Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1345210
20 SMT007 MAGAZINE I MARCH 2021 that we need to work on together with the engineer or the customer, because it's difficult or it's a brand-new product that hasn't been built before. We're spending sometimes a day or a week to go through the product and make a plan of attack. "What are the issues that can occur? How do we mitigate them and prevent them from occurring?" We spend quite a bit of time with customers resolving that. And when the product gets in-house, we will spend a lot of time diving into it. We answer questions like, "How do we plan to process this job?" and "How do we plan to build this job?" en we keep an eye on what we think will occur and prevent it from occurring. at might include having a process engineer fol- low this project through the shop or having a stopgap for inspection; let's see if it looks good before we get to the next step. Usually, we'll do that on most new products to make sure we get a good view on it. Johnson: Even when everyone is doing their job well, things happen. How do you respond? What do you do in your job to turn that around? Tran: at can happen sometimes daily or weekly. A product shows up in your facility, and you think you have figured everything out and you build it, but you get poor yield or poor quality. at will happen. In those situa- tions, it is the process engineer's job to look at that product from all angles and figure out if we missed something. If I didn't miss anything, then why are we having this problem? When stuff like this happens, the best thing to do is start experimenting. Because it might be a product that you've never built before. Let's try a different type of material, a differ- ent type of process. Sometimes we might run sample boards three different ways and see what the yields are, gather that data together to figure out how we can get the best yield out of this process, and then apply that again to the product we're building and see if the yield goes up. So yes, there are situations where you simply do not see it coming; it happens. And now you just have to figure it out. And the way to figure it out, a lot of times, is just sampling and exper- imenting—experimenting different angles, dif- ferent ways to see if you can get a better yield. Johnson: I'm hearing that you use intuition based on your experience, followed by scien- tific method in the form of going through sys- tematic testing. Tran: Yes. I will say in our industry, for process engineering, it doesn't matter what kind of degree you have, or what kind of background you have. e most important thing is being on the manufacturing floor, seeing the product being built, understanding it, and getting your hands dirty. at's where you can become a better engineer and understand products bet- ter. Everything that you read in your books and all the studies you do are great and will arm you with some knowledge when you come onto the floor, but nothing will get you more expe- rience and get you ready to be a process engi- neer than being on the floor, getting that pro- cess in your hand, and getting your hands dirty. Johnson: at's a perfect ending. Tuan, thank you. Tran: ank you, Nolan. SMT007 What are the issues that can occur? How do we mitigate them and prevent them from occurring? We spend quite a bit of time with customers resolving that.