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78 SMT Magazine • February 2017 small company looking at a 5,000 CPH pick and place system to assemble a board with 200 com- ponents may immediately think, "25 boards per hour, 200 per 8-hour shift, 1000 assemblies per week. First of all, we don't sell anywhere near that many, and besides that, our testing and fi- nal assembly couldn't possibly keep pace. That machine is way out of our league and will be sitting idle half the time." The point is that this thinking doesn't really apply outside the world of very high volume SMT. For low- to medium- volume manufacturing of specialized products, it's probably OK if in-house SMT equipment isn't running at its fullest capacity 100% of the time. If you look at an SMT equipment pur- chase from a total cost savings standpoint, in- stead of trying to base its justification on equip- ment utilization, it's a whole different story. As these three examples show, a more holistic ap- proach is necessary. This is precisely the reason that "payback period" is of so little significance to Campbell, Sensorcon, and Verbos Electron- ics that none of the three have ever taken the time to go back and calculate it with any high degree of precision. Whether it was six months, 12 months, or 18 months doesn't really mat- ter—they know it was quick— and, they know that the bene- fits to their business operations and the overall cost savings, have been so substantial that they almost don't care. On this basis, one could even argue that the cost of equipment is so comparatively small, companies should make absolutely certain they don't underspend when it comes to installing their first SMT assem- bly line. Nothing can be more frustrating than trying to pro- duce a high-quality product with equipment that isn't up to the task. This being said, there's certainly no need to overspend either. The key is to purchase the best equipment to get the job done right, while keeping an eye toward fu- ture needs and upgradeability. Of course, trying to predict the future is per- haps the greatest challenge of all. Companies go to great lengths to keep abreast of chang- ing technology and industry trends that can affect their businesses. But even the most op- timistic among them will admit that it's virtu- ally impossible to foresee the role that world events, macroeconomics, and other things be- yond their control might play in the years ahead. Nonetheless, it now appears that a new, business-friendly administration is intent on setting policy that will benefit American man- ufacturers. SMT Tom Beck is the director of marketing at Manncorp. Figure 9: Due to space limitations, a 90° turning conveyor is positioned between Campbell Company's three-head MC-389 pick and place machine and their five-zone CR5000 convection reflow oven. Single-sourcing a complete turnkey SMT production line provides such benefits as seamless equipment integration, special package pricing, coordinated delivery, installation and training, and extended warranties. BRINGING SMT ASSEMBLY IN-HOUSE