Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1284035
36 SMT007 MAGAZINE I SEPTEMBER 2020 that's a good sign because we're doing things right before we get it into manufacturing. But we do go back and Pareto those defects and look for what we can do to get the defect rate even lower. Johnson: Are they fixing the issues and keep- ing quiet about it? It's common knowledge that some fabricators and assemblers simply do that. Steiner: The analogy of "we'll send out Ger- ber files and ask for a good board" is kind of the same. Unless you document the actual requirements and ask your suppliers to show their work, they're not going to because it all takes time, and there are costs associated. I look at it as an investment rather than a cost, though. When we put something like a C3 tester out on the line, we monitor our production residues, and when some trend starts to head the wrong direction, you can quickly get that process back in line due to the live monitoring of residues. By continuing to do the nondestructive test- ing like the C3 offers us, we are always aware of residue levels so that they don't get out of hand. We have written our standards so that anytime we may make a request, our EMS pro- viders need to provide us the C3 results. You're only going to get what you ask for. And if you don't ask for it, suppliers are not going to make extra work for themselves. Johnson: And then you can bring that data back into making decisions around how to design later designs. Steiner: Yes. When we see something that's causing issues, we seek to avoid that situation the next time wherever we can. Layout affects how difficult it will be to get reasonably clean results. There are things that we have learned and continue to learn. It is reassuring that we can obtain conformance documentation like that when needed. It works out well for every- body. Johnson: For CASCO and Amphenol, what's the objective with all of this effort in design and manufacturing? What's driving this work, such as aiming for longer product life, better overall reliability, and better manufacturability that allows for better margins? Steiner: It's the need to avoid controllable defects from escaping a supplier and to main- tain low warranty issues. Avoiding manufac- turing losses is a goal. Of course, fewer defects are good for maintaining margins. There are always things to be learned when we get feedback from the field or from sup- pliers. That gets addressed, good or bad, and then, as needed, we update our guidelines. Surprises come less and less frequently these days. Our efforts in this area contribute to operational efficiency. Johnson: Those certainly are good goals that help cost reduction up and down the product life cycle. And it's clear in the company culture that a well thought out, well-planned design of the product will do exactly that. Steiner: It does. And we were talking earlier about the younger engineers that are coming on. The better you set those engineers up with the ability to put their fingers on something they need to be answered as they're think- ing about it, the better the return. It helps our suppliers, too, because the less variabil- ity that we ask for in our designs from the common practices, the more we ask them in effect to do the common processes a consis- tent way with less variability, which allows our EMS providers to be a better supplier. We don't want them to have to learn something different for any two or three different oper-