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1 2 How Server Replacement Cut Costs 86% Publication Date: 1/4/2010 By Ryan Pope, 2X Software, Addison, TX Fisher & Company, a Michigan-based automobile seating safety systems and precision metal parts manufacturer, has chosen to deploy the 2X ApplicationServer for Windows Terminal Services in optimizing company-wide access to critical server-based applications. Use of the ApplicationServer will allow ... Vacuum Tubes: Still at Work Publication Date: 11/25/2009 By Joseph Hajduk, CEO, dB Control, Fremont, CA For those of us old enough to remember, "tubes" ushered in the dawn of radio and were the guts of the first TVs. Today, traveling wave tubes (TWTs) and other vacuum electronic devices such as klystrons and crossed-field amplifiers are used by the military in radar, electronic warfare (EW) and electronic ... Automating Odd Form Components Publication Date: 10/23/2009 By Ward Palmer, Sales Manager, Chad Industries, Anaheim, CA Automation of your line is nearly complete. Chip shooters are running well, AOI has been dialed in, reflow profiles are finally settled. However there are still those few nagging parts that have to be put in by hand to complete each board. They seem to defiantly resist automation, and yet automation ... Computer-Guided System Cuts Inspection Time Publication Date: 10/8/2009 By Rob Snoeijs, Metris, Leuven, Belgium Engineers at Gehl's South Dakota production plant in Madison found a faster way to verify large production fixtures and manufactured parts of construction and agricultural equipment. They simply position the portable Metris K-Series Optical CMM on the production floor, and measure points ... Creating High-Reliability Contacts Publication Date: 7/2/2009 By Roger Sutcliffe, Product/Applications Engineer, QA Technology Company, Hampton, NH Manufacturers of connectors for high reliability electronic applications are frequently confronted with the reality that their products can become the cause for the failure of a high-value piece of equipment — usually at the most inopportune time. The challenge is to design connectors ... Short-Run Pick-and-Place on a Tight Budget Publication Date: 6/2/2009 By Timothy Kardish, CEO, APS Novastar, Huntingdon Valley, PA Pressed by a virtual freeze on capital spending further constrained by historically tight credit markets, every customer asks "How can you help me do more for less?" Through its 2008 global pick-and-place market survey APS Novastar asked SMD OEM and EMS assemblers to define their immediate ... Improving Production Logistics with Proper Planning Publication Date: 4/27/2009 By Goran Abbestam, R&D Manager, FlexLink AB, Goteborg, Sweden Smaller, faster, better, cheaper is becoming the mantra of the electronics supply chain. Simply put, the industry's focus is: improve technology while reducing costs. Cutting Packaging Costs for Molded Plastics Publication Date: 2/9/2009 By Anne Wilde, Director of Marketing, Keronite International Ltd, Cambridge, UK A patented, chrome-free surface treatment process, Keronite® Plasma Electrolytic Oxidation (PEO) technology extends the lifetime of aluminum molds beyond that of steel counterparts while improving heat transfer and throughput rates. The process enables packaging manufacturers to get a rapid return ... Lowering Expensive Tape Costs by Eliminating Waste Publication Date: 12/11/2008 By Ryan Short, Marketing Communications, Start International In many manufacturing industries the precision application of specialty adhesive tapes is extremely important. These specialty tapes, such as Kapton®, are not cheap and must be applied at very precise measurements. The high material cost of such tapes, combined with the need for precision ... Designing-In Voltage Sag Immunity Publication Date: 10/31/2008 By Mike Johnson, Vice President & General Manager, SolaHD, Rosemont, IL One of the most frequent power quality disturbances is not the complete loss of power, but the sag, or short loss of line voltage. This often underestimated and overlooked event accounts for a significant portion of lost revenue caused by equipment damage and production downtime. In the blink of an eye, a voltage sag can bring production to a halt. Fortunately there are ways to prevent sags from disrupting operations. A study conducted by the Electrical Power Research Institute (http://www.epri.com) using data monitored over a three-year period, concluded that on average nine sags occur for every power interruption. To the human eye, sags can outwardly cause the lights to dim. To automation equipment, sags can mean shutdown of equipment, loss of data, unexplained resets. Over time, sags can stress components resulting in premature wear and failure. For processes that rely on high speed, any interruption can lead to significant production shortages. For processes that take hours to create one part, or a single batch of parts, process interruptions have a significant impact on company profits. Shutdowns result in scrapped work in process, production shortages, lower service levels to customers and less income for the company... Controlling Static: Alternatives to Tinsel Publication Date: 10/1/2008 By Charlie Acquista, Sr. Process Engineer, Adchem Corporation, Riverhead, NY Converters of non-conductive web surfaces, such as pressure sensitive adhesive (PSA) tapes, need to vigilantly control static electricity. High levels of electrostatic charges can be dangerous, and even moderate levels can permanently destroy an adhesive system, cause fouling and jamming of production processes, and damage to finished products. New technology allowing faster production speeds exacerbates static-related problems. Static electricity is an accumulation of electrical charges on a surface. As surfaces are in contact with each other, a transfer of electrons occurs. Friction, pressure and web speed will accelerate this transfer. When separated, the surface which has gained electrons becomes negatively charged, and the mating surface giving up the electrons becomes positively charged. Reclaiming Silicon Test Wafers Gets Updated Publication Date: 8/20/2008 By Roger Tushingham, Product Manager, ATMI, Inc., Danbury, CT When processed, a single silicon wafer will go through hundreds of individual steps over a period of several weeks, emerging as numerous individual semiconductors with a combined value of hundreds of thousands of dollars. To maximize productivity, quality and yield, manufacturing tools are constantly tested to ensure they are properly calibrated and that process flows are precise. Due to the high cost of producing prime silicon wafers (approximately $300 for each 300mm wafer), semiconductor manufacturers typically use "dummy" or test wafers to optimize and monitor their manufacturing processes. A large semiconductor fabrication facility might spend $2 million a month on test wafers; while less expensive than prime wafers, they typically cost upward of $100 each. Because of the large volumes of prime and test wafers used, Silicon remains by far the greatest material expense in semiconductor manufacturing fabs. X-Ray to Keep Weed Out Counterfeit Parts Publication Date: 7/23/2008 By Charles Wells, Customer Support and Glen Olaes, X-ray Product Manager, FocalSpot, Inc., San Diego, CA Most people in the EMS Industry are acutely aware of the growing problem of counterfeit and substandard electronic components within the supply chain, as well as the headaches they cause. While industry and governments are working diligently in addressing counterfeit abatement, you may already have one of the most useful tools in combating phony parts in place, on your production floor. Custom Connector Designs Using FR4 Headers Publication Date: 6/10/2008 FR4 connectors offer many production advantages. . By Arnold Fletcher FR4 is an industry-standard glass-filled material that can be used for high-temperature applications. Making connector headers with this material has numerous advantages. Instead of designing special moldings (and incurring the associated tooling costs and lead time) for each connector, the Autosplice approach makes use of standard FR4 as the dielectric insulating material that holds the individual contacts. Lean, Mean and ESD-Free Workstations Publication Date: 6/10/2008 By Keith Soderland, Vice President Sales, Creform Corp., Greer, SC Wanted: Improved lean manufacturing methods, enhanced assembly agility, and protection for delicate components such as circuit boards and electronic devices from harmful static discharges. This was the wish list at a leading manufacturer of precision, solid-state control and monitor units for fluid handling and distribution systems for scientific, medical and analytical equipment. Outsourcing Production Maintenance Publication Date: 6/10/2008 By Stephen C. Welch, Advanced Technology Services, Inc., Peoria, IL Many companies view production maintenance as a necessary evil or, at best, a cost that is difficult to isolate and even harder to control. Through the years, this viewpoint has led manufacturers to simply accept their maintenance operation "as is" and as a result, made little investment in maintenance improvement initiatives. But for some, a well-executed maintenance strategy delivers a competitive advantage. Air-Free Dispensing Solves Process Control Problems Publication Date: 6/10/2008 By Scott Beebe, President, Fishman Corporation, Hopkinton, MA In dispensing of adhesives and solder paste, reliability and quality control problems, such as variations in viscosity and dot size, dripping and waste of the material, and even changes in homogeneity, are conditions that challenge the accuracy and consistent performance of fluid dispensing systems. In most cases, problems can be attributed to the use of pneumatics to "push" the material out of the barrel (syringe) reservoir. Automating Fluid Dispensing Cuts Production Costs Publication Date: 6/10/2008 By David Mandeville, Director of Marketing, Sealant Equipment & Engineering, Inc., Plymouth, MI The best time to seriously evaluate a change in the fluid dispensing process is when the customer and manufacturing personnel want one or more of the following: higher part quality, more part variety, lower part cost, lower scrap, reduced spare parts, reduced maintenance, reduced labor per part, or more jobs per hour. Each of these needs can be addressed with a specific level of fluid dispensing and automation technology. When the fluid dispensing process is moved higher on the application technology scale the part production results are improved. Delaying change keeps costs high and invites loss of business. The equation is simple: change equals change. Material Traceability & Data Integrity: Challenges and Solutions Publication Date: 6/10/2008 RFID tag attached to base of tape feeder. By Mitch DeCaire, Cogiscan, Inc., Bromont, Quebec, Canada In recent years, the increased demand for material traceability has been driven by competitive pressures for improving product quality, while also reducing cost. Traceability requirements, once limited to high reliability applications, such as automotive, aerospace and medical, are rapidly becoming a necessity in other sectors including data communications, telecom, and high-end computing. Some factors driving these demands include; outsourcing, product recalls, liability, lead-free and lean manufacturing. Value-Added Device Programming for Small-Medium Sized Companies Publication Date: 6/10/2008 Benchtop automatic programming system. By Bruce Rodgers, Data I/O, Redmond, WA In our world of increasing global competition and the lure of cost-down manufacturing in Asia, too often device programming has been judged too complex a process step to manage in-house or too low in volume to add significant value to the manufacture of electronic products. If you have made these decisions, you may be overlooking a significant opportunity to control your costs and improve your profit margins.