PCB Manufacturing, Assembly & Test Blog

Hi there I spent last week in the wonderful town of Zug about 45 minutes from Zurich in Switzerland. My European colleagues organized a two day seminar for over 60 of our Valor MSS Process Preparation customers at the Siemens facility in Zug. The agenda consisted of some Valor presentations, Valor demostrations of the upcoming software, presentations by actual users of the Process Preparation software … Read More

programming, AVL, process, AOI, data preparation, documentation, Flying Probe, bill of materials, ICT, BOM, Design For Test, vPlan, testability, VPL, stencil

Hi there As a follow up to my posting last week on measuring test coverage, which you can read from the following link: http://www.mentor.com/pcb-manufacturing-assembly/blog/post/how-do-you-measure-test-coverage–77cbb106-851f-4f26-a548-4857098f23d4 I would like to hear from test and process engineers on what types of equipment form part of your test and inspection strategy. How do In-Circuit … Read More

Design For Test, Flying Probe, AOI, testability, vPlan, ICT, data preparation, BOM, programming, boundary scan

Hi there Although the Valor MSS Process Preparation solution can handle most types of data that are passed it’s way, intelligent design data brings a wealth of benefits to its users. The import process is typically a few seconds for most designs as opposed to multiple hours to reverse engineer Gerber files to a sufficient level to be useful for manufacturing. Having to support electrical test … Read More

ODB++, bill of materials, documentation, programming, Gerber, BOM, VPL, data preparation, vPlan

Hi there I have covered a number of areas of process engineering in this blog over the past few months and there is now an opportunity to see how these areas all come together next week in our Webinar titled “World Class Process Preparation”. We will be discussing a number of ways that the users of Valor MSS can streamline their process preparation tasks to make them more efficient and … Read More

Planning, AOI, mixed vendor, BOM, data preparation, documentation, AVL, Flying Probe, bill of materials, ICT, Design For Test, process preparation, vPlan, Webinar, testability, stencil, programming, Sequence

Hi there This week sees the all new Valor MSS 11.2 version that supports all areas of PCB Process Engineering and Shop Floor. One of the new features of this release is the ability to include Automated Optical Inspection (AOI) machines in-line with the SMT placement machines. This provides the ability to create specific AOI programs depending on where the machine is in the line relative to the point … Read More

data preparation, approved vendor list, vPlan, AOI, BOM, process, AVL, programming, bill of materials

Hi there I was talking with one of our customers last week on the ability to provide the Valor MSS solutions to many people in their organization. Therefore I invite others to share their feedback on various ways their IT infrastructure is looking to deploy software solutions both today and any areas that are being discussed as possible ways to achieve this in the future. Microsoft System Center Configuration … Read More

BOM, installation, virtual environment, Deployment, install

Hi there One of the least efficient areas in PCB assembly concerns the creation and management of package data that will be consumed across the shop-floor. For example DFM processes rely on accurate package data to determine component to component spacing issues or using accurate pin terminus contact data to ensure that solder joints will form correctly. Accurate package data is critical for DFT analysis … Read More

programming, AOI, bill of materials, mixed vendor, process, documentation, data preparation, Design For Test, Flying Probe, ICT, BOM, VPL, vPlan, stencil, testability

Hi there Within the Valor MSS Process Preparation suite, we have the best DFA capability that exists in the market. There are a number of checks that are performed that are necessary for PCB assemblers to execute prior to starting a design in production. Being able to know if fiducials on the board are near similar pads or vias is important to ensure that placement and inspection equipment don’t … Read More

Flying Probe, bill of materials, testability, vPlan, ICT, Design For Test, BOM, data preparation

Hi there Spreadsheets are probably one of the most useful applications for computers. They were also the “killer app” that allowed computers to take off to the masses. So we have relied more and more on them for every day tasks. One area they are playing a role is in the prioritization of production work orders. It is not uncommon to have to determine which of hundreds of work orders each … Read More

process, Sequence, bill of materials, Planning, vPlan, BOM, data preparation

Dear all It has been a few months but this week I am out at the Mentor Graphics office in Yavne, Israel. I have been working with the R&D team out here on the upcoming versions of our Process Engineering solutions. I certainly appreciate people taking the time to respond to my blog last week on stencil apertures. The new area ratio report as discussed in last week’s blog will be part of the … Read More

VPL, BOM, programming, stencil, AOI, data preparation, Planning, Design For Test, Enhancement, documentation, Flying Probe, vPlan

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

bill of materials, AOI, Flying Probe, programming, ICT, BOM, data preparation

For the final installment of this series on components, I will discuss the solution that the Valor Division has for dynamic build order management. One of the neglected areas of PCB manufacturing is being able to sequence and then react to the day to day challenges of meeting production goals. For example, when many different products needs to be built, on multiple lines, with different configurations … Read More

PCB assembly, Scheduling, BOM, Sequence, Planning

Okay, well maybe that is a little bit of an exaggeration but there are still many ways to leverage the manufacturer specific package data from the VPL throughout the Process Engineering flow. As a follow up to my last posting I mentioned that I would be talking about the creation and use of manufacturer specific packages. Through the use of the VPL, manufacturer specific packages can be downloaded … Read More

packages, AVL, approved vendor list, bill of materials, VPL, BOM

In today’s typical electronic assemblies the single largest cost is the components that make up the assembly. Therefore being able to manage the component supply chain is critical to delivering profitable products for electronic manufacturers. Within the Process Engineering product line of the Valor MSS suite, vPlan provides an unparalleled solution for managing components, Bill of Materials (BOM) … Read More

AVL, approved vendor list, bill of materials, BOM