Case Study: Reducing recall risk down to no more than three PCB panels
Case Study: Reducing
recall risk down to no more
than three PCB panels
Meta System is an electronics OEM specializing in the development and production of advanced electronic security
systems for automotive and energy markets. Meta System provides and controls the full product life cycle, from design
and development through manufacturing and quality management. In the automotive world, Meta System is a leader
in on-board telematics and GPS vehicle tracking systems.
problem
Elements of the traceability process:
Full traceability is a requirement imposed
by nearly all customers of Meta System. It is
simply part of the markets they serve. Before
implementing a solution by Valor, Meta
System achieved traceability only at the level
of each lot (manufacturing batch) produced.
Many times they would divide larger lots
into small lots to narrow the window of
traceability, but this was not good enough
because one printed circuit board (PCB)
failure could still result in a recall of up to
5000 units. This created far too high a risk.
Meta System required a solution that could
minimize the recall risk down to a maxi-
1. Material registration
4. Setup & changeover
mum of three PCB panels.
solution
Meta System deployed a closed loop trace-
ability system so that operator errors would
not defeat or marginalize traceability. This
requires a good deal of process control and
automated machine interface on the SMT
lines. The trace data of each SMT compo-
nent vendor ID and lot code was linked
to each component placement reference
designator on each individual PCB on every
panel produced. To achieve the traceability
2. Storage & retrieval 5. Splicing control
goal of a maximum risk of three panels
of variability, the implementation plan
included a continuous unbroken chain of
trace data from incoming materials registra-
tion to kitting, machine set up and change-
over, to splicing of individual reels as they
become empty. Every bare board is marked
with a serial number that is automatically
captured by bar code readers mounted on
the machine input conveyor, and a machine
interface links all of the placement data to
the trace data for each panel. For the SMT
line the following six figures detail the ele-
ments of the traceability process:
3. Kitting 6. User interface
1. Material registration
34 – Global SMT & Packaging – June 2009 www.globalsmt.net
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52