Feature: Displays
Moving production in-house presented Hanover with a new set of challenges – it had to be able to both test and inspect the boards itself
Hanover Displays harnesses cobots to test display panel PCBs in-house
By Omron Field Application Engineers U
K-based Hanover Displays designs and manufactures passenger information systems for the public transport industry, with great emphasis on providing very high quality products. Te printed circuit boards (PCBs) in its display panels were produced in the Far East until recently,
when Hanover decided to start manufacturing them in-house. “We invested in high-speed production equipment to make the PCBs, a decision that gave us greater flexibility in our production control, and enabled us to continue with product development,” said Reece Mills, the company’s Production Control Manager.
30 February 2023
www.electronicsworld.co.uk
Automating the testing and inspection processes However, moving production in-house presented Hanover with a new set of challenges – it had to be able to both test and inspect the boards itself. Initially, this was a manual process; even though it involved automated test equipment (ATE), the process was very hands-on and depended on complete operator concentration. Since the company processes some 240,000 printed circuit board assemblies (PCBAs) each year, there is a very high risk of operators suffering from repetitive strain injury. Hanover therefore took the decision to automate these processes more comprehensively, which required a new system for testing PCBAs. It chose Omron TM series cobots for the tasks, supplied and installed by Absolute Robotics, a robot integrator based in Bristol. “As well as addressing the health and safety of our employees,
we also wanted to guarantee a consistent cycle time. Unmanned running was really important to us, so we wanted to ensure that the cobots could run at night, too, for more throughput, yet with less effort,” said Sean Winter, Operations Director of Hanover Displays. Omron TM cobots feature simple programming along with
integrated vision capability. Tere are several models, offering different levels of payload and reach. “One of the key drivers was that Hanover wanted the cobots
to interact with existing manual test equipment. Te cobots therefore have special tooling that allows them to turn on and off the manual testing equipment,” said Geoff Ferguson, Managing Director of Absolute Robotics.
Relying on cobots Hanover wanted to use the cobots with both its processing and display boards, which meant exploiting their full potential. This included using the built-in vision systems, particularly for the display boards, to ensure that the LEDs were lighting in correct sequence. Subsequently, the company invested in six more Omron TM cobots, installed on two production lines, which take the LED display boards from a standard storage rack and test them. “From a quality assurance point of view, we have full traceability
of our PCBAs. Tis means every time we inspect a PCBA, we get a record that tells us if it’s passed or failed," said Hanover’s Winter.
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