outdoorsNW
Quite Involved in Discussions
The OP needs to try to implement AOI for through hole devices. Many AOI machines are optimized for surface mount and don't always see through hole parts well. And even then some parts (some capacitor types for instance) have their markings on the sides in a place that other components can block and therefore the AOI has zero chance of telling a 123 from a 456 because the size is the same, the orientation is the same, and the color is the same.
Yes, ideally the process would be improved. But currently AOI machines are close to doing what the OP needs while through hole machines are expensive, limited in the types of components any one machine can handle, so a company needs several, and not economical for small to medium size production runs.
Better customer design would help, but the reality is most designers know little about PCB assembly and therefore churn out designs with numerous design for manufacturability problems. What worse is many don't want to listen when you try to tell them how to make their board easier to build.
Yes, ideally the process would be improved. But currently AOI machines are close to doing what the OP needs while through hole machines are expensive, limited in the types of components any one machine can handle, so a company needs several, and not economical for small to medium size production runs.
Better customer design would help, but the reality is most designers know little about PCB assembly and therefore churn out designs with numerous design for manufacturability problems. What worse is many don't want to listen when you try to tell them how to make their board easier to build.