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Partnering December, 2019
Koh Young America Boosts Schweitzer’s Value and Morale
By Brent Fischthal, Senior Marketing Manager, Koh Young America S
chweitzer Engineering Labora- tories (SEL) offers a rare oppor- tunity to gain real insight into
the intimate relationship between man and machine, underlining the importance of good equipment to op- erator morale. Dr. Ed Schweitzer is a pioneer,
an inventor and creator of the first microprocessor-based digital protec- tive relay. In 1984 he started his company, SEL, in his garage. The company now employs more than 5,000 people, is in 164 countries, leads its field, and covers a huge manufacturing, development, admin- istration, and logistics campus in Pullman, Washington. Dr. Schweitzer’s innovation rev-
olutionized the electric utility indus- try, making it smarter, safer, more reliable, and more economical. SEL has nine lines in its Pull- man and Lewiston facilities, which
run nearly at capacity, placing mil- lions of components on numerous product types. The company’s top pri- ority when seeking a new AOI solu- tion was quality control. With such a mission-critical product, quality has always been at the top of the agenda for the production team. In their quest for ever-improved quality and along with the addition of a new SMT line, SEL recognized the need for AOI inspection at the next level. The company had previously in-
vested in 2D AOI, which, while im- proving results, was not catching a lot of faults and delivering far too many false calls. This resulted in a lack of confidence in the outcome and the equipment by the operators — a cause for genuine concern. “When we first got the 2D AOI
system, it was not highly thought of. It was a burden at that point. Now we see the 3D AOI as a tool, as something
DC-DC CONVERTERS
that’s helping SEL live their values of quality,” says Andrew Packwood, manufacturing supervisor, SEL.
Man and Machine In the interviews that Koh
Young carried out with SEL, some- thing quickly became clear. The new AOI system was doing much more
ry of the future. Feedback from the floor is important, but management also had to weigh in. When presented with the results from the new sys- tem, Dr. Schweitzer’s response was assured and concise. He immediately instructed the team to get the AOI solution into each of its lines, result- ing in an order for eight more 3D AOI
SEL’s engineers are able to draw insights into production and easily compile reports with Koh Young’s AOI systems.
than just improving quality out- comes, which is important in itself. Beyond that, the new equipment was changing the relationship between man and machine, and affect- ing the operator’s pride and satisfaction. SEL took a single AOI
systems. Koh Young delivered and installed these machines within a few short weeks. Koh Young prides itself on a quick, seamless installa-
Man-machine harmony is the
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system on trial to gauge its impact and make sure that their selection of Koh Young after ex- haustive exploration of the market was correct. The company had the new Koh Young AOI on only one line for a few weeks before making an even better, more-informed decision company wide. Several operators at the compa-
ny loved the equipment enough that SEL had some difficulty getting them to rotate off the line. “They were ex- cited to see all the new features. They’re used to having a 2D picture flash in front of their face and having to make a call,” says Nick Swan, lead process engineer, SEL. “Now they have all these measurements. They can rotate the part around and look at it and find a solder bridge or lifted lead.” Swan says that the company’s direction is to make sure that its in- ternal customers, the people on the floor, the people doing the work, trust their equipment. “Koh Young brought us to a point where they re- ally trust the inspections,” he says. Man-machine harmony is the essence of the successful smart facto-
essence of the smart factory of the future.
tion that minimizes downtime and disruption, as well as a simple train- ing program to get operators up to speed quickly. “Training an operator is very
quick. The machine itself is self-direc- tive on exactly what to look at and how to react, when to make a call to process engineering, when to make a call with the programming group. So, every- body came up to speed extremely quickly,” says Tony O’Neill, board and component factory manager, SEL. And, according to O’Neill, the
equipment is delivering insight, as well as performance. SEL is getting reports that previously took days to compile. Now, with the click of a but- ton, the company’s engineers have access to the data, results and charts they need. Reporting is not only sim-
pler, but quicker and more reliable. Contact: Koh Young America.
Inc., 1950 Evergreen Boulevard, Suite 200, Duluth, GA 30096 % 704-651-2860 E-mail:
brent.fischthal@
kohyoung.com Web:
www.kohyoung.com r
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