The Role of ‘Sustainable’ Automation

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

Automation plays a key role in factory efficiencies by lowering cost and improving yields, all of which are good for business and sustainability. Does factory size matter? Can automation be incremental and still be effective? Jeff Forster, SMT product manager at Technica USA, shares his insight on factory automation.

Barry Matties: Jeff, when it comes to automation, what should we be thinking about?

Jeff Forster: First let me say that Technica is involved in automation in both the PCB fab and PCB assembly markets. I will focus our conversation today on the PCB assembly side of our business.

I like to break down automation into a couple of areas including the assembly equipment hardware and software automation that ranges from the line level to multi-factory level. The assembly equipment line hardware and software have abilities to communicate upstream and downstream of the SMT line to optimize the process “on the fly.” For example, inspection equipment now can communicate within the line to optimize the printing and placement processes. From a software perspective you have different levels of automation—multi-factory, individual factory, line level, and the actual equipment level (discussed previously) of automation. For multinationals that have manufacturing facilities here in the U.S., as well as in Mexico, China, India, etc., factory level automation comes into play because these facilities are building products for each of these markets. In many cases, these companies develop a product or process here in the U.S., maybe with the correct equipment automation, then feed it off to another site, such as Asia or Europe, to fit those market requirements or needs.

Multilevel factory automation gives you a simple way to replicate the product here in the U.S., and then send it to a factory of choice overseas. You can build in those regions where the products are to be used. Streamlining the manufacturing process keeps it simple. You can send the product you develop (programs, processes, materials, etc.) here in the U.S. and replicate it to anywhere in the world; there you go, you have an instant factory.

The next level is the factory, for instance, one in the U.S. that has a manufacturing execution-type system (MES) where the software is communicating and directing the equipment to assemble a particular product or products within an individual factory; this could include single or multiple SMT lines within the factory. Additionally, the factory level of software will optimize to minimize changeover times between product builds, including moving products within the factory for the best possible product output.

At the line level, you have the full line going from the solder paste screen printer process, solder paste inspection, component placement, solder reflow oven process, to automated optical inspection. That’s acting at what I call the line level. Within this line level process, the machines can communicate with each other to best optimize the board quality. For example, the automated optical inspection machine communicating with the upstream equipment to optimize the process “on the fly” for a better-quality board assembly outcome.

The last or more detailed one is the equipment level where each equipment process has its own means of automation. For instance, a screen printer might have a person manually scanning barcodes on the input side of the printer. Now, it can be automated with the vision systems and cameras that are in the system itself. It keeps the process simple by automating multiple processes within the printer. The program is first downloaded, and the solder paste is printed onto the board. In the next step of the solder paste inspection unit, the board is first barcode scanned and a program is downloaded automatically. The solder paste inspection process begins there. The point is that automation is multi-faceted, whether it’s a worldwide multi-factory or something at the local factory equipment level.

Matties: That’s a nice, high-level view all the way down onto the factory floor.

Forster: Ultimately, from an automation standpoint, these equipment sets are extremely adaptable. On the equipment level, these machines can do both small and large boards—very fine-pitch, accurate requirements. Even more, the machines can optimize products within a line itself. For instance, you can input up to 500 different products for a run into the automation software, and it will automatically optimize the factory production schedule. It was more likely in the past than now, but a factory will have someone using a spreadsheet to figure out their production schedule based upon a change, such as a scope change within a product. The software tools now allow you to adapt to those changes on the fly, in many cases, without the need to manipulate spreadsheets.

Continue reading this interview in the June 2023 issue of SMT007 Magazine.