Manufacturing technology The current state of electronics manufacturing
It’s been said that we are at the rise of a second machine age. While the first machine age drove industrialisation, this one uses digitisation and the ability of machines to access and put those digital assets to work. It makes machines, and the humans who work with them, smarter. The birth of “cyber-physical” systems combined advanced manufacturing technologies and advanced computing technologies to work together seamlessly. These new systems can exchange information, improve uptime and provide support to each other and their users. This new approach to manufacturing is mission- critical for electronics as seismic shifts occur on multiple fronts. Consider these trends: ■Multiple electronics manufacturing locales are encountering aging workers and worker shortages
■Most economies are seeing a rise in worker wages and difficulty in filling what once were highly desirable manufacturing jobs
■Billions of sensors collect data from machines, but electronics organisations often cannot access it – let alone make sense of it – for manufacturing purposes
■Users want more functionality and personalisation in the electronics produced. ■The downside cost of failure to deliver key metrics is increasing, placing a higher premium on quality, flexibility and throughput.
Source: IBM Institute for Business Value
combinational technologies. It’s the need to overcome these challenges that has led to a strong and swift swing from manual to automated processes on the manufacturing floor.
“Microelectronics in medical devices rely on low
power, ultra-miniaturisation, combinatorial technologies, a global supply base, stringent change management and long product life cycles,” says Dr. Ravi Subrahmanyan, executive director, Advanced Technologies Group, Micro Systems Engineering (MSE). “Assurance of reliability, quality and supply continuity of these often life-critical, life-sustaining but low volume devices involves capability assessment and control of process technologies through the entire value chain.” The
“We can then unlock the most important advantages of automation in microelectronics production – prescriptive control of quality and reliability, configuration management and improved cycle time.”
Dr. Ravi Subrahmanyan 100% The number of
electronics executives who plan to implement AI into their manufacturing process – 83% are already reporting improvements.
IBM 50
workflow, component and process technologies, as well as the equipment and skills required, are diverse, explains Subrahmanyan. Given the diversity of technologies, specialists are often required in both direct manufacturing and other design or support functions. These specialists have STEM backgrounds, usually in more than one area, which can include expertise in materials, mechanics, electronics, computer science and industrial scale engineering.
Big challenges on a small scale With miniaturised microelectronics, advanced assembly technologies are required to accommodate the need for reduced development
cycle times, higher efficiency, and lower cost – all while maintaining quality and reliability. Factor in the rapidly changing global, political, and economic environment, which demands a manufacturing strategy that is independent of low-cost labour, and scalable and efficient manufacturing processes require increasing levels of automation. “Some of the most important advantages are the greater operator safety that it brings to the assembly process, and reduction in worker fatigue and improvement in productivity,” says Girish Wable, senior manager, Engineering Services at Jabil – the industry’s largest provider of design, engineering and manufacturing services. “This allows workers the opportunity to up-skill and focus on higher value-add tasks. Once the automation platform is optimised, it can lead to significant microelectronics packaging design enhancement, material savings, energy reduction, product quality and reliability.”
The many steps involved in the production of microelectronics mean that automation can have an impact at several different points in the manufacturing cycle, each of which presents its own challenges, be it wafer handling, the printing of conductive and non-conductive adhesives, die bonding, wire bonding or any other part of the fabrication, inspection and testing stages. Semiconductor automation systems must also be able to adapt in the face of the changing demands placed on semiconductors or any other component. When done successfully, automation can greatly improve ROI through better and more consistent wafer yields and less material waste. According to a recent IBM study, ‘Why cognitive manufacturing matters in electronics’, 100% of electronics executives – including semiconductor manufacturers – are planning to implement, or are in the process of implementing, artificial intelligence (AI) into their manufacturing process, with 83% reporting moderate to significant ROI due to improved yield predictions.
Automation can also reduce downtime through the reduction of human error, which results in cost and time savings. In wafer transportation, for example, human handling would carry a high risk of human error at each of thousands of steps in the manufacturing process, so automated material handling systems (AMHSs) are frequently used to prevent contamination and ensure that wafers are transported and positioned precisely. Similarly, errors can arise when testing performance criteria, so performance evaluation is increasingly automated for both individual components and assembled devices. Jabil’s medical devices team, which works with some of the leading brands in the industry to
Medical Device Developments /
www.nsmedicaldevices.com
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