was out of requirement as there was NO system available in the world which performed these functions.

In 2001 Cluso Vision Systems was setup to market this product to the world. Further refinements were made and are ongoing as enhancements and features are introduced. Feedback from customers in Australia and South-East Asia are the main proponents of change.

Cluso Vision Systems are continually bringing new features to the system and are always on the lookout for additional enhancements which can be introduced the further enhance the useability of the system as a whole for all customers.

Cluso First Article Inspection System

Introduction to Cluso

Cluso is a semi automated first off inspection system that has been developed by an Electronic Contract Manufacturer, to improve the process of first off inspections.

The system was conceived in 1997 and put into practice at Tresmine Pty Ltd in the surface mount area. The idea was to reduce the time taken for surface mount set ups and improve the accuracy off the first off process.

To avoid the costly exercise of rework, most electronic manufactures use first off checks as a process to verify that the surface mount machine has been correctly set up.

The following shows the method that traditionally is followed

The surface mount line is set up and the first board is assembled.

The general procedure is to take the first assembled board from the surface mount area and verify that the board matches the customer’s bill of materials.

The first off board is checked and compared to the bill of material. At this stage the surface mount line will be on hold until the OK is given.

The above ensures that each part is checked one by one against the bill of material. It can get complicated, as most boards do not have component designators marked on the board. Depending on the complexity of the board, up to a couple of hundred components may have to be found. This is very time consuming and can be inaccurate. The board would also be checked to verify that no additional parts are loaded or missed.

On completion the surface mount line is ready for production. The above procedure is full of holes. It relies on the operator to find and check each part and match the parts to the bill of material. It’s a risky operation especially when no component designators are present on the board. All while the surface mount line is out of action.

With Cluso first off inspection system the procedure is streamlined into a simple computerised process that can be handled by a reasonably experienced operator.

With Cluso used in this area the procedure is formulised and can save up to 70% time on first time use, then on subsequent batches up to 90% time saving, with no risk.