PCBA Hand stuffing operations

[ddbyrd3]

I am looking for assistance, my level of expertise lies in electro-mechanical assembly, I have been asked to look at our PCBA assembly process in order to implement process changes pertaining to a reduction in quality issues, and the reduction of throughput cycle times.

I know nothing of board assembly, especially hand stuffing operations. However I do know processes and I can see right away that there is a mojor problem.

1) How can I simplify the placement of parts that adhere to polarity specific placement?

2) What type of work instructions do you primarily use to specify hand placement of parts?

 

[PSE]

Some ideas

See if there is a way to "present" the part to the operator properly oriented for polarity. Does the board artwork give an indicator for orientation that the assembler can match to the part?

We rely on a combination of a few lines of text and quite a few embedded photo's of proper component placement. It can also be useful to have a physical sample (Revision Controlled) that the operator can directly reference.

Regards,

 

[ddbyrd3]

Thanks for the input....

We DO NOT have poka yoke as far as artwork on the board itself for polarity. However we do have specific colored bins and digital photos depicting the bin color for reference to component specifics.

I believe the biggest problem i am seeing as an outsider looking in is the fact that the operators go off of memory instead of reading the build procedures supplied to them.

But even at that, there should be a method that i can implement to assure the proper component, and the proper polarity of the said component is placed properly.

 

[PSE]

Capturing polarity on the artwork should be relatively easy to implement. I would recommend that as a first step.

You could try a machine vision/inspection system or a functional tester but that only finds problems after they occur. Are you doing thru hole, smt or a combination of the two? Do you have a chance to automate the process?

I can empathize with operators going from memory instead of procedures. It is natural as they gain experience and confidence in doing the assembly. The downfalls come when there is a change and they miss it.

Good luck

 

[ddbyrd3]

Thanks PSE,

We are doing both, thru hole and SMT. The boards in question are older and need to be obsoleted or re-engineered.

We do have an AOI machine, but as you stated its after the fact.

I have a few ideas, such as limiting the number of boards each operator is able to build, currently we have NO accountability system in place, so i will be issueing stamps to each operator in order to trace issues found back to the operator to identify root cause and train accordingly.

I personally could not imagine sitting down and hand stuffing boards all day long, so I sympathize with them. I will keep you posted on my efforts.

 

[nbucska]

DDby:
Don't sympatize... there are people who like repetitive
job which doesn't need thinking -- vive la difference !

Plesae read FAQ240-1032
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