Introduction - Introducing Automated First Article Inspection Series

For anyone who is not aware of who I am by now it is probably best to get an introduction down that will show my interest in First Article Inspection. My name is Greg Ross and my company is the developer of the Cluso Vision Systems Automated First Article Inspection System. The Cluso System is arguably  the first commercial system of it's kind that focuses strictly on FAI systems. Cluso was first developed by a CEM in Sydney, Australia in 2003 and still is manufactured and developed there. Cluso Vision Systems is not an Engineering company disconnected from the manufacturing attempting to second guess features that may or may not be required. Cluso is designed by CEM's for CEM's with no excess technological gadgetry which disguise the operation or usability of the system. It is purely developed to be the very best way to perform a First Article Inspection in the most effective manner.

I was pondering who is affected by introducing an Automated First Article Inspection and have decided it is too large of a topic to cover in a single entry. My definition of a complete FAI is ensuring that the SMT P&P machines are producing what the customer intended them to produce at the right revision level. Sounds simple but because of manual methods of inspecting for this are inherently flawed problems emerge randomly and additional steps are added and because problems turn up with them as well and more steps are added, cascading the complexity into an unmanageable octopus, all manual. A total rethink of the entire process that brings it back to the simple root what is the basic need, was required. This is exactly what the Cluso system was designed to do. It allows companies introducing Automated FAI to streamline a lot of areas which become redundant and enhancing the process as a whole. So I have decided to run a series of Blogs which will cover the individual areas affected by the introduction of an Automated FAI. These will include:

Engineering

Quality Assurance

Quality Control

Surface Mount

Management

Any others that may crop up.

Because I am familiar with Contract Manufacturing this series of topics will be centered around the common methods used by CEM's. I will dissect each area and the problems associated with New Product Introduction and FAI in the manual methods. Then I will go on to explain how an Automated FAI system like Cluso will enhance and make the output more reliable. This series will span over several weeks as I get time to write the sections.

Greg Ross

Cluso Vision Systems

greg@cluso.com.au