Posted May 22, 2012, by Mark Laing
Dear all
I am requesting your input on a hot topic within the Valor Process Engineering team this week. Namely how to calculate the aspect ratio and area ratio for stencil apertures. Now from my research so far, the most common measure of whether the aperture will release correctly has typically been the aspect ratio, however this seems to be calculated easily in simple cases of rectangles and circles. … Read More
Tags:
stencil,
data preparation,
aperture
Posted May 17, 2012, by Michael Ford
The evolution of technology has not been great. Not for me. Like many others, I remember watching the first moon landing on television in the 1960s which left me wondering in amazement about what we would be able to achieve in my lifetime. I watched science fiction TV series in the late 1960s, I think one was called “UFO”, which featured futuristic cars, a moon-base from which aliens were shot down. … Read More
Tags:
Paradigm,
ODB++
Posted May 15, 2012, by Mark Laing
A lot of engineers take advantage of the software capability that is delivered with the various types of assembly, test and inspection equipment. However, there is a false economy here as these software applications are optimized for that machine, meaning they typically have very good support for programming the machine but do a less than ideal job of handling the challenges of different CAD/CAM/BOM … Read More
Tags:
bill of materials,
AOI,
Flying Probe,
programming,
ICT,
BOM,
data preparation
Posted May 15, 2012, by Bernard Sutton
Quality comes from getting the little things right – consistently.
This is especially true when I see how global organisations perform. Somehow it becomes OK to get the little things wrong in global organisations.
Maybe its like litter in someone else’s neighborhood; not my problem.?
Which is perplexing when the rewards for getting the little things right is higher in global organisations. … Read More
Tags:
Manufacturing System Solution,
Defects,
Design,
CAPA,
lean manufacturing,
Quality,
Route cause,
Manufacturing execution system,
Transfer
Posted May 11, 2012, by Mark Laing
The Valor MSS Suite is now part of Mentor Ideas. I have started this collaborative activity by posting a number of the existing suggestions our customers have provided to give visibility to others to review, provide feedback on as well as to promote and demote. You are also invited to add your own ideas and allow others to comment on those too. As the Product Manager for the Valor MSS Engineering applications … Read More
Tags:
suggestion,
stencil,
documentation,
Enhancement,
process,
idea
Posted May 4, 2012, by Bernard Sutton
I have been in many situations in the past where we had a manufacturing problem to solve. In all instances the first step was to find the scale of the problem, look for linkages to the route cause and then ‘go fix’. Simple right!
Well not back then; The fist hurdle was always having accurate data for both the problem which might be a drop in test yields, beneath a sea of false calls, defective … Read More
Tags:
Quality,
Business Intelligence,
corrective action,
BI,
Route cause,
Manufacturing execution system,
Manufacturing System Solution,
Defects,
lean manufacturing
Posted Apr 26, 2012, by Michael Ford
Energy is the current revolution. We have all become accustomed to the use of a lot of energy in our daily lives. I write this blog while sitting in my local BMW dealership, surrounded by nice new shiny cars that consume lots of gasoline. The technology in these cars today though is incredible, with new cars each year achieving much higher level of efficiencies than ever before. It is still however … Read More
Tags:
Energy,
Japan,
Electricity,
Solar,
Planning
Posted Apr 20, 2012, by Bernard Sutton
Quality in particular ‘test’ are still seen as a black art by production and process teams.
In my experience the very best manufacturing engineers & managers are those that have both test and process engineering skills.
I now see this reflected in the ‘smart’ organisations who have already combined ‘engineering’ & ‘quality’ functions.
So why … Read More
Tags:
Quality,
PCBA,
Defects,
lean manufacturing,
CAPA,
Manufacturing execution system,
Manufacturing System Solution
Posted Apr 17, 2012, by Michael Ford
The Nepcon show in Shenzhen, China is coming up. The question comes to mind as to what to show that will attract the interest of people investing their time to come to see Mentor at the show.
Moving PCB-A production geographically to any alternate location, whether in-house or to an out-sourcing provider is always a challenge. The working practices are different as well as the knowledge-base of the … Read More
Tags:
Safety,
risk,
china,
Conformance,
Automotive,
Quality,
learning curve,
Liability
Posted Apr 17, 2012, by Bernard Sutton
It might be old news, but its still true; the lowest cost comes from having the highest quality.
Something I explored in my feature published in April US tech; “Moving from quality assurance to quality control”.
Control to prevent errors is more productive than adding more stages of defect detection. Supporting ‘lean manufacturing’ and CAPA (Corrective And Preventative Action) … Read More
Tags:
PCBA,
Quality,
Defects,
lean manufacturing,
CAPA,
Manufacturing System Solution,
Manufacturing costs,
Manufacturing execution system