EMS SCIENCE OF ELECTRONICS MANUFACTURING IS
LEAN ON STEROIDS
"Most lean projects require weeks or months of putting the framework in place and learning about the plant’s specific processes. With EMS Science of Electronics Manufacturing, the lag between startup and identification of waste is hours, not weeks."
Much attention has been focused lately on “lean manufacturing” — eliminating waste in processes. Lean is good and should be a priority of every company. But it’s not a new concept for Electronics Manufacturing Sciences or our clients. Since 1981, Electronics Manufacturing Sciences has been the ultimate resource for eliminating waste in electronics manufacturing.
EMS Science of Electronics Manufacturing (including EMS Science of Soldering) can be thought of as lean on steroids for electronics manufacturing.
Making processes robust
The first lean benefits come through making the processes more robust. No production defects means no need for inspection and rework. (In reality, it takes more than eliminating the real defects. Inspectors need to be educated to prevent rejects of reliable material. So the total solution must be a combination of technical changes and human development.)
Once the core processes are operating at maximum efficiency, we turn to processing steps that do not add value. Conformal coating is an example; in most cases, some fluxes can provide the same moisture barrier as conformal coating and eliminates a costly extra processing step. More than 20 years ago, our clients became pioneers in the use of no–clean fluxes in high reliability (automotive and telecom) applications; that was considered a risky change but we brought special insights that eliminated all the risk.
Less classroom time
Our operator education takes less classroom time than training and there is no need for retraining. On a broader scale, providing education at all levels of the company means universal understanding of terminology so decisions are made faster.
Almost all clients experience other benefits they were not expecting. Their electric bills go down because there is less power–hungry equipment and the processing temperatures are lowered. Their equipment lasts longer and requires much less maintenance. (Most companies set their machine soldering temperatures higher than necessary, wasting electricity, accelerating wear of the equipment — and causing thermal stress to the delicate electronics assemblies.)
Questioning operations
Eliminating waste happens when people question operations that have not been aggressively challenged previously. We use soldering process transformation as the pivot point for plant–wide change. Everyone is familiar with the soldering activities but don’t really question how it is performed and evaluated. Using our simple soldering recipe and other knowledge from EMS Science of Soldering, they discover the rewards of questioning everyday activities. That new awareness carries through to all other plant activities. What they believed to be a project narrowly defined as soldering turns out to make all manufacturing more efficient and more reliable.
Using fewer resources per unit of output
The point of “lean” is to use fewer resources per unit of output. But most lean projects require weeks of putting the framework in place and learning about the plant’s specific processes; all that startup time should be recognized as waste. With EMS Science of Electronics Manufacturing, the lag between startup and identification of waste is hours, not weeks. That seems to us to be the ultimate definition of lean.
To find out more about why Electronics Manufacturing Sciences can root out waste in your company, please write or call (01)727–866–6502, ext. 21. Be sure to ask about our risk–free guarantee.
