PCB News - The role of test engineers in PCB factories is essential

The role of test engineers in PCB factories is essential

The so-called testing engineer here refers to the engineer responsible for the testing part in the manufacturing plant. This type of engineer and the testing process/product engineer belong to the necessary positions in the factory. There is also a quality control engineer, known as The iron triangle of the engineering department in the factory.

I'm talking about test engineers who are more inclined to electronics assembly plants.

Since it is called testing, the testing work of related products belongs to him. The testing engineer is responsible for arranging the related process of production online product testing. If it is a circuit board assembly plant, it must have MDA (Manufacturing Defect Analysis)/ICT ( In-Circuit Test) testing and functional testing capabilities, but also the ability to analyze bad circuit boards, if it is a product line assembled by a whole machine, it is necessary to arrange the production line to test all the functions of the product, so as not to get the product out of the customer. There is a problem on his hand.

Basically, a test engineer must have a background in electronics/motors/automatic control, and it is best to know a little bit of software, because some factories require test engineers to write product testing software, and some companies ask R&D personnel to write product testing software. At this time, the test engineer only needs to write the test operation according to the research and development, which is relatively easy, but it is also relatively unlearnable.

MDA/ICT/Function fixtures usually use needle point testing. Generally speaking, the test fixtures are outsourced to downstream manufacturers. At this time, the test engineer must define the functions that the fixture should have during the test. It is best if the product is still available. In the R&D stage, define the things to be tested, and ask R&D to keep the test points that should be reserved, so as not to find the test points to be used when they are available. Generally, we hope that the test engineers of the factory will invest in the research and development stage, can understand the products developed early, and assist in the development of some test points or functions that can be reserved, and also provide related factory capabilities to the research and development unit For reference during design, we usually call such an action early involve.

Because manufacturing plants generally operate in three shifts and run the production line 24 hours a day, there are very few engineers on duty. Therefore, once the production line has a test problem during non-working hours, the test engineer must be on call at any time. If the problem can be solved by phone Fortunately, if it doesn't work, you will have to rush to the production line even in the middle of the night, because there are many people waiting to start the production line, and the loss of stopping the line is very large.

I heard that TSMC engineers, as long as they are on duty, require their mobile phones to be turned on at any time, even when they are sleeping after get off work. If there is a problem with the production line, the phone call must arrive at the production line within an hour. So the places where their engineers live are very close to the factory. Of course, if there are a lot of people in large companies, engineers can also take turns, and small companies will have their own blessings.

When it comes to the problem of shutdown, engineers must be resistant to pressure. Once the production line is stopped, all supervisors will come to pay attention. What goes wrong, you must do everything possible to find out the problem, so that the production line can resume operation, pressure It goes without saying that if there is a strong team of engineers at this time, instead of working alone, the pressure can be slightly reduced.

Therefore, it is best to strengthen your professional abilities in normal time, to be familiar with and then familiar with the products you are responsible for, and try to use methods to quickly find out the problems, which will make you valued in the company. ipcb is a high-precision, high-quality PCB manufacturer, such as: isola 370hr PCB, high-frequency PCB, high-speed PCB, ic substrate, ic test board, impedance PCB, HDI PCB, Rigid-Flex PCB, buried blind PCB, advanced PCB, microwave PCB, telfon PCB and other ipcb are good at PCB manufacturing.