Keywords
Citation
(2002), "The SMART Group launches free participation in PPM monitoring project", Soldering & Surface Mount Technology, Vol. 14 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/ssmt.2002.21914cab.005
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2002, MCB UP Limited
The SMART Group launches free participation in PPM monitoring project
Smart Group
The SMART Group launches free participation in PPM monitoring project
Keyword: SMART group
The launch meeting of The SMART Group initiative to benchmark Parts Per Million (PPM) failures in electronics manufacturing was oversubscribed.
This confirmed Reed Exhibitions, organisers of the Nepcon Electronics Show, sponsored the keen interest in this project that is funded by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the launch. The initial findings will be presented at a SMART Group seminar at the Nepcon show to be held between 1st to 3rd October at Birmingham's NEC.
Nick Jolly from DTI was delighted with the attendance and explained that he was much in favour of this collaborative project as it will assist small, medium and large companies and compare their yield with others. He is confident that the SMART Group will successfully drive this project to a satisfactory conclusion.
Bob Willis, The SMART Group's Technical Director outlined the scope of the project and the history of the Group's involvement in advising on benchmarking, dating back to 1994.
"There are no easy methods for companies to compare their manufacturing yields with other similar businesses", Bob explained. For many companies it is a necessity to understand their own world class manufacturing status. A common question asked by many companies is how does my process compare with others in terms of yield? This information does not exist or is not easily available to small and medium volume companies.
The project is proposed to create a method by which companies can compare their performance with other companies in similar markets, using similar equipment. This would allow each manufacturing process used to build printed board assemblies to be compared. Initially the scope will include: – screen printing, component placement, reflow wave soldering and final test.
The most commonly used method of illustrating yield is PPM that is defective. This provides a measure of the defective level against a process stage or a specific product, compared against a known number of opportunities for defects to occur. There are IPC and IEC documents and procedures, which do exist to monitor a process, that would be considered during the development phase of the project. In a recent SMART Group survey it was highlighted that over 65per cent of companies use some form of PPM monitoring.
Although the methods and procedures do exist in a variety of sources, no co-ordinated effort has been made with small and medium volume assembly companies to assist and provide a reference on performance. With support for this project, process data collection can be simplified, a benchmark for each process can be defined and an ongoing reference provided to industry.