Electronics production is increasingly characterized by small to medium quantities with frequent product changes. Short change-over times and high flexibility are the most important requirements. Faster, cheaper and production in smaller batches are a part of industry 4.0 and the goal of every producer. But this must not happen by the loss of Quality. Especially in high-tech production sites, mistakes and production losses lead to high costs, which would be avoid by the customer. The devil is, of course, in the details. Now it is about process control. Fuji has looked at many different influencing variables and set screws to avoid these. With the NXT machine concept and the new Nexim software Fuji offers smart tools to the target 0 PPM.
The production process starts with the material supply, goes through printing, loading, soldering and ends when the boards are separated or in the test field. Fuji’s ambition is to automate this process chain as much as possible so that the system controls the machines. Nevertheless, there are numerous activities that must be carried out by hand. Nexim offers an unprecedented operator interface that simplifies the life of the operator as much as possible and guides him in his tasks.
For years, Fuji’s engineers have worked with customers to analyze the SMT business processes. Many errors have been reported and the solutions implemented in the NXT and other machines. Fuji divided the mistakes into four categories. 4M = man-power, machine, method and material. Among these headings, many solutions have been developed.
If the focus is placed on the component, the process begins when the component is installed. We categorize this error as a “manpower” of 4M. Here, first mistakes can happen, which can lead to errors later. Synonymous are the many descriptions and adjustment of various components, e.g. in the night shift. Fuji offers the “Auto Shape Generator” and the “VPD Plus Stand”. Components can be photographed offline and shapes can be created correctly. Automatically. That saves time and money. The algorithm is a nice function also, applied components were checked here. Components which have passed this check are also 99% recognized by the machine.
The next category “machine” from 4M belongs to the assembly. The results were errors such as loss of parts, pick-up errors, excessive set-up pressure, etc. When the component is collected, measured and set, it is up to the machine what will happen now …. An error, often after splice operations, is the faulty or “not” picking of components. A minimum of offset of the second tape results that the head is not picking the component correctly. So the pick-up position has to be fixed again. With the “alternative feeder” function, which effects that the machine automatically recognizes new feeders and replaces them, such errors no longer occur.
Two other errors that can lead to miss-picks are electrically charged components and dirty nozzles. But here, too, influencing variables could already be minimized by means of intelligent machine design. Fuji has the fastest feeder by the use of turret heads. Electrically charged components have always been a topic. One solution here is the feeder, which has several pick-up positions. ESD critical components can be held by a cap in the tape and do not slip in the belt. Ionized airflow also helps to reduce the voltage drop. Brushes and vacuum cleaners hidden in the machine allow regular cleaning of the vacuum pipettes. This results in longer cleaning intervals of the nozzles and though save a lot of time and money.
The list of possible errors and their countermeasures can be demonstrated further and will be presented in the lecture in Budapest. In future, software process monitoring and error prevention will be much more important. Lot sizes are becoming smaller and smaller and changes of the components, PCB, or the product are becoming increasingly common. A process has to succeed from beginning. As is known, this is usually dependent on several factors. Here the software is gaining importance. In the coming year, Fuji will present pioneering features that allow monitoring of all processes from a single point of view. The SmartFactory Network was created for this purpose. Now customers can view data from SPI, AOI and Oven-Manufacturers in NEXIM. In case of an error, all documented process steps are brought to a visual field. The “learning function”, which is to be implemented in NEXIM, will also be brilliant. Here, with the help of data scientists, Fuji has prepared a function in which the machine predicts possible errors from data and learns countermeasures to recommend them to the operator.
Statement
There is more than ever the desire to drive the production as predictably and without errors as possible. The process chains become increasingly demanding and difficult for the operator to control. Software and algorithms help the customers, and will be used more and more in the future. Nevertheless, the machine still is very important. Avoiding mistakes in the run-up by intelligent machine design and helpful tools, is the king’s discipline of Fuji!
To the lecture
My lecture deals with the four influencing variables 4M – machine, material, method and man-power, and how to influence quality problems by means of adequate techniques. In doing so, I portray the well-known main causes of error and then use countermeasures to increase the quality and avoid problems beforehand. At the same time, the future value of human beings in production, especially with regard to supporting software, is being worked out.
Listen to the presentation live at
Budapest, May 25th, 9am – 5pm
Register for FREE
Please use the registration code OLHUN17
