Circuits Assembly Online Magazine - Features

Features Articles

Peter Bigelow Investment practices follow the same boom/bust cycle of the economy. Must they?

Allen Abell Mixed-technology designs are prime for waste elimination. Here’s how.

Taiichi Ohno developed the concept of the seven wastes (muda) in manufacturing as part of the Toyota Production System (TPS), the foundation for Lean manufacturing philosophy. They are:

Waste of overproducing (no immediate need for product being produced).
Waste of waiting (idle time between operations).
Waste of transport (product moving more than necessary).
Waste of processing (doing more than what has been agreed upon).
Waste of inventory (excess above what was required).
Waste of motion (any motion not necessary outside of production).
Waste of defects (producing defects requiring rework).

Robert Boguski Wisdom comes with a charge. Usually by the hour.

I like old things. Old shirts. Or old soft sweaters. Old test engineers recommend themselves. Old explanations. You know what to expect. Like a long-term, happy marriage. There’s a comfort level. Fewer mistakes, more detail. Less bewilderment. General competence. Analog testing. The ability to answer the question, “Why?” in waveform. Experience and familiarity sometimes matter. Some dare call it wisdom.

Why do we still worship youth? Haven’t we learned?

Old cars provide a certain comfort, too. As of this writing, my current model has accompanied me faithfully for 14 years and 417,000 miles with no engine rebuilds. Sure, the leather in the driver’s seat is ripped, but it’s still comfortable, and the ride remains blissfully smooth. So, I keep it. For now. Cognizant that the risk-reward ratio is tipping left toward risk with each succeeding day. Am I pushing my luck? Probably. But it still works. I know what to expect. So much else in life isn’t that way.

Mike Buetow Since being named technical conference director for PCB West seven years ago, I have generally shied away from offering keynote addresses.

There are many reasons for my hesitancy, but primarily it’s because they seemed so out of place for a conference like PCB West. Since UP Media president Pete Waddell founded the show in 1992, its focus has always been on training. That sets it apart from the traditional research-driven test-and-report style events that populate this industry. Both have their place, but PCB West always has been about helping those in the trenches.

Keynotes, on the other hand, tend to fall in one of two categories. There are the rah-rah types, of course. These are the professional motivators: ex astronauts, generals, athletes. They tend to roll out the same old bromides, a takeoff on the theme of overcoming adversity. Audiences listen. They cheer. Their souls are saved. Then they go out and do the same things they’ve always done.

David Bernard CT takes time, but can virtually microsection and analyze any plane in an entire sample.

2-D offline x-ray inspection of electronics is directly analogous to 2-D medical x-ray imaging, the only difference being image magnification is required to see the much smaller features within electronic devices and boards. (Also, the sample doesn’t talk back!) Medical x-ray imaging also offers CT scanning (also known as 3-D x-ray or computer tomography or CAT scans), and the same technique is available for electronics analysis. From Greek, tomography means writing slices.

CT provides a 3-D density map model of the sample from which virtual 2-D x-ray slices can be taken and examined in any plane within the model. Consider it like being able to take virtual microsections anywhere, at any angle and as often and repeatedly as desired through the sample without having to cut, pot, polish, optically image, repolish, re-image, etc., as when making a traditional microsection. 3-D representations of the sample may also be created and virtually sliced (FIGURES 1 to 3).

Ranko Vujosevic Reducing labor content and defects in SMT manufacturing.

“I need to reduce overhead 40%, while still manufacturing at the same capacity, to stay competitive in China.”

That is how a businessman from Hong Kong who owns a contract manufacturing plant in China recently explained his most urgent business goal to me. He wanted smart factory software to help him achieve that goal in the shortest time possible.

Days of cheap labor and being able to throw more people at every problem on the electronics manufacturing shop floor are long gone.
That has been the case in Western countries for some time, and is becoming the norm in China as well. Plants are being moved to yet another cheap labor country, while companies that stay in China are consolidating operations. And customers keep demanding lower cost. To stay competitive, electronics assembly companies must reduce labor cost and respond dynamically to skilled labor shortages.