Siemens Automation and Drives acquires Opto-Control

JULY 31--Adding an automatic optical inspection system (AOI) to its Siplace surface-mount technology business, Siemens Automation and Drives (A&D; Nuremburg, Germany; www.siemens.de) has acquired Opto-Control Elektronik Prufsysteme (Bochum, Germany; www.opto-control.de), a company that has installed more than 200 AOI systems.

The AOI systems business unit will be integrated into the Optical Solutions unit of Siemens A&D's Electronics Assembly Systems division. The company says it wants to take advantage of this structure to expand its system with fully automated 3-D inspection systems. Opto-Control's inspection systems are fully automated and use 3-D sensor technology to detect any solder or placement flaws at high speed.

Siemens A&D employs 60,800 people worldwide and in FY2005 earned a group profit of €1.21 billion on sales of €9.84 billion and orders of €10.19 billion