【2022 Solutions】 Understand customers better than they do themselves, business opportunities created by the pandemic doubles the performance of Spingence Technology
14"After the COVID-19 pandemic, even though we could not expand business overseas, the pandemic increased demand for AI automated optical inspection (AOI) and drove another wave of rapid growth in performance," said Jesse Chen, Founder and President of Spingence Technology. The company started early in AOI and accumulated a wealth of experience, resulting in performance in 2021 growing multiple times compared with the previous year. Spingence Technology's AI technology has great potential, and its fundraising plan successfully attracted strategic investors, such as the leading industrial computer company.
Founded at the end of 2015, Spingence Technology started out as a developer of automation software to help customers lower the barrier to automation. In just two years from 2017 to 2018, AI technology quickly took off. At that time, Jesse Chen observed that product defect detection caused headaches for companies in the process of automating manufacturing. The traditional method of manual visual inspection was time-consuming and laborious. Moreover, human error easily occurred and AI deployment could not be customized, resulting in high investment costs for enterprises.
Seizing the AOI market, successful application of AI optical defect detection
"The gap in AOI is defect detection. Since defects cannot be clearly defined, conforming products were often labeled as non-conforming products to meet the customer demand of not releasing defective products. As a result, the overkill rate is often very high, which not only increases the cost of the manufacturing plant, but also lead to a waste of resources." In addition, there is strong demand for process automation due to the shortage of labor in the production line, which created a rare business opportunity for Jesse Chen. AI optical defect detection has become the focus of Spingence Technology's AI applications.
After accumulating nearly 8 years of experience in production line automation, Spingence Technology target customers in three major industries, namely passive components, connectors, and semiconductors, and established a huge database for the production line product defect data it collected. Since Spingence Technology started early, it enjoys the advantages of a first mover and continues to optimize database data. Its wealth of experience enables it to quickly determine customer needs and propose solutions.
Spingence Technology uses image recognition and deep learning technologies to develop AOI algorithms, and developed AI defect detection solutions with an accuracy greater than 99%. In terms of specific benefits, the overkill rate in the semiconductor industry can be significantly reduced from an average of 5%-8% to less than 3%, and the overkill rate of passive components can also be reduced from 5% to 1.2%, which can save customers nearly NT$300 million in expenses. This not only reduces the waste of human resources, but also makes Spingence Technology a good helper for customers' sustainable intelligent manufacturing.
The outbreak of COVID-19 at the end of 2019 has changed the way people live and work around the world. During the pandemic, demand on automation in the manufacturing industry significantly increased due to the need to avoid frequent contact between people. Spingence Technology has a good reputation in the industry, so business kept coming in and doubled the number of customers and revenue.
The secret to winning: Follow the footsteps of customers and always think more than customers
In addition to Taiwan, Spingence Technology has also extended its reach to markets such as China and Vietnam, where Taiwanese businessmen gather. The team in China is expected to increase from 3-4 people to 10 people, and Vietnam also hopes to have a team of 5 people to provide closer services to customers.
"Spingence Technology always follows the footsteps of its customers. We are wherever our customers are." Jesse Chen went on to say that although the pandemic has brought another wave of demand for AI automatic detection, due to the impact of border controls, it was hard to go on business trips. Meanwhile, overseas markets on-site personnel to provide nearby services, including consultation and diagnosis, AI implementation, and calibration, all of which require dedicated personnel.
Spingence's automation software development platform integrates modularized visual inspection, motion control, I/O control, and AI analysis functions. Coupled with the AI training software "AINavi", one heat sink inspection machine can complete multiple inspections and continue to train the AI deep learning model, which will further lower the miss rate of the machine and improve its inspection quality. The integration of AINavi and automation is already sufficient to meet most functional requirements of customers, and then a small number of customized services are provided for different industries and customer needs. This allows the company to quickly provide solutions needed by different customers.
Popular among strategic investors, the company has attracted investments from industrial computer companies and venture capital
Spingence Technology has made a mark in the field of AI+AOI inspection in the manufacturing industry, and has gain the favor of strategic investors. In 2019, a leading industrial computer company made a strategic investment in Spingence Technology and integrated the AINavi deep learning visual inspection tool with the company's complete hardware platform. The cooperation between the two parties provides more complete service solutions to customers, creating an example of win-win through "big (large company) leading small (start-up)".
In February 2022, Spingence Technology reported another good news in its fundraising and received an investment from venture capital, all of its original major shareholders also increased their investment, and Spingence Technology successfully completed the Pre-A round of funding. The company will continue to expand its business in the short term, and establish a foothold in China and Vietnam. In the future, it plans to build expert systems for passive components, connectors, and semiconductor industries, deepening its domain knowledge and data analysis to create greater value for customers. Spingence Technology prides itself as a management consulting company for the manufacturing industry, that is, it provides customers with the most appropriate and valuable consulting services through consulting services, diagnosis, introduction, system launch, personnel training, model optimization, and AI model management.
