Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1520213
MAY 2024 I SMT007 MAGAZINE 13 "good" looks like from the outset; there isn't a wide range of different responses. Similarly, a well-executed changeover will look the same every time. ere's the same number of minutes in each station, the same sequence of stations. We're experts at codifying that. We've been very lucky that this is an early place to test our technology because it's such a good fit between the technology and the problem space. It seems that the human aspect is shifting from what it used to be to something new. How do you approach that trend, especially when it comes to robotics and automation? Holden: Our goal is to empower the opera- tor. U.S. operators and manufacturers need to continuously raise the bar to remain compet- itive. We look to other places where they've been raising the bar on human performance. In Formula One, for example, how much time do they spend on fine-tuning the details of a pit stop, which essentially is a change- over? In manufacturing, there haven't been any technological solutions to treat the oper- ator as an athlete. at thinking is just start- ing to emerge. Our coaching tool can help to empower them. Let's say we have a crew running an SMT line, and they want to increase uptime by 20%. at's totally doable on most lines, but they need to get into the details. I start here, then I move here aer this many seconds; you treat it more like dance choreography. To do this type of analysis, they need tools and sup- port. Our vision is to provide that toolset, be it codifying the changeover or giving you stats about how well you did vs. last time or vs. your best changeover ever. It might even be a benchmark against other companies. We also enable management to systematically observe and rectify discrepancies in produc- tivity or yield across various facilities, pro- duction lines, or shis. We can bring the same level of rigor they have in professional sports to these operators. We can make it fun to become good. The Formula One pit stop analogy is great because many of the companies in EMS— especially if they're Tier 2 or 3—don't run so much like Formula One's three-second pit; they run like NASCAR, where it's more like 35 seconds. Tell me more about the tools you're developing. Arbabian: First, our philosophy is objec- tive observability with automatic data. at is a critical foundation. e first plateau is the observational piece: You observe a process, and now you want to go and optimize your problem. e first thing you do aer you've watched 20 of these things is qualify the steps: ese two people need to be here, and this first step lasts one-and-a-half seconds. So, you break that one-and-a-half seconds into pieces. at's the observed piece of our product. Now that you've observed it, the second pla- teau is investigating and finding a root cause. With the data, we give you actionable insights into root causes for problems, improving pro- ductivity by looking at actions, sorted, ranked by impact, and so forth. It's an all-around pri- Anders Holden