Surface-mount technology (SMT) component placement systems, commonly called pick-and-place machines, are robotic machines which are used to place surface-mount devices (SMDs) onto a printed circuit board (PCB). They are used for high speed, high precision placing of a broad range of electronic components onto the PCBs which are in turn used in computers, consumer electronics, and industrial, medical, automotive, military and telecommunications equipment. Similar equipment exists for through-hole components. This type of equipment is sometimes used to package microchips using the flip chip method.