PCB007 Magazine

PCB007-Oct2018

Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1038326

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 25 of 125

26 PCB007 MAGAZINE I OCTOBER 2018 Thus, Whelen Engineering Company con- cluded that printed circuit manufacturing pro- cesses based in the U.S. could be significant- ly improved, and offer higher quality, lower costs, and rapid delivery on finished PCBs. Lean and Green The new PCB factory, GreenSource Fabrica- tion, in Charlestown, New Hampshire, is an ex- cellent example of Lean principles. In the pro- cess of automating the PCB flow and eliminat- ing waste, they produced a facility with zero effluents, thus, also becoming an excellent ex- ample of a green fabrication facility. "Lean and green" went hand-in-hand. The over-riding strategy of Lean and green (zero discharge) has not changed, but the tech- nology, focus on customers, and equipment have. The growth in inner layer production to support multilayers up to 36 layers—whereas multilayer made up 1% of the original captive facility—is significant. One should also note the commitment to substrate-like PCBs (SLPs) and high-density interconnect (HDI) features Feature by Happy Holden I-CONNECT007 Not much has changed in printed circuit multilayer manufacturing in the last 50 years except that the equipment is more mecha- nized and streamlined, the processes much more stable, and high-volume PCB manufac- turing has moved to China. But now, an OEM has finally found a way to build PCBs in the United States for less than buying them from Asia. Whelen Engi- neering Company of Connecticut is a world- wide supplier of aviation and automotive emergency lighting. Whelen was buying all of its circuit boards from China, while every other part of their manufacturing is done in- house. The supply pipeline duration and in - tellectual property (IP) concerns continually upset their schedules. Further, costs were in- creasing in China. Whelen managers decid- ed to take another look at the old PCB manu- facturing process and apply what they knew about Six Sigma and Lean manufacturing. Innovative PCB Processes are Lean and Green

Articles in this issue

Archives of this issue

view archives of PCB007 Magazine - PCB007-Oct2018