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May 2016 • The PCB Magazine 37 mans, rated by percent of the work done by ma- chines (Table 1). Systemization Levels By the same token, systemization can be di- vided into six levels that indicate the amount and sophistication of information, blueprints, data, scheduling, and control that takes place (Table 2). Each level has an increasing percentage of machine/computer content for handling the information required to fabricate, schedule, test or move a product. Automation Matrix When both measures are applied to any ac- tivity in the process to tool or build a printed circuit, then an automation matrix is created in that workcenter. This matrix, as illustrated in Figure 2, allows for the current situation to be appraised (even if it is all manual) as well as fu- ture objectives and plans. It is quite common to make automation objectives a number of steps or phases, which allows each step to be stabi- lized before the next one is taken. The automa- tion matrix lends itself to this step approach. Automation: Evolves from and Coexists with Manual Techniques One of the simple truths in automation is, if you can't do it manually, what makes you think you will do it by automation? The corol- lary, automate for quality, is a myth. The truth is, you must automate for consistency—either consistent quality or consistent scrap. The auto- mated system must share the same heritage as the manual systems. The most suitable manual technique for automation is just-in-time (JIT) or the continuous pull production technique. It focuses on many of these problems in a conven- tional material flow system: • Excess inventories • Queue and safety buffers • Extensive repair and rework Automation Methodology An automation methodology is a formal procedure for planning, designing, and imple- menting automation. It is particularly impor- tant when you start integrating several previ- ously independent production tasks into one or more automated systems. The methodology stems from the previously defined automation matrix. Additional axes are added to the matrix to cover material handling (mechanization) between cells or workcenters and to cover net- work communication (systemization) between Figure 2: Automation is really a combination of two strategies, mechanization classes and system- ization levels. The resulting vector is automation. Table 1. Table 2. material HandlinG innovations: sHould you automate?