Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1508761
30 SMT007 MAGAZINE I OCTOBER 2023 key. Let's say we're running a job; a reference designator sets off a couple defect conditions and, hopefully right then and there, MES- related real-time soware can lock the line and correct the mistake before we start mak- ing more of that mistake. We're headed there very quickly; we're already in the RFQ process for MES soware. We have a lot of good soware, but much of that data is just not wrapped into one nice suite. at's one big problem we have. e sec- ond problem was that we want better shop floor control, so we've digitized our inventory. Now our inventory management system acts like a database, and that has been a big quality improvement for many reasons. Now we're going aer quality and all the data that is tied together to understand it. Quality could have many different pieces to it. We've already built some custom in-house soware, but we want to become an advanced facility. We don't do solder paste (SPI) or pre-reflow inspection because we've haven't found the need for it. e post-reflow data tells us that our process is in good condition. We attribute that to high levels of continued maintenance and the knowledge level of our in-house staff. Almost 95% of all maintenance on equipment is done by our in-house crew. Matties: Regarding your SPI, will the finer features coming in result in you changing your strategy? Vora: We'll let the data tell us. We are produc- ing boards with 01005s already. For example, we have one board that has 25-line items that are 01005 with 40–50 placements out of a total of 185 placements, just on a board the size of a dime. Matties: Is this with stencil or jetting? Vora: Stencil. In this case, we have a lot of tech inside the stencil. While the stencil normally costs $200, this is a $1,000 stencil with a few tricks built into it. We've been wildly success- ful with it. Matties: Are you looking at jetting as well? Vora: We don't find a need to make that invest- ment in jetting. Jet printing is not useful to us because we want to be able to run any job on any of our three lines. Stencil printing does such a great job already and we're really a pro- duction house; we have the time to make sten- cils. We also have a stencil house nearby that can give us a same day response if we need it. Matties: Is your in-line AOI where you're getting your real-time feedback to control your process? Darren Carlson: Yes. Right now, we are using the operator. Whomever is running the AOI will flag the line instead of having a soware data collection system flag it. It's semi-auto- matic; there is still a lot of operator interven- tion. Vora: We go over that data to understand the defect rates and causes. What are the rea- sons for the defects and how many defects are there? For example, why is this suddenly tomb- stoning? Matties: So, you're using this data for real-time process control and improvement? Raj Vora