Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1398328
86 SMT007 MAGAZINE I AUGUST 2021 time the line was down was much more than 30 minutes. Aer discussing all of this, Chuck was despondent. "I'm embarrassed that I thought the uptime might be in the 50% range," Chuck lamented. "Clearly, with all of these OFIs, Frank's num- ber is probably more accurate." "Don't feel too bad, Chuck," Maggie said, sympathetically. "Professor Coleman has told us that most people think their line uptime is high; sometimes they think it is 95%, when it is actually only 10%." "When you think about it, the line running is the only thing that makes us money. If our uptime is poor, we are losing our shirt, money- wise," Chuck noted. With that statement, Maggie and John knew that Chuck Tower would be a key person in the drive for continuous improvement. Stay tuned to see what BE's uptime is. What is your uptime? SMT007 Ronald C. Lasky is an instructional professor of engineering for the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College, and senior technologist at Indium Corporation. To read past columns, or contact Lasky, click here. is running, we will put a '1' in an Excel spread- sheet cell; if the line is not running, we will put enter a '0.' Let's do it for two weeks and see what we get." Maggie and John were impressed. ey then discussed with Chuck how BE did change- overs. Handling changeovers was important as BE was a high-mix business, and some of their product runs were less than 100 PCBs. e fol- lowing points were made: Strengths 1. Each line had three white boards on which the operators would write the status of preparation for the components, stencil, solder paste, etc., for the next three jobs on the line. Opportunities for Improvement (OFI) 1. Feeder racks, though available, were not used. ey were in storage, and there was never time to learn how to use them. 2. Even with the white boards, there was usually "shopping time" required to locate a needed component or a stencil. 3. ere was not a sense of urgency regarding replenishing solder paste or components on feeders. Oen when these actions were needed, the operators would use this time to take a break, hence stopping the line. 4. e lines were shut down for the 30-minute lunch hour, but the actual