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September 2015 • SMT Magazine 25 AutOmOtIve ems: GOING beyOND AssembLy continues ue stream mapping (VSM) and JIT inventory strategy are some of the tools that automotive EMS provid- ers are using to identify opportunities to improve their process and reduce their manufacturing cost. Value Stream Map- ping: In every automotive EMS process, VSM is a lean manufacturing technique used to document, ana- lyze and improve the flow of information or materi- als required to produce a product or service is also applied. It is another part of the whole process devel- opment action once mass production begins. The VSM provides optimum value to the customer through a complete value creation process with minimum waste in design (concept to customer), build (order to delivery), and maintenance (in-use through life cycle to service). Through VSM, customer gains are maximized with clear vision and plan connect- ing all improvement activities. VSM recognizes and eliminates wastes. To further help tier 1 suppliers reduce their product cost, EMS providers can offer unique processes that can provide cost improvement opportunities in the product design. One such capability is the chip-on-board (COB) process. This process allows design engineers to consider the use of bare die semiconductors instead of packaged semiconductors. The cost difference may range from $.25 to 1USD depending on the actual buying price difference between bare die and packaged. One product that benefits from this capability is the automotive camera. There are plenty of benefits in using bare die imager sensors for camera modules. Aside from the cost difference, camera modules that use bare die imager sensor have better optical performance as compared to the packaged imager sensors. Design and Development The life of any new automotive electronic product begins with design and development (D&D). A good D&D process employs product development life cycle (PDLC) that details the various processes for hardware, software and mechanical design. PDLC: A typical PDLC entails gathering of all customer requirements and creating the product specifications. It specifies the product planning requirements and outlines the meth- odologies to be used in executing the design. It also specifies in detail how the product's per- formance will be validated. It involves general updates to comply with the latest versions of quality standards, simplified processes, coming up with templates, risk assessment and trace- ability in product specifications and technical plan definition. Design Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (DFMEA) is an important requirement when designing for the automotive sector. Here, the design team identifies as many possible failure modes that can possibly occur in the design. These are then classified according to severity and likelihood and appropriate mitigating ac- tions are identified. For example, one of the major products that IMI has designed and produced is the automo- tive camera. Future vehicles will have multiple cameras which will be used for both sensing and viewing applications. Viewing cameras are already widely used to avoid obstacles while FeAture