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42 PCB007 MAGAZINE I JANUARY 2018 bination line are not impacted to the point of unacceptability, your total production will de- crease. In a modular system another etch module can be built and placed right next to the exist- ing etch module. While less expensive than an entirely new system, this approach has some caveats. First, there must be sufficient plant space available to lengthen the system. Sec- ond, there must be sufficient electrical capac- ity to run more process pumps and possibly another conveyor drive motor. Finally, the line must be taken out of production and cleaned out prior to retrofit work being performed. A shutdown over a two-week period may be nec- essary to complete integration and testing of the new module. Extras One final consideration is process control. A number of methods have been developed to help automate your process and keep it run- ning properly. Depending on your needs, dos- ing tanks and pumps, regeneration systems for chloride etchers, Programmable Logic Control (PLC), wastewater treatment and ion exchange systems are all available. PLC control is especially adaptable to pro- cessing a mix of products, as an engineer or lead operator can program process parame- ters such as conveyor speed (or contact time), temperature, dosing or regeneration parame- ters, even spray pressures on auto—adjusting sprays for each unique product and assigning a recipe number to that product. Once this rec- ipe is loaded into memory, any operator can easily change from one product to the next and know that it will run at the specified condi- tions. Using bar coding apps and a bar code read- er, each product can be matched to a specif- ic recipe, removing further chances for mis- takes. Data coding, which applies a time and date stamp to each panel, allows you to track individual panels through the entire process. If a non-conforming product is found during in- spection, the time stamp makes it easier to de- termine if other product run during the same time frame is also defective. Furthermore, in our brave new world of 24- hour connectivity, with the right set-up, all of this can be monitored on a smartphone or de- vice from anywhere there is Wi-Fi connectiv- ity. Depending on your product mix and vol- ume, adding in some form of automatic pro- cess control is well worth the up-front cost. Conclusion Whether it is your first process equipment purchase, you've outgrown your current sys- tem, you just want to improve your yield or increase throughput, or you have decided on a completely new product or product mix, your supplier should be able to help guide you through this purchase using their own exper- tise. The purchase decision will be with your company for years to come, but it does not have to be a terrible experience. Working with a supplier that has built many different systems to customer specifications and has a proven re- cord of efficient, long-lasting designs can take much of the worry and uncertainty out of the decision process. PCB007 James Hall is R&D process technician at Chemcut Corporation. Figure 4: Example of user interface panel with display for PLC control.