Despite the influx of companies and systems offering automatic inspection for the PCB industry, its acceptance rate in Europe has been slow. The problem seems to be lack of machine intelligence and inflexibility—factors that European companies cannot tolerate due to the nature of the market and the product mix. A new optical inspection system based on the ‘comparison’ method offers the required flexibility, but has needed a great deal of research into mechanics, electronics and software to overcome inherent problems. As this programme nears completion, a new generation of automatic optical inspection and statistical control systems will be possible.