Cluso First Article Inspection meets all of Itron’s expectations

In the printed circuit board assembly space, a new breed of first article inspection system is saving substantial time and money, so claims production engineering specialist Cluso and, its Americas Distributor, Brock Electronics. We put this to the test by asking a valued and long standing user, Itron, for their views on the whole First Article Inspection (FAI) space, as it applies to PCB Assembly.

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Itron provides advanced resource and business process management and data collection software and hardware for utilities companies worldwide. 

Itron’s production facility in Waseca, Minneapolis, produces high volumes of a limited variety of printed circuit boards. Typically, the circuits are single-sided, approximately 40mm x 90mm, containing between 100 and 150 components, though there are some smaller batches of physically larger products, with higher part counts. Components may range anywhere from 0402 chips and 0.5mm pitch QFNs, to 25mm tall electrolytic capacitors.

First Article Inspection at the Itron facility was traditionally carried out by qualified inspectors who would simply visually inspect the first populated board, and then compare this first-off to an assembly template. Techniques such as this have been used since the advent of PCB assembly but there were a number of potentially serious challenges with this practice. For example, quality personnel were conscious of a 20 minute window before an "inspection delay" brought the line to a grinding halt! Batches of new products (NPI), or higher part count assemblies, placed still greater emphasis on the First Article Inspection process, resulting in significantly more demanding, yet lengthier, inspection routines. Inspectors were occasionally missing defects, such as polarity marks on electrolytic caps, as the inspection routines became longer, more challenging and more pressured. Some old inspection favorites, including missing or extra parts, occasionally cropped up too. The added work and attention required to guarantee quality to Itron's high standards was becoming more expensive and ever more demanding. Maintaining accuracy of inspection records was also difficult and time-consuming, adding still more workload to the already heavy burden on the engineering & support resources.

Having researched the market for a more advanced and reliable solution, Itron decided to purchase a Cluso Vision System, having seen it demonstrated at a local SMTA event. Following a demonstration, Cluso was happy to accommodate Itron’s specific requirements for a large format scanner and clearance for tall parts, and the first system was delivered in 2006. While the Cluso Vision System certainly delivered first article inspection value for Itron over time, the engineering team subsequently reviewed how AOI might improve the whole inspection process, also comparing AOI solutions to the later version of the Cluso system and its newer software platform that had evolved still further over the years. The early system was subsequently upgraded to the current Cluso model, with Itron having sufficient expertise to set it up with no more than cursory remote assistance from Cluso’s Americas distributor, Brock Electronics. The new system is now in daily use at Itron, and continues to ease the FAI burden in this high technology facility.

The primary use of the Cluso system is for first-off inspection of prototypes, new product innovations and major revisions. From the outset, the system was found to be easy and intuitive to use. Unlike AOI systems, the Cluso does not require any program generation, only data import. Itron now incorporates the generation of the necessary files, for input to the Cluso system, into its standard placement program creation procedures. One of the key advantages of Cluso in the FAI space is its capability to run inspection routines, without any requirements for programming, with the corresponding time savings that are so critical for first article inspection and improved SMT line utilization. This FAI system is designed to improve the capabilities & effectiveness of the visual inspection process & not to replace the human element in that critical phase.

The updated system, installed in 2009, incorporates the new and improved software, which has made Cluso, not only more capable, but also more user friendly than the original. This has proven to be of particular value for prototype builds, for when multiple models are built on the same multi-up panel, and for those assemblies with part counts that are more challenging for visual inspection. Interestingly, Itron also uses automated optical inspection on its line, complementing the Cluso first article inspection, by comparing production items with the approved golden board. This is very much in line with the Cluso philosophy, where FAI is seen as a complimentary rather than a competitive or replacement process to AOI.

To Mark Rasmussen, Principal Engineer, at Itron Manufacturing, the key benefits are clear: reduction in the time taken for first article inspection and accurate inspection of prototypes. 

On a day-to-day basis, while Rasmussen finds the speedy set-up time (that gives him a really short FAI time from start to finish at around 15 minutes) to be of paramount importance, it's the dramatic improvement in the quality of visual inspection results that really makes for a really good winning combination. The reliable and detailed reports, along with the capability to store images for later review, and the ability to use either drawings or known good boards as the golden sample for comparison, are all of great benefit. Additional supporting advances introduced on the more recent Cluso system also bring some positive elements to the equation for Itron, such as the ability to handle pdf files and to manipulate scanned images for improved detection.

Rasmussen comments: “I believe that the Cluso system does a great job of documenting the placement machine output, is easy to program and use and is very applicable to a variety of production situations such as NPI, low-volume, high-value circuit inspection, first article inspection and archival documentation of the product. It has certainly met all of our expectations.”

Our thanks to Mark for his insight & comments.

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Cluso claims that First Article Inspection saves time and money while providing a far higher level of confidence that production defects, due to placement errors, are virtually eliminated. It would appear that some users might agree!

Six of the top ten CEMS globally are Cluso customers.

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For more information visit Cluso web site www.cluso.com.au 

Or contact Paul F. Walsh email Paul@BrockElectronics.com