Altus Supports Long-Term Inspection Partnership with Custom Interconnect

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Altus Group, a leading distributor and service provider of capital equipment for the electronics manufacturing industry, has supported the development of a multi-system 3D AOI inspection strategy at Custom Interconnect Ltd (CIL), the UK's largest outsourced semiconductor packaging and test provider. The collaboration reflects a long-term partnership aligned with CIL's increasingly complex manufacturing requirements.

Since 2019, Altus has supplied Seven Koh Young 3D AOI systems to CIL, supporting the staged expansion of inspection capability. The partnership began with standalone Koh Young Zenith 2 systems for high-mix, low-volume production. This progressed to inline deployment as production requirements evolved and CIL's revenue grew from £15 million in 2021 to £37 million in 2024.

Supplied and supported by Altus, Koh Young Zenith Alpha HS+ systems have since been introduced across higher-volume SMT lines, with inspection now deployed across multiple lines and facilities to support a mix of high-mix and higher-throughput manufacturing environments.

Joe Booth, Chief Executive Officer at Altus Group, said: "This has been a relationship that has developed over time. As CIL’s manufacturing requirements have changed, our focus has been on supporting inspection capability that fits how their production operates in practice, working closely with the team both before and after installation to ensure they continue to get value from their systems and have the right support in place as requirements evolve."

As inspection requirements evolved, the relationship moved beyond individual system installations to include longer-term planning and technical support, with Altus supplying and supporting Koh Young AOI systems while acting as the technical interface between CIL and the manufacturer.

Jason Reid, Operations Manager at Custom Interconnect Ltd, said: "Altus will always help us to look at what's next and what we can do with our current equipment. What do we need to learn? What do we need to be thinking about? Because there are things that we'll look at that we've probably not even tried yet, and that's what they're there for. They're there to support us to do that."

The partnership has also benefited from continuity of technical expertise. In 2023, Paul Freeman joined CIL as Head of PCBA Engineering following his previous role as Senior Applications Engineer at Altus, further strengthening the relationship and alignment between inspection technology, process knowledge and production requirements.

Altus continues to support CIL with application support, inspection optimisation and longer-term planning as product complexity and customer expectations continue to evolve and CIL’s production capacity continues to grow.