PCB007 Magazine

PCB007-Jan2024

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20 PCB007 MAGAZINE I JANUARY 2024 quotes and specifications page by page with the factory engineers to determine whether every- thing is working as promised or expected. Any anomalies are usually found at this stage, and it is much easier to make corrections while the equipment is still at the factory rather than aer it is delivered. Not doing a factory accep- tance test can result in a wide range of prob- lems, anger, and frustrations that could have been avoided. A few years ago, a customer wanted to replace a 20-year-old two-stage chemical cleaning system (provided by a competitor that is no longer in business) that was beginning to fall apart. It seemed easy enough. ey just wanted a work-alike copy of their old machine. e first stage was an aggres- sive alkaline clean fol- lowed by a three-stage cascading water rinse. e second stage was a mild acid stop bath fol- lowed by another cascad- ing water rinse and dryer. e original installation drawing was provided and copied as closely as possible. When the system was finished, they decided to forego a factory acceptance test to save some time and expense. e system was duly shipped and installed. e initial results were terrible. e panels came out of the system discolored and with obvious wheel tracks which would not be acceptable for continuing to the next process step. e customer suspected the wheel mate- rial was different from their old system; sev- eral wheel changes were tried to no avail. We were puzzled, as we had no problems with the dozens of these types of systems in the field with the same construction materials using the same chemistries. As the days passed with no solution, anger and frustration grew. en it was discovered that the pump taking the over- flow from the second stage rinse (aer the acid treatment) to the first stage rinse aer the alka- price. ey were buying standard-thickness copper sheets and sanding them down to the desired thickness with the automatic sander. Not only was this slow and dusty but the sand- ing work hardened the copper and required an annealing step before cutting. Etching it to thickness would be quicker, cleaner, and less costly. A few test runs in the lab showed that the etching process would easily meet their specifications, so a production system was proposed and accepted, and a purchase order was cut. e communication problem became appar- ent when the equipment was delivered. e customer was not familiar with these types of purchases and assumed they were receiving a turnkey system where the equipment would be delivered, installed, filled with cupric chloride, tested, and ready to run. Unfortu- nately, they did not make this expectation clear to us dur- ing our discussions. We were not entirely without fault here as we offer installation assistance as a separate item, but since the customer did not request it, we assumed they didn't need it. As a result, when the truck arrived at the customer's location, there wasn't even a forkli available to remove the equipment from the truck, let alone move it into the building. Fortunately, it was a small, self-contained system that only needed water and electric hookups, so it was set up quickly, the chem- istry found, and process training provided in short order. Had this been a larger and more complex system, the simple communication failure would have been a major problem for both parties. One way to avoid this type of communica- tion gap is to set up a factory acceptance test, where the finished system is set up in the fac- tory and run, usually with water, before deliv- ery. e customer representative(s) review the Let's work together to identify and fix the problem and worry about assessing the blame later.

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