Surface Mount Department - Introducing Automated First Article Inspection Series

In the SMT department they are really at the coalface of the issue in that they are under crushing pressure to keep the machines running at maximum speed with no downtime. Production Management are increasingly pressuring them to provide more output and coming down heavier when things go wrong. The SMT department is left with being responsible for the quality of its own output like all workcells in manufacturing but the tools to ensure this are not keeping up with the technology of P&P machines. These machines are getting faster and more expensive than ever and downtime is not acceptable in financial terms. Anything that can be done to get them up and running faster is being experimented with. The problem is until automated FAI came around there was nothing to help except throwing manpower at the FAI or reducing the level of FAI. These methods are either costly, risky or both.

One of the key processes in SMT that has downtime is at changeover time when a new product or batch is put onto the SMT lines. The time it takes to get the Pick and Place machines back up to speed is being monitored and criticised the most. The main problem here is that SMT has not been provided with any automated processes to allow them to reduce these times, in some cases it is only the loud voice of management driving them to reduce these times, OR ELSE. Left with the ominous choice of, either reduce the times or someone else will, then the only option is to cut corners and do not tell anyone thereby running the risk of the wrath of management.

Using an Automated First Article Inspection System these changeover times CAN be reduced without cutting corners, using these systems properly actually increases inspection coverage, simplifies the process and adds a level of traceability unheard until now. As well the times are brought down to a manageable level. For manufacturers dealing with the assembly of highly traceable products like medical or military products these system can easily provide them with the results required to satisfy the scrutiny of any ISO13485 system requirements.

With an automated FAI on board in SMT the personnel can actually concentrate the business of producing PCB's and not performing FAI's under extreme time pressure wondering when the wrath of management is going to crush their future employment due to the length of time the FAI has taken or worse still because a mistake was made during their normal reduced manual inspection and 10,000 PCB's are loaded with an incorrect part and the customer is screaming for heads to roll.

Greg Ross

Cluso Vision Systems