Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/582861
22 The PCB Magazine • October 2015 Stepinski: Our first choice was always to go with American companies if we felt the capabil- ity was there to meet our requirements, so we chose American suppliers wherever that situa- tion existed, but we went overseas if we need- ed a capability that was not here. There are 39 different suppliers contributing to the factory equipment set. Matties: How much did it cost to put this factory together? Stepinski: The cost of all the equipment in the factory was around $12 million. Matties: What sort of timeframe did it take from breaking ground to running your first board? Stepinski: Approximately 15 months. Matties: Is that because a lot of engineering was happening as you were building or was it just cycle time for getting equipment? Stepinski: It was limited primarily by equipment cycle time, the arrival time for equipment. Matties: The other thing that you've done here is factory software integration from process to pro- cess. When we talk about the automated process, what you built is a conveyor belt. These boards aren't queuing up necessarily, they're going through one at a time into the plating and they just conveyor around—you're not storing them. How did you manage that and plan it all? Stepinski: If you look at a conventional board shop, in my opinion, the majority of the cost is associated with all the non-value-added steps that are between processes, whether it's inspec- tion, handling, putting cleaners and micro- etchers at the beginning of the next process to compensate for the handling in-between, or an- ti-tarnishes at the end of the preceding process. If you design all that out, your line is a lot shorter and you need a lot less equipment— there's cost savings there. Things like the siz- ing and determination of speed-matching and recipe-matching were all planned up front. We worked with our suppliers to develop the chem- ical parameters and the mechanical parameters, so we would have a continuous half a meter a minute line. That's what we have here is half a meter a minute line. Approximately 50 panels an hour, with the space to add pieces to the line and increase that, if needed. Matties: All right, so it's not really capable of go- ing higher than that without additional equip- ment. Stepinski: Yes, but we are only planning a 50- hour work week with the current demands. We have tons of upside for expansion with- out adding equipment to the wet process line. The wet process line was specifically oversized knowing that we have a pretty strong growth curve here. WHELEN ENGINEERING REDUCES CyCLE TIME By BUILDING A NEW AUTOMATED PCB FACTORy FeATure conveyorized oven.