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Happy’s Tech Talk #50: Start Your Digitalization Strategy With Automation

This is the first of eight columns on creating and implementing a digital strategy for automation. This does not mean every fabricator needs to hire a staff of automation engineers. In my previous column, I proposed that much of the automation and digitalization needed in PCB manufacturing can be accomplished by employees you already have, using readily available technology and a do-it-yourself approach.

Some of the best candidates for doing this work may already be working in your tooling (CAM) and maintenance departments. They know your processes, understand the equipment, and know where the problems are. With some additional training, they can begin developing the skills needed to automate and improve those processes.

Automation Has Become More Accessible
Automation has come a long way in the past few decades. Unfortunately, much of the commercial equipment that aids in this endeavor is designed for manufacturing high-value products and comes with a price to match. PCB fabricators operate in a different world. A multilayer PCB can sell, on a square-inch basis, for less than doughnuts, although hopefully with better margins.

Fortunately, several developments have made lower-cost automation much more practical. The maker community has produced an enormous selection of inexpensive microcontrollers, sensors, software, and development tools. Additive manufacturing makes it possible to build custom fixtures, housings, brackets, and mechanical components without an expensive machine shop. Online education has put programming and electronics instruction within reach of almost anyone willing to learn.

Put these together, and a PCB fabricator can build some surprisingly capable automation tools without spending a fortune.

Over the next seven columns, I will look at practical DIY projects that can be added to a manufacturing operation. We will begin with sensors and specific gravity measurement, then move into colorimeters for measuring metals, ampere-hour monitoring for plating, conductivity sensors, 3D confocal imaging, low-cost panel transporters, and finally the use of collaborative robotic arms.

The objective is not automation for automation’s sake. Each project should solve a manufacturing problem, improve process control, collect useful data, and/or reduce repetitive manual work.

Start With the People You Have
In my experience, the best team to begin this effort probably already works for you.

Maintenance personnel understand how the equipment behaves and where it fails. CAM and tooling personnel understand the product, the process requirements, and much of the digital information that drives manufacturing. Most importantly, these people already understand printed circuit fabrication.

That experience has considerable value. It can be easier to teach an enthusiastic maintenance or CAM employee some programming and electronics than to hire a new engineer and teach that person the complexities of PCB manufacturing.

Look for people who like to solve problems and are curious about how things work. Those are often your best candidates.

Give the Team the Skills It Needs
Once you have identified the team, education comes first. The skills needed for this type of program are achievable, but don't expect everyone to learn everything at once.

The goal is to develop enough knowledge of automation planning, sensors, data acquisition, programming, PLCs, and statistics that the team can begin experimenting. I have included a preparation checklist at the end of this column with the training and reference materials I recommend.

Programming often makes people nervous, but it shouldn't. Your team does not have to become a group of professional software developers. Someone does, however, need to become comfortable enough with programming to customize a microcontroller, collect information from sensors, and eventually use that information to control a process.

This is where the maker community has changed the game. Inexpensive microcontrollers such as the BBC micro:bit, Arduino, Raspberry Pi, BASIC Stamp, and others give beginners a practical way to learn. They are supported by extensive educational material, software examples, and projects. The important thing is to start using them.

Build by Doing
Learning automation should not become an endless training exercise. At some point, you need to build something. A small training setup allows employees to experiment with a controller, connect sensors, collect data, and see what their programs actually do. As their skills grow, they can add data acquisition equipment, PLCs, and other devices that more closely resemble what they will encounter on the manufacturing floor.

Additive manufacturing provides another useful tool. A small 3D printer can produce sensor holders, brackets, enclosures, guides, and other custom parts needed for automation projects. Instead of waiting for a part to be machined, or deciding an idea is too expensive to pursue, the team can design, print, test, and modify it themselves.

This is one reason I believe a DIY approach can work so well in PCB fabrication. The technology has become inexpensive enough that employees can experiment without every project becoming a major capital request.

Start Small
Don’t give in to the temptation with automation to think too big. Don't start by trying to automate an entire production line. Look for a manufacturing problem that is well understood, measurable, and small enough for the team to complete successfully.

A good first project teaches several things at once. The team learns how to select and connect a sensor, write or modify a program, collect data, calibrate the instrument, and determine whether the information is useful for controlling the process.

Just as importantly, employees gain confidence that they can actually build something that works. That first success makes the second project much easier.

In the next column, we will look at sensors and instruments useful for advanced PCB processes, and begin our first project: measuring specific gravity.

PCB fabricators face growing demands for more complex multilayers, HDI, higher yields, and greater reliability. Better process control will be essential to meeting those demands. You don't have to automate everything tomorrow. Start with your people, give them the opportunity to learn, and solve one problem at a time.

This column originally appeared in the September 2026 issue of I-Connect007 Magazine.