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www.us- tech.com


July, 2019


Process Optimization Counters a Shortage of Skilled Workers


By Michael Skinner, Editor F


or more than 20 years, Grüninger Electronics has been located in a tranquil town in the middle of vineyards. Here, sophisticated elec-


tronics are manufactured, prototypes and small-to- medium batches are built, in quantities of 1 to 10,000 pieces. The company is characterized by a special customer proximity. With 25 employees, it is large enough to man-


ufacture technically sophisticated products and small enough to meet individual customer require- ments. “A modern machine park with the latest placement and reflow technology is just as impor- tant as the qualifications and, above all, the moti- vation of our employees,” emphasizes Ralf Grüninger, the managing director and founder of the company. Grüninger maintains close and cor- dial contact with his employees. He is open to ideas and suggestions for improvement. And for good reason. Shortages of employees and skilled workers


are becoming unfortunately common in small- and medium-sized companies. Grüninger Electronics took notice and declared one of its goals is not on- ly to motivate employees, but also to make their work easier. This means automation and process optimization to counter the lack of employees.


X-Ray Component Counting Grüninger invested in the automatic X-ray


scanner OC-SCAN®CCX from optical control. The electronic component counter counts all compo- nents within seconds including 01005s (0402 met- ric), odd shapes, and large and small reels. Whether in reels, sticks, trays, shrink-wrapped or not, the CCX takes 10 seconds to count a reel. Us- ing quad count mode (counting four reels at once),


the processing time is three to four seconds per reel. Manual counts typically take up to five min- utes for a single reel, and a reel of 50,000 01005 (0402 metric) components can take more than 10 minutes. Those process times really impressed the


Grüninger employees. The machine is so fast and easy to operate that after only 30 minutes of train- ing, anyone can operate it. The system also recog-


small businesses in particular. If an order is planned with a line running time of eight hours and the line cannot continue to produce for three hours because of an unforeseen lack of material, then three hours of unplanned costs arise for the company, which are not paid by any customer. “I learned early on from my parents that investments in modern equipment can eliminate gray costs. The industries are different, but the principle is exactly the same,” says Grüninger. He considered optical control for some time


and his visit to the company helped him to be cer- tain. “The fast, efficient nature of optical control and the pragmatic approach to requirements, re- quests and tasks showed me that optical control is the right partner. And, of course, the good results of the tests on the machine itself,” he says. The high technical competence, starting with


The OC-SCAN CCX from optical control


typically requires only three or four seconds to count the components on a reel.


nizes rare components automatically and immedi- ately saves them in its self-learning database for the next application. Ralf Grüninger has a keen eye for innova-


tions in his industry. This is also due to his family background. His parents ran a small nursery and their son’s entrepreneurial spirit was awakened at an early age. Gray costs pose great challenges, for


the development of the service team, management, and up to the distribution, has led to a solid rela- tionship. Whether it is radiation protection, count- ing accuracy, the quality of the machine in accor- dance with the ESD standard, or the uncomplicated and pragmatic procedure for fast delivery and in- stallation, the inventory was accurate to the point.


Fast Return on Investment “It was immediately clear to me that this in-


vestment had paid off. In the last two calendar weeks, we have been able to count through our en- tire inventory. That meant at least 1,100 reels per day including evaluation. The software works ex- tremely fast and learns a lot of new things by it- self. Even sticks and JEDEC trays can be accu- rately counted. Our employees even make a small


Continued on page 22


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