PCB + ASSEMBLY Small is beautiful: Aros electronics shows how it‘s done Smart electronics production With only a single SMT line on which it produces highly specialized drive controllers in tiny batches, Aros electronics in Gothenburg, Sweden, is not the kind of company you would associate with terms like Industry 4.0, digitization and high-level automation. Aros is nevertheless considered a smart factory trailblazer in its home country, because it implements state-of-the-art manufacturing concepts in cooperation with ASM Assembly Systems and its Smart SMT Factory Network. environments. Aros already operated with an extremely high level of flexibility and automation on its line. They wanted to increase their future output capacity exclusively by making improvements and not by adding more machines or lines. In our talks, we realized how progressive their approach was, from the first drawings produced by the development department to the finished product.” The result was an operation that was not only very advanced, but made Aros a part of the Smart SMT Factory Network of reference sites for the Smart #1 SMT Factory that ASM is currently building. Because it is implementing state-of-the-art manufacturing concepts, Aros is considered a smart factory trailblazer in its home country Sweden. If you run an electronics manufacturing plant, take a rather skeptical view of the current talk of networked production and don‘t believe that it really applies to your everyday requirements, get in touch with Per-Johan Edgren, manufacturing process manager at Swedish manufacturer Aros electronics AB. He explains his viewpoint in his extremely cordial way: “Whether you call it smart factory or something else, I am always looking for opportunities to meet my customer’s increasingly demanding requirements efficiently and on time. To accomplish this, we have developed a roadmap for our factory‘s development over the coming years. We defined improvement targets, but not the technologies for achieving them. We then showed this roadmap to partners and equipment suppliers and asked them how we can achieve these targets in stages and with minimal disruption of our everyday operations.” One of the company’s partners is SMT line solution supplier ASM, the maker of DEK printers and Siplace placement machines. Alexander Hagenfeldt, solutions marketing manager at ASM and project manager for the company’s Smart SMT Factory Network, remembers: “At first glance, this kind of inquiry was rather unusual for a producer of small and medium-sized lots. Aros didn‘t just want to buy printing and placement solutions, but was looking for sophisticated networking capabilities and optimized process integration. Fortunately, we were familiar with this type of focus from clients with large high-volume Source: ASM Assembly Systems Clearly formulated objectives Aros electronics AB is a member of Van de Wiele Group, a technology enterprise with sales of almost 400 million euros. The 135 employees bring in 34 million Euros of this amount by developing and manufacturing highly specialized controllers for drive solutions, power electronics and embedded systems for the automotive and mechanical engineering industries. Per-Johan Edgren explains: “Our company has long been known for innovative, high-quality developments. But since the demands on quality, flexibility and speed are getting tougher all the time, particularly in the automotive field, we wanted to become even better.” The company formulated ambitious goals and developed a roadmap for achieving them. It called for a zero-defect philosophy in addition to a central planning instance, advanced user guidance, and highly automated continuous flow production with minimal manual operations from introducing the new product to packaging it. Alexander Hagenfeldt of ASM: “I am impressed by the sense of purpose and the speed with which Aros is upgrading its production. Our technicians visit the factory in Gothenburg regularly, and each time they go there something has changed. But the line is always running at full speed.” Barcodes contain everything A laser applies a unique ID and barcode to each board that enters the line. The entire line is also equipped with dual asynchronous conveyors, i.e. they operate separately of each other. That way, the plant can run large batches of high-volume products and small lots or single prototypes side-by-side. If an order calls for unusually large boards, the two tracks can be combined to form a single wide conveyor. Shuttles and conveyors ensure that a board does not have to be touched by human hands after it has entered the line. The boards run first through the laser-marking machine before a shuttle transports them to one of two tracks that take them through two DEK printers (one per track), each of which is linked to an ASM ProcessExpert 70 EPPEUROPE May 2017
PCB + ASSEMBLY Every square meter of production floor space is precious, which is why complex transport systems are used to move the circuit boards around. SMART SMT FACTORY NETWORK The whole line features state-of-the-art operator guidance, an absolute necessity in a high-mix production environment. system. Per-Johan Edgren: “We expect the ASM ProcessExpert systems to provide huge benefits. At this time we use them as high-quality 5D SPI quality control systems and to run DFM checks for new products. We are already very impressed by them, and we plan over the medium term to let them control the printers and their process parameters completely autonomously.” One of the first things that visitors notice is how crowded the plant is. Since floor space is expensive, it must be used as effectively as possible, which is why complex transport systems are used to move the circuit boards around. For example, the two DEK printers and their ASM ProcessExpert system are arranged in a row, with one track using lifts and conveyors to route the boards over the other machines. The SMT line itself is arranged in a U-shape. After the boards have been printed, a lift and shuttle system routes them over a walkway before they enter the placement machines on two tracks. The placement line consists of six Siplace SX1 machines, five of which are equipped with a flexible CPP head. The end-of-line machine features a TwinHead for large components, connectors and odd shapes. When the boards leave the line, they run on two separate tracks through two ovens before two inline AOI systems perform the quality control. This is followed by special processes like THT, selective soldering, encapsulating, and additional IC tests. Source: ASM Assembly Systems Source: ASM Assembly Systems A global network of digitized electronics production ASM Assembly Systems, the SMT solution provider for electronics manufacturing plants, is rapidly advancing its developments in the field of smart SMT factory applications. To show what is possible and how electronics plants can transform themselves step-by-step into smart SMT factories irrespective of their initial situation, size, production type of location, ASM is building a global Smart SMT Factory Network that will bring together users and partners and support them on their move to the smart SMT factory. At its center will be ASM‘s SMT Centers of Competence, which will promote programs, host meetings and coordinate joint smart factory projects of ASM, customers and partners. Together they will develop concrete solutions and implement them step-by-step. At the same time, the global Smart SMT Factory Network will show what‘s already possible and what effect technological innovations, automation and integrated processes will have on relevant performance indicators in SMT production. Interested customers can visit plants in the Smart SMT Factory Network and benefit from exchanging information and experiences with others. At the same time, the www.smart-smt-fac tory-forum.com will continuously report on the progress. Membership in the Smart SMT Factory Network will be based on a mix of factors like location, production model, size, applications/industry, OEM/EMS and others to represent to whole diversity of the electronics manufacturing industry. All member companies will have a clear vision of their factory’s future as well as of the goals they want to reach. They will also have the desire to embark on the road to the smart SMT factory together with ASM. “This network, the first of its kind, represents all facets of our industry. We already see that building a smart SMT factory requires an entirely new level or cooperation between electronics manufacturers and equipment vendors. Both sides have to open themselves to their partners and divulge much more of their objectives, plans and capabilities than in normal projects. This is not just selling projects or machines, but real partnership,” explains Alexander Hagenfeldt, solutions marketing manager and project manager for the Smart SMT Factory Network at ASM Assembly Systems. Special software provides transparency The progress of a circuit board can be tracked not only on the line. Anywhere in the company, users can call up an Aros-developed program that displays the line, its dual conveyors and the boards moving along them with their barcode IDs. Clicking on a board shows additional real-time information about the underlying order as well as all process parameters. The user can even call up for each board the associated SPI images, the placement program, and the reflow oven‘s heat profile. This is made possible because each board is identified before it enters a line component so that its UID can be EPPEUROPE May 2017 71
