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18 SMT Magazine • September 2014 of the specifications which they thought were adequate, but the quantity does not justify new special equipment. PCB manufacturers, for ex- ample, face the challenge of placing very large connectors, whose size is outside the specifica- tions of SMT machines (Figure 2). Some manu- facturers use through-hole components in prod- ucts (Figure 3), though not enough need exists to justify purchasing a through-hole machine. Infrequently used components may fail to justify standard packaging for use, and oddly shaped parts may simply be beyond the scope of what a standard SMT machine can handle. In addition to the difficulty in managing the changes in size and type of component for place- ment, manufacturers must also consider the cost-effectiveness of any solution they devise for managing these "out-of-spec" placement issues. Rarely do these issues justify the expense of pur- chasing a specialty machine. Rather, the manu- facturer finds it more cost effective and more realistic to manage these processes with human resources. These manufacturing difficulties are not caused by poor engineering design, or by the chosen vendor's inattentiveness to custom- er needs. At the end of the day, manufacturers have come to accept that they will purchase a SMT line that is capable of handling a large per- centage of their process needs, but those out-of- specification parts will always exist. Current Solutions Today's most common solution is the imple- mentation of a manual operator station (Figure 4). At this station, a human places that large connector, odd-shaped part, or thru-hole com- ponent in the line. The expectation is that the human be as accurate, efficient and productive A rObOt'S pLACe IN Smt continues feATure figure 1: Typical SMT manufacturing line. figure 2: large connectors are often outside spec for SMT machines. figure 3: Plated through-hole components.