Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1305670
20 SMT007 MAGAZINE I NOVEMBER 2020 Six-Sigma goal for a first-pass yield of 99.99966%—a mark that Smith admits is "tight but doable." By continually measuring with precision laser guidance the lengths and widths of drill bits and other tooling involved in the board man- ufacturing process and changing them out on a rigid "preemptive" schedule, we mitigate the risk of producing inferior quality boards. Overall, we spend millions of dol- lars annually in our CapEx budget to follow an aggressive preventative maintenance sched- ule. As a true vertically integrated company, we need to continuously reinvest in the com- pany to stay globally competitive, where qual- ity and efficiencies are concerned. Quality Assurance, Dock to Dock To get a genuine sense of the quality assur- ance program and process controls that are in place, one need only to venture to the compa- ny's receiving docks. When materials are first received in, we perform inspections and tests on the raw laminate, including a series of mea- surements that check each panel for its cop- per and laminate thickness, rigidity, and more. These pre-board inspection measurements are essential as they are later compared to each plated panel using coating measurement instrumentation (CMI) to ensure there is even plating on both sides of a board. Overall, just in the manufacture of a bare board, there is a myriad of process controls in place to ensure the highest results. Everything from custom jigs that hold the panels in place during the drilling and rout- ing stages, to the constant testing and analysis of wet chemicals, all the way through to the scoring of the board itself—every operation is controlled by processes that have served the company well for more than three decades. As the old saying goes, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." As boards move into the auto assembly area, the processes controlling quality are even more apparent and more abundant. Redundant first- piece inspections are the norm throughout the assembly area for each of the 1,000+ active part numbers that flow through the shop. With multiple mixed-technology lines (surface- mount and through-hole components) running three shifts per day, process controls and reg- ularly scheduled equipment maintenance are critical to maintaining the high quality stan- dards that customers have come to expect. One of the biggest challenges in a busy shop is finding the time to perform mainte- nance on machines. Specialty equipment like ICM runs each board through an AOI system, resulting in higher first-pass yields. Operator Dan Kranze conducting a highly accelerated life test (HALT).