PLM software covers electronics lifecycles

Itochu Europe now offers Siemens PLM software for PCB Assembly, Test (NPI) and Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES), providing both the product and on-going product support across the UK and Ireland.

Every CEM and electronics OEM will be aware of the many pitfalls in the design, test and manufacturing process.

Speed to market, reduction in manufacturing costs and improved product quality are all constant criteria in day-to-day operations, especially so with new product introductions.

By minimising the element of human involvement companies can accelerate the process, reduce errors and provide detailed reports on quality and performance.

Itochu Europe now offers Siemens PLM software for PCB Assembly, Test (NPI) and Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES), providing both the product and on-going product support across the UK and Ireland.

Test is a bottleneck in the NPI process.

eM-Test Expert helps manufacturers eliminate bottlenecks in their test processes and speed time to market.

It increases productivity and performance by allowing clients to import CAD data and automatically create test programs for more than 75 in-circuit test (ICT), flying probe, X-ray and AOI test systems in a matter of minutes or hours, rather than the days or weeks required with traditional methods.

With its fast user programmable nail/probe selection routine and complementary interactive tools, eM-Test Expert offers complete flexibility and control during fixture design and flying probe selection.

eM-Test Expert eases access on dense boards with a global probe offset tool.

A nail adviser evaluates fixture cost.

Automatic calibration box generation, coupled with the possibility of interactive definition, speeds calibration box placement for optical inspection applications.

eM-Test Expert handles variants of a same board and effectively manages attributes needed for test and inspection, such as device types, values and tolerances, and package and pad sizes/shapes, to further reduce cycle times.

The assembly process is often constrained by the fact that assembly lines are a mix of equipment from a variety of manufacturers which can lead to extended set up and operating schedules.

eM-Assembly Expert supports a wide range of manufacturers and their systems allowing fast and efficient process setup.

Once the setup is complete and the manufacturing process is underway, output quality monitoring comes into play.

Every organisation's quality control procedures have the same basic requirements for the collection, analysis, action and reporting of shop floor data.

Often these data management mechanisms are manual.

Manual systems do work, but in order to optimise a quality system a manufacturer needs to implement automated, repeatable mechanisms for the data collection, management and analysis.

Manufacturers need a solution that will overcome the problems inherent in a manual system.

The specific capabilities companies will need are: WIP monitoring and routing control; SPC analysis, trend and yield reporting; inspection, repair and rework management; automated and graphical data capture; real time web based distribution of reports and alarms; and root cause data analysis.

The system needs to be easy to implement, be easy to use, and work in harmony with existing shop floor procedures.

It needs to be flexible and extensible so it can adapt to the changing needs of the manufacturers.

The eM-Execution Quality package addresses these needs, it is a powerful, automated data collection, analysis, action and reporting solution.

Implementing the eM-Execution Quality Package will allow the manufacturer to model their quality system and then prove the implementation is repeatable - ensuring standards or regulatory compliance.

However once the product has been through the production process and has been packed and shipped to the end user, the manufacturer's responsibilities do not stop there.

Products may fail in use due to a process or component fault - or even through customer misuse/abuse.

Key to managing after-sales activity, and often key to winning the contract at the outset, is a company's ability to respond quickly and effectively to occurrences once the product is out of their hands.

Traceability can be viewed from a variety of angles.

Product traceability allows a manufacturer to have complete visibility as to the product's history.

This means that not only can he/she associate the product with a particular order, he/she can obtain a complete report of all materials from which that product is produced.

This includes all individual components (mechanical and electrical), any subassemblies and any repaired items - right down to the exact lots of material that were used to produce the specific product.

A fully capable traceability system will also allow a manufacturer to create associations between material used to produce a single product and all other products produced with that material and be able to identify each product by serial number.

This is a powerful tool when dealing with recall situations.

Likewise, process traceability allows for the same types of linkages between manufacturing processes and the products produced by those manufacturing processes.

Electronics PCB manufacturers and CEMs need a robust system to help them perform full product and process traceability.

The MES for Electronics Traceability solution: is easy to use; is completely automated with out-of-the box standard traceability reports (and users can also build their own reports to create "what-if" scenarios to evaluate the scope of a problem); supports PCB and final assembly seamlessly; is web based for easy access to report data; integrates with manufacturers' NPI tools for seamless data transfer; used barcodes and scanners rather than manual entry; allows for part-number crossreferencing; verifies all steps of the setup process; and verifies material availability prior to build track feeder maintenance status.

The UGS software from Itochu is a very powerful tool capable of improving the manufacturing process and is already helping a number of CEMs around the world.

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