Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1467744
MAY 2022 I PCB007 MAGAZINE 17 tory and Industry 4.0 is really focused around sensors and data. Are any of them beginning to look at sensors and data? Medina: I think that's a very good question, Happy. Industry 4.0 for SMT is much more preva- lent than the PCB side; there are already SMT facilities in the United States which are Indus- try 4.0 smart factory designs. It's easier to implement because the process steps are much less than in a PCB shop. I always say, from my experience in all three (semi- conductor, PCB, and SMT), that the PCB fab guys don't get paid enough. at's because their pro- cesses are so custom, whereas in SMT and semiconductors, it's very repetitive. So, we see Industry 4.0 on the SMT side. Right now, I think there's more of a drive in Europe by the PCB fab manufacturers to pur- sue the Industry 4.0 objective than in the U.S. Although, we have just started this initiative with one of the major PCB fab companies in the U.S. e larger PCB facilities are more inclined to implement Industry 4.0, but in general, when you talk to some of the smaller operations, not so much. ey're just not there yet. Matties: All this is coming down to the deci- sion of the fabricator. I think we're going to see a more piece-meal strategy on the bare board side. ey'll make sure it has the features, but it's going to be an isolated install. Medina: I also think that the process steps in building a fabricated board are so much more complex. It's not as streamlined as an SMT facility, or even an EMS facility. at's the chal- lenge. But it's not insurmountable. But the fact is that we don't promote it too much to the fab guys because they're just try- ing to figure out how to get the boards out the door. ey don't have the resources to do it, but there is value in continuing to promote it to the fab guys by giving them examples of what others are doing in that area. Matties: eir resources are limited, so even if we continue to talk about the benefits ad nau- seam, in the end, they have to be able to com- mit to it and then fund it. ose are two tough decisions to make. Medina: In 2000 or 2001, just as things started to shi to Asia, we had volume plants in North America running large programs. We could go in and show them how much benefit our materials delivered in cleaning, for example, because the numbers were based on reality. You could measure the yield improvement, because they had repetitive product running down the line in volume. If a product was run- ning low yields and they switched to a differ- ent machine with a different cleaning setup, you could see the difference. Now, you can't measure the improvement as easily because it's five panels of this, 15 panels of that, 10 panels of this. You don't have that SÜSS JETx-M.