Revolutionizing the Future of Quality Assurance of Electronic Components

In the latest episode of The Ctrl+Listen Podcast, Component Sourcing, AI, and Cybord, Octopart’s James Sweetlove dives into the world of electronic sourcing and assembly with Oshri Cohen, CEO of Cybord. With the mission of removing counterfeit and defective components from production lines, Cybord utilizes artificial intelligence and big data to visualize data collection to ensure quality, authenticity, and traceability for Original Equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and Electronics Manufacturing Services (EMSs). 

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Navigating Risks in Electronic Components

During the assembly process, Cybord identifies two predominant types of risk: process risks and materials risks. Process risk refers to uncertainties and issues while manufacturing electronic components or devices. In contrast, material risk pertains to uncertainties related to the raw materials and components used in electronic manufacturing. While the process side has been considered and has the attention of industry leaders, the leaders at Cybord found a lack of risk mitigation on the materials side. Herein lies the challenge: without analysis, every component risks being defective or counterfeit.

Cybord allows its customers to ensure component quality by harnessing the power of data. By analyzing billions of components for each customer, Cybord offers informed, data-driven decision-making. Without any hardware, the algorithms leverage the capabilities of production lines and receive and analyze images, allowing for near-immediate feedback of healthy or defective components. When a defective component is identified, it will be sorted, removed, and documented, mitigating the impact that a faulty component can have on the integrity of the final product. 

Pioneering Reliability and Authenticity

With the challenges the electronic component industry has faced over the past few years, reliability and authenticity are paramount. Technology seamlessly integrates into all aspects of our everyday lives, meaning companies have more pressure on them than ever to produce high-quality, reliable electronic products. Cybord’s commitment to ensuring product quality and traceability reshapes the landscape for companies' manufacturing technology. 

For more information about Cybord and what they are doing to eliminate counterfeit and defective components, please click here.

Transcript

James Sweetlove: Hey, everyone, this is James from Octopart. Thank you for tuning in. This is another episode of the CTRL+Listen Podcast. Today we have a special guest for you. It is Oshri Cohen from the Israeli tech firm Cybord. Do you want to tell people a little bit about what your company does, what the technology is, and what you're all about?

Oshri Cohen: Yes, of course. Thank you, James, for inviting me. A bit about Cybord. Cybord is an Israeli high‑tech company using artificial intelligence and big data to resolve a major issue in the electronics assembly industry, which is related to materials.

When I say materials, I'm talking about the components being assembled on the boards. Today, if you look at the risks you are exposed to during the assembly process, there are two parts: the process side and the material side. The process side is covered by very strong companies like Ascend and Fuji. However, when you look at the material side, the component side, no one covers this part.

This means that all components are not analyzed during or before the assembly, which makes this side of the equation very risky for anyone producing electronic components.

What we do is analyze online without using any dedicated hardware, just utilizing the natural capabilities of the lines to get all the images, inspect them, and provide quick feedback to the line on whether the discrete component is good or bad. If it's bad, we sort it out and explain why.

At the end of the day, we collect a huge amount of data. The system is also used for deeper analysis and data analytics. Since we use big data, we can analyze billions of components for each customer and provide the right insights. This allows people to make informed decisions rather than relying only on statistics.

James Sweetlove: Is this something where, looking at it now, you think, why wasn't someone doing this sooner?

Oshri Cohen: It's not that people didn’t want to do this. Everyone knew they needed it. The problem was that the technology wasn’t available. If you try to use standard machine vision and you have hundreds of millions of component types, you would need at least one golden unit for each as a reference. That's not practical.

Artificial intelligence allows us to do this without golden units and without critical requirements from the customer. We see the components, learn them over time, and generate the model after seeing thousands of samples. Then we're ready to analyze and provide results. AI and big data were simply not available until the last few years, so now this capability is finally evolving.

James Sweetlove: Okay, that makes a lot of sense. Why is this such a game changer in an industry that’s so competitive? How does this help companies make a difference?

Oshri Cohen: Electronics is growing significantly because it enables all modern technologies. To assemble electronics properly, you need new tools. Until today, you couldn't inspect 100% of materials worldwide. Now you can, so why not? That alone is a game changer.

Moving forward, products need to be competitive. Competition is very strong. To be competitive, companies need better cost and higher reliability so their reputation improves. This can only be done through automation and strong technologies that differentiate them. That's why it's a game changer.

James Sweetlove: Makes sense. You touched on this already, but why have quality assurance and reliability become so important to a company's reputation?

Oshri Cohen: In today's world, technology is everything. Everyone relies on it heavily. Look at aerospace—thousands of aircraft currently in the air. Medical devices performing tests. Automotive—cars today are more computer than mechanical. When you deal with these industries, you cannot assume "good enough." Lives are involved.

Even in data centers, customers expect reliable service. No one will accept a product that works only sometimes. That’s why quality and reliability are major priorities in the industry today.

James Sweetlove: Sure. There are so many options now. If one company isn’t doing things well, you can jump to another. It’s not like the past where there was one specialized provider.

Oshri Cohen: Exactly. Competition pushes everyone to be better. To be better, you need creativity, risk‑taking, and openness to new technologies. You rely less on people for repetitive tasks and use software, machines, and robots instead. This is what companies adopt to remain competitive.

James Sweetlove: On the topic of AI and jobs, many people fear AI will replace them. Are you of the belief that AI won’t eliminate jobs but rather repurpose them?

Oshri Cohen: Definitely. I don’t believe people will lose their jobs permanently. Maybe temporarily, but people will always be needed. AI will require people to learn more and bring unique value that AI cannot. The tedious work should be handled by automation and AI.

James Sweetlove: Yes, people should see AI as a tool, not a threat. Regulation is a complex discussion, and we'll see how it evolves over the next decade.

Oshri Cohen: I agree. It may be risky in some areas, but in industry, it's very useful. AI will change the way the industry operates. I’m not afraid of AI adoption in this space. I focus on the area I know well, and AI will be very helpful.

James Sweetlove: You operate with two types of companies: OEMs and EMS. What are the main differences between their needs?

Oshri Cohen: That's a good question. EMS and OEMs are two different creatures. EMS focuses on productivity, throughput, capacity, and margins. They don’t own the product, so they don’t care about reputation or functionality. They follow definitions from the OEMs: bill of materials, AVL, test procedures.

OEMs care about different things—reliability, reputation, competition, risk reduction. They want high quality and reliability to expand their market. These are two very different entities and should not be treated the same.

James Sweetlove: Great answer, thank you. What trends have you seen since COVID in supply chain and component sourcing?

Oshri Cohen: In components, not much change. Semiconductor manufacturing is becoming more sophisticated and productive, but electronic assembly has not improved significantly. Lines look the same as five years ago. No new tools have been adopted to sort materials.

Process control improved, getting closer to semiconductor standards, but material control has not improved.

James Sweetlove: What about supply scarcity? Have you seen issues finding components?

Oshri Cohen: Yes, it's a sensitive topic. Components always go through cycles of shortage and surplus. The second half of 2020 through the first half of 2022 was a disaster—no components available.

Two major factors impact availability:

1. The US–China relationship.
2. Investment in legacy semiconductor technologies (older than 60 nm).

There is little investment in legacy nodes, yet they are still required for many products. This will become a big issue. Additionally, geopolitical restrictions—like recent limits on gallium and germanium exports from China—create major challenges. Most chips rely on these materials. Availability will likely be a major issue in coming years.

This also affects the secondary and counterfeit market. Not all secondary parts are counterfeit, but counterfeit parts enter through that channel. AI and big data solutions can help sort materials before they enter production.

James Sweetlove: Yes, quality control is essential.

Oshri Cohen: Exactly.

James Sweetlove: That brings us to the end of our time. If people want to reach out or follow the company, where should they go?

Oshri Cohen: We have our LinkedIn page and our website. We will participate in the Productronica exhibition next November with Fuji. I invite everyone to join us there.

James Sweetlove: Great. Thank you so much for coming on the show. It's been fascinating talking to you.

Oshri Cohen: My pleasure.