February, 2013 Continued from page 1
defects back to the operator and the machine, thereby locating trends. Once the trends are found, the em- ployee can be re-trained or the ma- chine can be repaired.
Increasing Product Quality Traceability can increase quality,
which increases productivity; in- creased productivity results in a faster
Track, Trace and Control (TTC) systems are essential for ensuring that the right material is in the right place at the right time.
and higher return on investment (ROI). These three examples illustrate:
l Traceability can be used to better direct capital purchases for an EMS
company. l
products. l
nize their specific defects and to purchase equipment to prevent them, or to catch and correct the is- sues before they result in defective
manufacturer and related assembly defects can be run to flush out hidden issues with that board manufacturer.
A report about a specific board
Strategic Value In addition to providing value
for OEMs, Track, Trace and Control (TTC) presents numerous benefits to EMS providers. A properly designed TTC system allows manufacturers to offer traceability down to the panel ID as opposed to the work order and, under the right conditions, to the ac- tual circuit board. The software also provides au-
tomation that delivers true traceabili- ty: it quickly presents the who, what, how and where of the flow. Paper- based traceability is cumbersome and does not have the ability to force oper- ations; this can lower confidence that a required process actually happened. Knowing where product is on the shop floor. Using TTC, manufactur- ers can locate product and trace in- ventory at any time. Materials in dif- ferent quantities and with varying characteristics pose challenges that are magnified when coupled with manual procedures. With TTC soft- ware, it is possible to track products and material in real-time, anywhere in the factory. In addition, it reduces costs associated with waste. TTC software provides the physical loca-
Three key aspects of using TTC software:
knowing where product is, knowing how a product was assembled, and preventing human errors during production.
tion and quantity of all inventories, both on and off the manufacturing line. This enables operators to per- form a search to instantly locate spe- cific materials or tools. The system significantly reduces waste of time by locating and replenishing materi- als and by providing the exact loca- tion of materials as well as the pre- cise remaining quantities. The solu- tion tracks the remaining floor time for moisture-sensitive devices (MSD) and other time-sensitive materials,
Traceability allows users to recog-
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www.us-tech.com Traceability: All-Important for OEMs
ensuring that expired materials are not used in production. Knowing how a product was as- sembled. TTC software records every step of the assembly process, including inspection and test results. As a result, it is possible to go back and identify the root cause of any is- sue in order to implement effective corrective action or at least a precise control/recall of affected units. Hav- ing this information is important be- cause it allows users to correct these issues before they become customer problems. It also reduces waste and increases yield. Preventing human errors during production. The third, and perhaps most important aspect of a TTC sys-
tem, is the ability to prevent human er- rors. Each time that a product or mate- rial is moved at a specific location, the TTC software will compare this infor- mation with the work instructions and prevent operators from making mis- takes. Warning and alarms will be generated, in association with light tower and physical interlocks.
TTC Software Integration A TTC system relies on various
types of data acquisition hardware, with a combination of linear barcode, 2-D data matrix, RFID and other tech- nologies. These elements can be config- ured in a standalone configuration by treating each machine and worksta- tion as a black box with product and
Page 19
materials coming in and out. In some cases, it can be beneficial to also inte- grate the TTC system with the actual machine’s software for two-way com- munication. The TTC software can au- tomatically upload the correct machine program based on the product waiting to be processed, and it can physically prevent the machine from starting pro- duction if one of several elements of the process is outside of specifications. In addition, the machine software can provide additional process information that can be used for quality, process control and traceability. At ACD, TTC software already
was integrated with its Juki place- ment equipment since the same ven- dor developed the Juki intelligent feeder system. This higher level of in- tegration enables real-time inventory Continued on next page
design software Controlled impedance testing
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