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When I last spoke with Tom Edman, president and CEO of TTM Technologies (TTM), he provided an update about the company’s new high-tech printed circuit board facility under construction in Syracuse, New York, and how the grand opening of a facility in Malaysia is informing TTM’s overall expansion efforts: a cutting-edge facility spread across 27 acres and providing roughly 1,000 jobs. Now, Tom provides more details about the new automated facility, its regional and global impact, and the importance of having both government and industry support.
Marcy LaRont: Tom, tell me about TTM Malaysia.
Tom Edman: TTM Malaysia is a slightly more than 800,000-square-foot building with a single-level production floor, which allows us to incorporate a high degree of automation. For example, we're combining process steps to accommodate automation using inline equipment when and where we can and between process steps as well. We're also using automated guided vehicles (AGVs) to transport panels. Almost everything inside the facility is automated, including the drills and the drill bit sharpening. That might sound mundane, but it is a very important part of the process in terms of keeping the drill points properly calibrated. We have a large facility just above the production floor where we feed chemistry onto the first floor, and we have a sub-basement for taking the waste which delivers the spent water and chemistry to the adjacent waste treatment center for recycling or treatment.
LaRont: Automation is certainly key, so tell me more about the AGVs.
Edman: They move the panels around from the warehouse to the loaders, between the pieces of equipment for each process step, and finally back to the warehouse. You can see these little robots all over the facility.
We incorporated manufacturing execution system (MES) software to dictate their movements. This software runs the shop floor processes and ties into our Oracle® financial system. As we proceed through the ramp-up, this last step toward automation allows us to minimize scrap because we have eliminated manual handling errors.
We have a very long hallway that runs lengthwise throughout the middle of the facility for evacuation purposes. We put in doors with glass panels so visitors can get a good feeling for the entire process. As you move your way through the different process steps, you see drill, plating, test and inspection, and finally return to where you started.
To read this entire conversation, which appeared in the October 2024 issue of PCB007 Magazine, click here.
