Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1463464
30 SMT007 MAGAZINE I APRIL 2022 me a hard time that we grew Rocket into the Carson City location just so we could jus- tify adding more people to the Voyager team. ere's a lot of truth to it. Everybody who comes in here just wants more data. ey want to be able to pull up all the normal fault-finding information, like pro- files and placement information. We're now at the point where Voyager will collect an image of the component that's receiving inspection. When the part comes in, it goes into receiv- ing inspection where a camera automatically takes an image and uploads it to the lot code, date code, and purchase order, then ties it to a Rocket code. Now, when we issue that compo- nent, we know the kit, what component was issued to it, and the media—was it in a tape, a tube, or a reel? ey can use that for pro- gramming because they know the rotation of the component. ey can use that for doing the first article QC when they make sure that the board is built right and got the right parts loaded. Once you start collecting that image, you can use it for other things. Some of the cool auto- matic robot arms are actually capable of doing the things that they said they could do 10 years ago. We're going to incorporate a bunch of that stuff into the program so that when it does a part marking, it verifies it against what was received. Matties: Do you see a lot more automation in your new facility than in your current facility, like robotic arms and such? Kottke: Not yet, because they can't yet do what they say they can. Every single arm that we put in here and tried has failed. We're hoping one of our suppliers has a new automatic arm that will work for inspection. We're going to try that out next, and we have high hopes. On the automation side, we are nowhere near where we thought we would be by now because you must have so much repeated process to get the ROI on the arm. Matties: But your workflow is such a mix, you don't have that opportunity? Kottke: Right. Matties: When people talk about the Factory of the Future in North America, what does that mean to you? Kottke: e Factory of the Future for me is still something that collects the ultimate amount of data so that you can make the business deci- sions going forward. Matties: You've looked at automation and tech- nology, but really, it's data and data manage- ment. We would like to mechanize and remove the human element of handling as much as possible. But the truth of the matter is there's still going to be instances where humans must touch it to do the job. Kottke: True. Matties: When you look at the ROI for Voyager now, it must be enormous. Kottke: Here's one example. I have a bet right now with the BI guy that if he can do what I asked for, I will buy him a track car. If he's suc- cessful, he will have saved me 453 hours, which equates to $20,000 in costs, which rolls up to a quarter-million dollars a year. Better yet, it's low-hanging fruit. Matties: at's the thing, low-hanging fruit in your organization is a lot different than low- hanging fruit in a non-data-driven factory. Kottke: Yes. And if he can show me that he saved me $244,000, I'll buy him a $50,000 track car in a minute. Matties: It puts an incentive there, for sure. Nolan Johnson: A team of seven for your so-