Villa Precision International (VPI) is known around the world in the various Glass Cutting industries as the company of choice for precision glass scribing and breaking machinery.

In the spring of 1977, Fairchild Semiconductor, Inc., of Palo Alto, California, became the first liquid crystal display company to use VPI Precision Glass Scribing equipment. Fairchild's production immediately exceeded the long-sought goal of 25,000 parts per week. In the years following, Fairchild utilized VPI equipment to reach demanding production goals of 250,000, then 2,500,000, and eventually 5,000,000 yielded parts per week for a 12.4mm x 25.4mm product made from 355 x 355mm (laminated) substrates.

Edge quality and production yields superior to conventional scribing methods stimulated word-of-mouth advertising. Thus, demand increased until VPI commanded an incredible 70% market share worldwide.

VPI introduced the world's first 600 x 600mm computer-controlled, multihead scriber with scribe placement accuracy of 0.025mm in 1989. Other developments include:

• Enhanced auto-alignment to provide simultaneous 3-axis system requiring only two seconds,
• Successful scribing of micro sheet glass @ 0.075mm & later 0.050mm (0.003" / 0.002") thin,
• Scribers built for the Hybrid Microelectronics industry (Aluminum Oxide & Aluminum Nitride).
• High speed, multihead, computer-controlled shapes scribing,
• Increased linear scribe speeds up to 1.0 meter (40") per second,
• Increased (shapes) scribe speeds up to 325mm per second,
• Delivered (shapes) DXF interface, and
• Pioneered rapid setup for new programs (< 5 minutes).

As of June 1998, VPI had equipment operating in 26 countries with sales directed at several industries, including Flat Panel Displays as well as Precision Glass Scribing (PGS) for cosmetic mirrors, microscope slides, & automotive mirrors, with many sales coming from previous customers. Why the success for this company? VPI customers often experience a 100% Return on Investment (ROI) in less than one year!

Present developments include the FAST-50 multihead scriber: A 1.27 x 1.27M, (50 inches) Precision Glass Scribing Machine operating six scribe heads simultaneously, and available in several models:

FAST-5000S multihead shapes scriber, FAST-5010V, expressly designed for the Generation 4 TFT LCD industry, (includes shapes) FAST-5080S shapes scriber featuring a 2.03 x 1.27M cutting table, conservatively estimated to produce 9,000 75mm rounds per hour!

Our web site and a subsequent teleconference normally provides the technical information required by engineering, production, and purchasing decision makers. VPI continues in the same location for 25 years, at 3027 W. Indian School Road in Phoenix, Arizona 85017-4186 USA.