Inspection and component management: problems and solutions

So what’s going wrong and how can these be turned around? To answer these questions, Electronic Specifier spoke with Joe Booth, CEO of Altus, for insight into common problems and the implementation of solutions.

Problems facing the industry

“For many companies there is a reluctance to spend because many of those are privately owned CEMs and many companies have an eye on short term over long term tensions,” says Booth. This is at the core of the problem when it comes to handling inspection and component management.

Rather than companies addressing their own needs, more often than not they will be customer lead in development, having biases towards areas that customers desire.

“It’s something we’ve noticed, working in the sector, that, especially in inspection and component management, they’re not the most ‘sexiest’ of investments, because naturally a company has biases towards what they can sell to customers over what they can do for themselves,” expanded Booth.

“Companies are often focused on what they need to do to keep contracts, but never really going further with that ambition.”

There are also concerns regarding ROI due to the slower but impactful nature of the investments. These can be difficult, “we understand money doesn’t grow on trees,” says Booth, and shareholders as well as a focus on finance deals can make this even more difficult. As Booth explains: “Process improvements are iterative and require a well thought out technological road map.

“Inspection is a great example of this. 80+% of faults in SMT are related to solder paste and so logically you would imagine that all companies would be inspecting solder paste using 3D SPI, but it is a fact that in the UK the dominant SMT inspection unit is AOI which is predominantly focused on catching faults after the reflow process in completed and not at the solder paste process which would arguably solve most of the errors happening. Every time we sell a 3D AOI to a customer we suggest they buy SPI first, it very rarely happens that they make that investment. they tend to after even though the value is less for them and because the value is all perceived by their end customer to secure that contract.”

The fundamental problems in how inspection is handled lies in a handful of key areas:

• Investment for customers not for their own sake
• Outdated traditional camera technology
• Not utilising SPI over AOI
• Not unlocking value of data
• Policemen or coaching
• Hands on processes rather than hands off due to lack of trust

Booth continued: “The same goes for component management. Most organisations have not invested in improving component management processes and traceability since they were founded. That may even go as far as not having an ERP or MES system because these investments albeit incredibly valuable for the ongoing management efficiencies and traceability of a site are not visible on a customer factory tour and far less sexy to sell when comparing to a new pick and place system which you can see providing you profitability. The issue arises when you have an unknown shortage of a component that causes the P&P not to run because you haven’t got the less sexy processes in place to mitigate that risk.

“Component management has seen a big uptick over the last years due to component shortages, but in comparison to other processes onsite, smart racking, Xray counting and goods in scanning tables are significantly underrepresented.”

Component management has its own unique set of issues as well, these are:

• Underinvestment
• Lack of standardisation
• Lack of transparency of stock levels
• Component shortages
• Elaborate audits each year
• Not as marketable for businesses
• Highly manual processes, lots of ROI, less good at asking for investment
• Uninformed regarding the ‘gold standards’

Additionally, Booth was eager to stress the importance of education and training when it comes to getting the most from these improvements, something he feels is not utilised effectively in the manufacturing sector. “Sometimes there is a misconception of ROI when a company purchases a solution in these fields, and then puts someone who doesn’t fully understand how it might be used to its maximum potential,” he says. Once a person is properly trained to utilise these solutions the maximum can be squeezed out of them and the true ROI can be realised.

Addressing the problems

For Booth, the first stage in overcoming these problems is not the creation of even more solutions, because as he notes “they’re already out there,” but rather “to change you need to understand the ‘why.’” Change cannot happen unless the industry knows that it is a problem that can be readily solved. In Booth’s experiences the best way to achieve this is through shows, consultants, examples, and demonstrating the mentality of improvement in the long-term.

Doing so can yield organisations some great benefits, such as:

• Reduction of risk
• Reduction of scrap
• Reduction of mistakes
• Improved customer experiences
• Increases in quality
• Increases in production yield
• Increases in throughput
• Increases in production profitability
• Less reliance on human intervention (and thus less human error)

“It’s a long-term game, all about increasing quality and production with a short term CapEx hit,” describes Booth. Just because you’ve done something a certain way for as long as you can remember, doesn’t mean that it is the best way to do it.

Final notes

The manufacturing industry faces significant challenges in inspection and component management due to a focus on short-term gains and outdated practices. The key to improvement lies in embracing long-term solutions and investing in advanced technologies. By prioritising education, training, and the understanding of benefits, companies can reduce risks, enhance quality, and increase profitability. Embracing change and optimising internal processes are essential for staying competitive in the ever-evolving manufacturing landscape.