Side-by-side trial of hanwha SMT Line and JUKI RS-1R on 12-layer automotive boards. Changeover times, energy use, scrap rates, and payback periods measured over 30 days. Results show when high-speed modularity beats compact flexibility—and vice versa.

Last quarter, our 18,000 sq ft EMS plant in Dongguan became a living benchmark. Two identical 12-layer automotive boards—1,200 units/day target, 0402 chips plus 0.4 mm pitch BGA—ran on parallel bays. Bay A: hanwha SMT Line with SM481 Plus mounter and 10-zone reflow. Bay B: JUKI RS-1R with compact oven. Same SPI, AOI, and conveyor speeds. No cherry-picking data; every shift logged in MES.

The real pain point
Legacy Fuji line averaged 18 % unplanned downtime from feeder misloads and manual nozzle teaching. Changeovers ate 22 minutes twice per shift. Goal: cut that in half without new hires.
Hanwha performance snapshot

Placement: 75,000 CPH optimum, ±40 µm chip repeatability.
Changeover: barcode feeder ID + auto rail width = 9 min average.
Predictive maintenance: vibration sensor flagged ball-screw wear 36 hours early; $180 part swap vs $1,200 gantry rebuild.
OEE: 96.2 % over 720 hours.
Energy: 2.1 boards/kWh.
Scrap: 0.7 % (AOI first-pass yield 99.3 %).

Mid-run, production added two 8 mm feeders for a last-minute ECO. Hanwha's modular frame accepted the bolt-on in 4 minutes without stopping the conveyor.
JUKI performance snapshot

Placement: 48,000 CPH sustained, ±35 µm.
Changeover: dual-lane conveyor + quick-release feeders = 11 min (but zero width adjustment when panels differed by <5 mm).
Maintenance: grease-and-go; no dongle, no subscription.
OEE: 94.8 %.
Energy: 2.4 boards/kWh (smaller servo motors).
Scrap: 0.9 %.

JUKI shone when we split the run: one lane 8-layer consumer boards, the other 12-layer auto. No line stop, just recipe swap.
ROI math
Hanwha list ~$220 k (mounter + printer + oven). At 400 k boards/year, payback 14 months via volume.
JUKI RS-1R package ~$95 k. At 150 k boards/year, payback 9 months via lower capex.
Both beat the old Fuji's 26-month curve.
I.C.T's contribution
Before steel arrived, I.C.T modeled both layouts in FlexSim, shaved 1.2 m off conveyor length, and eliminated a 7-second buffer bottleneck. Their engineer camped on-site for 72 hours until CpK hit 1.67 on critical nets. Remote waveform access let us fine-tune Z-force from a laptop at 2 a.m. Spare vision lens (cracked during a reel crash) shipped from Shenzhen warehouse, arrived 9 a.m. next day.
Takeaway for manufacturers

Forecast >300 k boards/year and hate surprises → Hanwha.
Weekly SKU pivots and tight capex → JUKI.
Either way, involve I.C.T at RFQ stage; they ship turnkey, not boxes.

Raw logs available on request: smt@smt11.com.