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30 SMT Magazine • September 2014 tion routines are today much more sophisti- cated and much less prone to false errors. Con- fidence has risen to the level where statistical process control (SPC), especially 6-Sigma, can be used to predict exactly when placements are inside or outside of control specification, even before an actual defect happens. Taking this information back to the SMT machines in real-time to adjust or manipulate machine parameters to correct the trends to- ward defects has been achieved. But this has been limited by the communication options available between AOI and SMT machines, as well as the abilities of the software to be able to link symptoms to specific causes, and on the SMT machine, the interface to enable remote adjustment of key parameters while the ma- chine is working. And here is our second lesson. When is ad- justment acceptable, and when should mainte- nance be done? Adjustment is always compensa- tion for an issue. That an issue exists raises ques- tions about the processes, as well as the level of adjustment that should fundamentally be neces- sary. The issue is that elements of the machines need to be maintained and continuously adjust- ed to ensure optimum performance, which often takes the machine out of service. This then is a quality versus productivity question. This second lesson had also not been learned in the 1990s, where our early adopters of auto- mated assembly could not understand why the new automated line broke down so frequently. The vendor stated that critical maintenance re- gimes had not been performed. The manufacturer said that maintenance could not be done because the line performance was less than expected, which meant that the line had become the bottleneck process for the factory. the trUe ImpACt OF AUtOmAtION continues feATure figure 1: Baxter the robot is an example of what automation can mean for the future. (Photo courtesy of rethink robotics.)