Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1361971
30 PCB007 MAGAZINE I APRIL 2021 Mack: I was asked for a detailed list just last week of what impact inkjet solder mask would have, not even as far as ROI, but what would it do for us. I am working on that. e waste treatment thing was the first thing I thought of. I haven't put too much more energy in that yet, at least in the last week. Johnson: To think about inkjet solder mask having a positive impact on factory effluent is not necessarily the first thing that people think about, at least not with the conversations that I have. at makes for an interesting insight, not just for direct influences from changing out equipment, but also in the rest of your process; it buys you an advantage. Mack: We talk about, when we increase pro- duction and add another shi, how waste treat- ment has to be one of the biggest priorities be- cause we need to manage the flow, because we have an RO membrane system where we re- generate our wastewater. What is the impact of running 16 hours instead of eight? We also have an evaporator. e environmental impact is a big thing when you start talking about in- creasing production or perhaps increasing au- tomation. Matties: When you look at a process, what's your methodology for benchmarking? Do you compare it to other industry standards, or are you just looking at what your needs are? Mack: We do cross-training. We train people to run to targets. We need to hit this number for production standard. I also think of ideas, such as how I could speed up the line. How do I get more product out of this line? Sometimes you hit a dead end and you can't, such as with copper plate. We want our plating efficiency to be at or over 100%. e plating recipe we cur- rently have is producing a panel every 54 sec- onds, and until that becomes a bottleneck, that's pretty good. Again, it always goes back to throughput. How do I increase speed? Can I increase temperature, for instance? Can I in- crease temperature to increase speed, or con- centration? It's ideas of that nature. Matties: I'm thinking also about upper and low- er control limits. How do you tighten that pa- rameter so you can get finer lines (or whatever the requirement may be), or by other opportu- nities when you tighten your parameters you can then create new market opportunities for your organization? Mack: Initially, we would increase chemical analysis. I might be calibrating dosing pumps, or at least verifying calibration of dosing pumps a little more oen, so that when I do get that data set, I can trust those numbers. at's what will tighten up your process control window. It goes back to being data driven. Part of this sys- tem hasn't gotten there yet; I still want to gen- erate Cpk on the fly. It gives me the Cpk, I can drive rules based on the Cpk for process con- trol and know whether I need to tighten up my control or I if can get a little looser on the con- trol. Matties: What's the most important process in- spection tool a process engineer has? Mack: An eye loupe (laughs). It really is the best tool that I have. I walk the lines multiple times a day with an eye loupe in hand. I do a cross- section once a week. I was doing them every day, but I saw no change in process control, so we're down to validating once a week. We also do a CMI. We'll do a plating thickness on first The environmental impact is a big thing when you start talking about increas- ing production or perhaps increasing automation.