PCB + ASSEMBLY Per-Johan Edgren: “We could have increased our output by adding more gantries to the Siplace SX machines, but our goal was to improve flexibility and throughput through process integration and automation.” Source: ASM Assembly Systems linked to the process data in the database. Clicking on a machine shows its current settings. “We plan to make this data available to our customers in the foreseeable future. At this time, we use this additional transparency to control and optimize our flexible production,” explains Per-Johan Edgren. Each side of the line runs with a different setup concept The company has the ability to produce even the smallest lots efficiently by combining Siplace material flow and setup planning tools with innovative concepts. One side of each placement machine has a fixed setup with standard components. Operators splice the reels for each feeder as instructed by the ASM Line Monitor. “The whole line features stateof-the-art operator guidance. The Line Monitor shows the operator when and where he or she needs to splice or switch out a feeder in order to keep the line running. Over the coming weeks, we will combine the information from the Line Monitor with the data in our own software. On the active feeder rack in the kitting area, for example, the LEDs tell the operators what to do. And in the THT area, we display instructions on the workstation monitors. I am convinced that such support and guidance tools are an absolute necessity in a complex and high-mix production environment like ours. Without them, you would undoubtedly have lots of mistakes and line stops,” explains Edgren. On the other side of the line, the remaining components are set up via changeover tables. This combination of fixed and flexible setups minimizes the setup effort and accelerates product changeovers. While the setup is being changed on a machine, the rest of the line can keep running. The machine reads the barcode ID of each board and adjusts the support pins and conveyor rails automatically. All component logistics and setup family planning operations, the component storage systems, the line-adjacent Siplace Material Tower and the setup preparation procedures are controlled via the Siplace Material Manager and the Siplace Material Setup Assistant. When changeover tables come back from the line, LEDs indicate whether the operator can leave a feeder in place, move it to the active feeder rack, or tear it down and return the components to the material storage area. This saves on trips and minimizes the number of withdrawals and returns from/to the main warehouse. Process improvements alone deliver huge productivity increases Aros’s roadmap extends through 2021, but the success of the improvements is already measurable today. For example, the company used to run three shifts, each with eight workers on the shop floor. Today, it runs only two six-hour shifts with four people each while placing 50 percent more components per shift. The company installs between 2 and 2.5 million components per week on roughly 220 active products, many of which are dual-sided. Per-Johan Edgren: “We could have increased our output by adding more gantries to the Siplace SX machines, but this would only alleviate a few process weaknesses while creating bottlenecks somewhere else. Our goal was to improve flexibility and throughput equally through process integration and automation. We are convinced that we can double our production performance once more. For example, we will install a robot that distributes the boards to the different IC test stations. We will also upgrade our final assembly and packaging operations to a continuous-flow model that operates in tandem with the SMT production. Our goal is to have each board packaged and ready for shipping within 24 hours after it has received its barcode, even with lot sizes of 1.” SMT Hybrid Packaging, Booth 4-219 + 4-309 www.siplace.com; www.aros.se Zusammenfassung Mit einer einzigen SMD-Linie produziert Aros electronics aus Schweden hoch spezialisierte Antriebsregler in Kleinstmengen. Daher gehört es nicht unbedingt zu den Unternehmen, die man mit Industrie 4.0, Digitalisierung und höchste Automatisierung in Verbindung bringen würde. Dennoch ist das Unternehmen ein Wegbereiter in Bezug auf Smart Factory, da es ein State-of-the Art-Produktionskonzept in Zusammenarbeit mit ASM Assembly Systems erfolgreich implementiert hat. Résumé Sur une seule ligne CMS, Aros electronics de Suède produit en toutes petites quantités des servo-variateurs hautement spécialisés. Ainsi, elle ne compte pas obligatoirement parmi les entreprises que l‘on associerait à Industrie 4.0, le concept de numérisation et d‘automatisation le plus poussé. Toutefois, l‘entreprise est pionnière en matière d‘entreprise intelligente, ayant implémenté avec succès un concept de production de pointe en coopération avec ASM Assembly Systems. Резюме С помощью единственной SMD-линии компания Aros electronics из Швеции производит сверхмалые серии высокоспециализированных регуляторов приводов. Соответственно, эта компания не относится к тем, которые можно было бы связать с промышленностью 4.0, переходом на цифровые технологии и высокой степенью автоматизации. Тем не менее, компания является пионером в развитии «умных фабрик» (Smart Factory), так как в сотрудничестве с компанией ASM Assembly Systems она успешно внедрила сверхсовременную концепцию производства. 72 EPPEUROPE May 2017
PCB + ASSEMBLY Panoramic view of the main assembly room at MB Elettronica, including four Yamaha SMT lines. Source: Yamaha The right balance of human qualities and advanced automation Advanced technology Tuscan Manufacturing Services Specialist, MB Elettronica, has consistently chosen Yamaha SMT equipment to provide a technological edge that complements the company’s investment in its people. CEO Roberto Banelli believes successful manufacturing in Europe depends on keeping the right balance between the human abilities to visualise and adapt, and technological innovation to handle state-of-the-art processes cost-effectively. The company was formed in 1988 in Cortona, near Arezzo in Tuscany, Italy, and became one of the country’s first surface-mount electronic manufacturing services businesses. In fact, its history reaches back further, to 1961, when Roberto’s father Francesco Banelli started the firm Cafel, assembling mechanisms for consumer audio products. As MB Elettronica embraced the new surfacemount technology, the new company grew with the emerging contract electronics manufacturing sector. Typical contracts involved building high-quality assemblies in large numbers – usually several thousand units each – for a select few customers. As the pattern of manufacturing in Europe changed dramatically in the 1990s, the company adapted by advancing its capabilities and reaching out to the new generation of high-tech businesses; small, dynamic, innovative, and pushing the boundaries in specialist fields such as railway control and signaling, medical technology, highspeed telecommunications, and aerospace. Central to its ability to address these new opportunities, the company had invested in advanced manufacturing technology. In 1995, one of the world’s first surface-mount placement platforms to feature on-board machine vision took its place on the factory floor in Cortona, boosting the company’s ability to deliver extremely high quality assemblies quickly and cost-effectively. The purchase of that machine, a Yamaha Comet, was an important part of a sustained investment in technology and people that has powered the company to its present position, with annual sales now exceeding €32 million. Capabilities, and the human dimension The company’s wide-ranging in-house skills now permit a complete portfolio of lifecycle services, beginning with proof of concept work and rapid prototyping, as well as Design for Manufacture (DFM), component engineering, materials management, re-engineering, redesign, and repair and maintenance. “Our engineering services have saved customers not only many Euros but also valuable cubic centimeters inside enclosures through improvements to aspects like board layout, component selection, and power consumption,” explains Roberto Banelli. As far as surface-mount product manufacturing is concerned, services range from straightforward board assembly to complete box-build, leveraging extensive in-house skills including wiring and designing and assembling high-quality cables and harnesses. “Cabling is in our DNA, from the 1960s, so it is natural that this should differentiate our box-build offer. We also offer cable assembly as a specialist service in its own right,” he adds. By continuous investment in capabilities, the company has built a broad portfolio of competencies including conformal coating, rework including BGA packages, and the use of structural adhesives. Massimo Morandi, Site Manager takes up the story. “Our customers often require electronic assemblies to operate in harsh environments for long periods, frequently up to 10 years or more. Our competencies with coatings, adhesives, and other processes give us many options to ensure ruggedness and reliability.” Highlighting the company’s extensive test-engineering capabilities, he lists Keysight, Seica, HP, and Spea in-circuit board test capabilities, as well as flying-probe, boundary scan, and custom functional test among the techniques on offer. “We can also offer materialsmanagement services as well as component-level traceability. This is supported through our custom-developed manufacturing-management software, which passes information seamlessly between our automated assembly equipment and enterprise systems.” Perhaps one of the most remarkable facilities at MB Elettronica’s Cortona factory is the well-equipped ISO Class-8 space-qualified EPPEUROPE May 2017 73
