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Happy’s Tech Talk #50: Start Your Digitalization Strategy With Automation
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As automotive electronics production shifts among global locations, replicating a successful assembly process isn’t as simple as moving the equipment or copying a recipe. Miles Moreau of KIC talks with Nolan Johnson about the challenges of maintaining consistent reflow performance across different lines and facilities. They explore what manufacturers can learn from better process data, where optimization can make a difference, and why experienced engineers still play a critical role in getting the process right.
Nolan Johnson: Miles, from your perspective, how does a manufacturer maintain product consistency and reliability across facilities when automotive electronics assembly is expanded or relocated?
Miles Moreau: Realigning the supply chain adds process demands because you're now trying to move a line to a factory with different equipment. It was running fine in Europe or Asia, and now it has to run the same way in Mexico or North America. Setting the line up identically probably won’t be enough. Are they meeting the same process demands now that they've moved the equipment, or are they combining different equipment? These supply chain maneuvers add another layer of process complexity.
Johnson: When a process is duplicated at another facility, what does it take to achieve comparable performance and consistent results?
Moreau: You start with the process itself. One way to see the transfer challenge is through higher-power automotive assemblies, where voiding can be a key issue. These products must manage significant heat, and voids can reduce the effective heat-transfer area and increase thermal resistance.
Our customers are trying to reduce the occurrence of voids, and the reflow profile is one of several factors they can work with. Vacuum reflow ovens can reduce voiding, while adjustments to ramp rate, soak, and time above liquidus may also help, depending on the solder paste, component, and assembly. The objective is a more robust and repeatable process.
When you get into the process audit, you ask yourself, “Is this process in control?” Optimization helped center the process where it needs to be, and now you're talking about moving product manufacturing. It was running on a line with oven manufacturer A, and now they’re standing up a line in the U.S., where they’re not using oven A. The U.S. oven might have two fewer zones or some other difference. So, how do we get up to the same level of process control as at the original facility? That's where our “Heat to Data” concept takes hold.
Automotive is a demanding market segment; you have to optimize around a lot of parameters to reduce defects, and that’s challenging. So, if we can use that profile data to optimize the setup and then use the production data to ensure they maintain the desired parameters, you can do the matching. You may have different settings and different ways the machine is run, but your end result is comparable.
Continue reading this interview in the October 2026 issue of SMT007 Magazine.
