How Process Control, Not Promises, Doubled Revenue & Reduced Risk.

By Brent A. Fischthal, Head of Global Marketing, Koh Young Technology

  1. Company Overview
  2. The Challenge: Meeting Tier 1 and OEM Requirements
  3. The Solution: Strategic Partnership with Koh Young
  4. Implementation and Deployment
  5. Key Benefits Realized
  6. Partnership Value Beyond Equipment
  7. Business Results
  8. Scale without Compromise

Custom Interconnect Ltd (CIL), a leading UK manufacturer specializing in semiconductor packaging and complex PCBA assembly, has achieved remarkable growth through strategic investment in Koh Young’s 3D AOI inspection systems. Since partnering with Koh Young, CIL has expanded from two offline inspection machines to a comprehensive fleet of six systems across two facilities, supporting the company’s revenue growth from £15 million to a targeted £47 million—with ambitions to reach £100 million within five years.

Company Overview

Custom Interconnect Ltd operates at the intersection of microelectronics and surface mount technology, offering a unique capability in the UK and European markets. Under the leadership of Managing Director John Boston, who brings 45 years of experience in semiconductor packaging and PCBA assembly, CIL serves demanding sectors including:

As John Boston explains: “There is probably nothing here that an individual can buy in a shop or Amazon or anything like that. It’s all what I would call professional equipment.”

The Challenge: Meeting Tier 1 and OEM Requirements

CIL’s customer base has undergone a dramatic transformation. About 80% of customers are now either OEMs or Tier 1 suppliers, up from predominantly Tier 2 and Tier 3 customers just a few years ago. This shift brought heightened quality and process control requirements.

“They don’t require it, it is an absolute given that you have to demonstrate process control,” Boston notes. “So, you’ve got to put more inspection equipment in, more verification equipment in, more quality people doing the metrics. It’s not just a thing saying we’re really good quality. Prove it.”

The technical complexity of CIL’s work demands exceptional inspection capabilities:

The Solution: Strategic Partnership with Koh Young

Mark Woolven, Process Engineer with 17 years at CIL, led the equipment evaluation. “Originally we had a 2D AOI system and it did us well. But with the new 3D AOI systems coming online and the higher volumes, we wanted to automate things. We went out, did a lot of investigation, saw many different systems.”

Smiling person wearing checkered shirt indoors

The decision to partner with Koh Young was based on multiple factors:

Paul Freeman, Head of PCBA Engineering, who has worked with Koh Young for 15 years across multiple companies, emphasizes the distinction: “For me, it’s key that it’s the only 3D measurement system out there. Historically, a lot of other suppliers will give you a 2D system with a camera bolted on, say it’s 3D. These are true 3D measurement systems. It’s 3D from the ground up.”

“They were really good about the return on our investment and where we’d be in the future,” Woolven recalls. “We had some really good demonstrations on products that we were currently running and the step change from where we were with the 2D to the 3D and how we could remove a lot of the human error from our old manual validation of the actual programs.”

Boston articulates CIL’s stringent supplier requirements: “One of the things I say to all equipment suppliers is that getting in here is quite tough. If a piece of equipment breaks or goes down for whatever reason, we’re probably going to lose fifteen to twenty thousand pounds a day on that one piece of equipment every single day. When we buy a bit of equipment, it’s not just its capability, it’s the backup and support that goes with it.”

Smiling man in suit indoors

Implementation and Deployment

CIL has strategically deployed Koh Young inspection systems across their operations:

As Woolven explains: “As an EMS, the jobs are constantly starting and stopping, so we’ve kept them as batch systems. And then we’ve brought in our new facility up the road. We now have three inline Koh Young inspection machines.”

Custom Interconnect company building exterior view

Key Benefits Realized

Freeman describes the transformative impact of inline inspection: “Initially we had them offline. That’s very reactive, sort of after the event. What we want to do is bring them inline, and as soon as we see an issue, it allows the operator at SMT to react to the process further upstream.” The measurement-based approach provides clarity: “Because it’s measurement and we’re able to measure to IPC, it’s clear cut. You know, is it a pass, is it a fail? So, it’s a very useful measurement system, not only for us internally but for our customers.”

Symon Franklin, Production and IPC standards committee chair, highlights the built-in standards capability: “We’ve moved from a 2D AOI system to the Koh Young equipment, and we’ve found it to be world-class, really easy to program, and really straightforward to interpret the results. There’s settings within the machines that we can actually straight away just say this must conform to IPC class two or class three, and the settings are all there already.”

Person leaning on a concrete pillar outdoors

The KSMART software suite has transformed CIL’s programming and quality management approach. Woolven reports: “Most of the programming is now done away from the line, probably about 80 to 90% of it. Once the machine’s up and running, the statistics are all sent to the server. Any of us can access it from our desks and see what exactly is going on the line, how many boards have passed per batch, if they are failing, are they false failures, are they real failures, what can we actually do about them? And it highlights that very, very quickly.”

The system provides comprehensive traceability for quality assurance and recall management: “We can go back with the serial number of the board, it could have been six months, it could be a year, and we can go back and see what that job looked like when it went through the machine. Was the fault diagnosis highlighted, was it part of this, was this good? In which case you can look further down the line at follow-on processes.”


Jason Reid, Operations Manager, emphasizes the adaptability requirement: “Our view is that the machines that we’ve got should be able to do the very basic to the very complex and push the boundaries for us. When we’ve done some boards that are over four and a half to five thousand different components in multiple positions, then you need the equipment that can not only populate that but also inspect it and verify you’ve done the right thing.”

Partnership Value Beyond Equipment

Franklin articulates the partnership philosophy: “Building the partnerships with various companies is very important and it’s something that CIL have always looked to do. So actually building up those relationships with our suppliers so they know that we will come and speak to them, but we know that we will get a high level of support from those as well, which is very important because we’re trying to minimize downtime and keep the systems up and running.”

Reid highlights the role of Koh Young’s UK distributor, Altus: “Altus will always help us to look at what’s next, look at what we can do with our current equipment, what do we need to learn, what do we need to be thinking of? Because there’s 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.”

Business Results

The impact on CIL’s business has been dramatic. Boston shares the growth trajectory: “Go back 2021, middle of COVID. We were doing 15 million turnover. Just gone, we did 37 million, we are targeting 47 million this year. Can we see 100 million potentially in the next five years? And the answer to that is 100% yes.”

Key Growth Metrics:

This growth has been supported by continued investment in Koh Young technology and expansion of manufacturing capacity, including the recent purchase of additional facility space.

Scale without Compromise

Custom Interconnect Ltd.’s partnership with Koh Young demonstrates how advanced 3D AOI technology, combined with comprehensive software solutions and strong technical support, can enable a contract manufacturer to scale rapidly while meeting the stringent requirements of Tier 1 and OEM customers.

The combination of true 3D measurement capability, IPC standards integration, comprehensive data management through KSMART, and reliable ongoing support has positioned CIL as a unique capability provider in the UK and European markets that is able to handle everything from silicon wafer processing through final product assembly with world-class quality assurance. As Boston concludes: “Once we’ve decided on equipment like Koh Young, generally we stick with them.” This long-term commitment reflects the strategic value of the partnership in supporting CIL’s ambitious growth plans.

For more information visit https://www.cil-uk.co.uk/ or www.kohyoung.com.