Ultra CEMS introduces paperless repair

(August 10th 2005)

Ultra CEMS has recently acquired i-Base5 software to further enhance their shop floor data collection (SFDC) capabilities. The new system, designed to gather real time data from PCB assembly stages including AOI, flying probe, ATE, inspection and all rework & repair stages will be used extensively throughout their Weymouth based manufacturing facility. This will eventually lead to all customers being able to interrogate data relating to their products whilst they are still on the shop-floor at Weymouth through the interactive Ultra CEMS web-site.

Neal Garbutt, Senior Quality Engineer of Ultra CEMS commented,

"We now have an integrated set of tools which will be utilised to convert the data collected from the shop floor into information which can be used to manage the manufacturing processes. The software we have selected has been specifically designed to monitor, control and improve the production of primarily our PCB assembly process.

This will enable accurate reporting of all manufacturing parameters to our engineers resulting in both process enhancements being implemented and accurate records maintained for every assembly by job and batch.

We are using 2D barcode data matrix labels capable of holding 86 characters on each label when printed in 600dpi. This will allow us to capture data such as date of manufacture, serial number, drawing number, issue number together with other customer specific data. This data is inputted into the SFDC system using the high density bar-code readers located at all of the input stages on the shop-floor".

John Dean, Ultra CEMS Customer Support Manager continued,

"Whilst off the shelf SFDC packages have been in existence for some time, we placed considerable emphasis on mapping out the system requirements before investing in an automated system of this kind. As a consequence the specification we have defined has a powerful range of capabilities tailored specifically for Ultra CEMS and its customers.

These include:-

• The ability to link to the rest of the Ultra CEMS networked systems using the TCP/IP protocol creating a 'closed loop' data collection/presentation capability
• Integration with our automated optical inspection (AOI) equipment will enables us to generate a bit map file of a faulty image which can then be stored and called up using a graphical computer aided repair station by our repair technicians
• the ability to optically recognise the batch coding data for specified devices on the AOI equipment. This data will be logged with i-Base5 as part of the product/components configuration data history. This information can then be used to as part of the material traceability process.
• Poke Yoke end user configuration preventing operators from carrying out operations for which they are not trained.
• Introduction of paperless rework & repair including the generation of a full product history which will allow all repair actions to be logged by the operator using bar-code input. Free text input has also been made available to allow operators to append additional information, which can then be used as 'hints' in future product builds where the same fault may occur.
• Customisable reporting will allowing us to offer our customers a variety of reporting capabilities including criteria such as work in progress, quality yields, repairs made, most common failure modes etc"

In summary, Ultra CEMS has selected a system capable of providing information for both ongoing manufacturing process development and management which also has the additional features of being able to be utilised to manage material traceability, repair history and prevent process 'escapes'.

Paperless SFDC is now a reality at Ultra CEMS.