PCB News - What issues should be paid attention to when visiting PCB circuit board manufacturers?

What issues should be paid attention to when visiting PCB circuit board manufacturers?

Customers of PCB circuit board manufacturers are invited to visit, what issues should be paid attention to? From what aspects should we judge the strength of a PCB circuit board manufacturer? Let me explain it for you in detail below:

1. Visit the production process

As a long-term order customer, it is necessary to go to the site of the PCB circuit board manufacturer to understand its cost structure, production efficiency, and quality control. As an upstream supplier, you should go to the site of the PCB circuit boardmanufacturer to understand its production process in order to better serve the business. As a colleague, if you have the opportunity to visit other circuit board factories, it is also a very good opportunity for learning, comparison and reference.

PCB proofing requires many processes (such as: cutting, drilling, copper sinking, wiring, electroplating, etching, solder mask, text, surface treatment, testing, molding, etc.), which can be completed by the cooperation of multiple people and multiple equipment. By visiting the process and equipment, as well as feeling the proficiency of the production workers and technicians, you can draw a rough judgment in terms of the manufacturer's technology and the yield rate.

2. Feel the atmosphere

At the visit site, you can first intuitively feel the mental outlook of the employees, and there will be a sharp contrast between the employees with high morale and the employees with low mood and indifferent. For example, in a factory, most of the workshops are playing cheerful music. At a glance, the workers are very enthusiastic about working. Working in such a relaxed and pleasant environment is relatively more efficient, and the quality of the products will also make people more confident. .

When on site, pay attention to observe whether there is uneven busyness in the workshop. For example, when the machine is automatically processing, workers are idle for a long time, or workers at some stations are waiting for materials for a long time. The existence of this phenomenon indicates that the factory lacks lean management, the utilization rate of personnel is low, and the cost is inevitably higher.

In addition, you should also pay attention to whether the workshop’s light is sufficient, whether the air circulation is smooth, whether there is any peculiar smell, whether there is too much noise, and whether the workshop is tidy, because these will directly affect the mood of the workers at work, and then affect the production efficiency and product quality. A circuit board manufacturer with a bad working environment, lazy working atmosphere, and low employee morale cannot make good products.

3. Pay attention to quality control

The site should pay attention to the workshop's handling of defective products. Good circuit board manufacturers will expose the problem, such as using lights to focus on the waste, or using a red label to highlight it. The traceability of products and semi-finished products can be easily seen on site. A good circuit board manufacturer has a card or a document for each component to follow the circulation, indicating the source, the processing personnel, the equipment used and other information. Any problem found in any process can be easily traced to the source.

The site can judge the fineness of the quality management of the product through the degree of protection of the workers on the parts. For example, the parts and components are placed on the cement floor at will without any protective measures. The quality of such finished products can be imagined.

4. Observe on-site standardization

Regular PCB manufacturers should have many standards at the production site, including operation and quality standards, 5S and safety standards, operation and maintenance standards, process and rework standards, safety stock standards, and so on.

By observing the specific operations of different employees in the same process, you can find out whether there are differences, including the sequence of actions, the intensity of operations, whether there are omissions, and so on. Differences indicate that employees lack standardized operation training, which greatly increases the possibility of product variation.

Observe the layout of the workshop. The layout of the circuit board factory workshop should ensure the smooth flow of products and try to avoid any partitions. In principle, the production materials used on the day should be stored along the production line, and tools and tooling should be placed as close to the machine as possible.

5. Look for visualization

In a well-managed circuit board factory, visual tools are everywhere. Including the organization and standardization of the workplace, the visualization of result indicators, the visualization of standard operations, the visualization of control indicators, the visualization of automatic error prevention and correction, alarm mechanisms, and so on. When visiting, pay attention to looking for various visual tools.

6. Tool and equipment status

In a good circuit board factory, the equipment is clean and well maintained, and the equipment-related information is clear and updated in real time. For example, the model, purchase date, price, supplier, repair records, maintenance records, etc. of the equipment are recorded on the equipment. In addition, the daily checklist is also very complete. Some checklists clearly record the hidden dangers discovered by the operator, as well as the signature and handling plan of the equipment department. This shows that equipment management and maintenance have formed a benign system.

7. Other matters needing attention

First of all, you can't come to the scene with tinted glasses, and you can't come to the scene with a conclusion.

Secondly, you can't just look at the surface at the scene, you need to ask a few more why.

Third, we should focus on the details and look more at the whole.

Fourth, try not to take notes, as this will make on-site personnel nervous.

Whether it is a supplier review, a visit to a customer or a peer evaluation, it is inevitable to learn about the partner circuit board manufacturers in various ways in the process of cooperation. On-site observation is a more practical method of investigating and understanding the partners of cooperation. It has very important reference significance for the internal self-recognition and improvement of PCB circuit board manufacturers, as well as the understanding and selection of suppliers.