PCB News - PCB factory: the era of rapid change needs more attention to the stability of the process

PCB factory: the era of rapid change needs more attention to the stability of the process

This is an era of rapid change, everything is changing, the development of the Internet, people's lifestyles, business models, etc. are all changing. These changes have also profoundly affected the operation of circuit board companies. With the introduction of ERP systems and MES systems, circuit board companies have changed the operation mode of circuit board manufacturers. The response time of circuit board factories to customer needs has become faster and faster, and the operating efficiency of the factory has also increased rapidly. Inventory, faster capital turnover cycle, at the same time, customers also put forward more and stricter demands on us.

Customers’ technical requirements and manufacturing technologies for circuit boards are also rapidly developing and improving, but no matter how they change, the way customers first design and then hand them over to the circuit board factory for production has not changed. Therefore, large international and domestic PCB customers in order to obtain compliance with technical specifications Circuit boards, the circuit board companies that intend to place orders need to conduct a quality system review (QSR). After the QSR is passed, PCB proofing will be carried out. After the circuit board company prototypes are completed, samples will be submitted, and the customers will evaluate the prototypes and release small batches after approval. This process can take as short as half a year, or as long as one year to complete, forming a business relationship.

The core of QSR is to assess the level of process capability and quality management of circuit board companies, to improve the level of ability to respond to higher technical requirements, and whether the process control is stable and controlled. Therefore, no matter how the outside world changes, how innovative the management method is to control the process, The stability of the maintenance process can produce the products of the expected quality level, and the delivered products can meet the customer's demand for delivery and quality.

In order to respond to the ever-changing needs of customers' prototype technical parameters, circuit board companies have a dedicated person or a group of several people responsible for sample production, and formulated a new product (NPI) process. After receiving the customer's prototype, first organize a cross-departmental team to hold a preliminary Product Quality Planning (APQP) meeting, identify the special characteristics of the product, study the initial capability index (Ppk) of the special characteristics of the product, apply the process failure mode (PFMEA) method to study the control method of the special characteristics, and finally get the prototype produced Control plan (CP), after the completion of the model, summarize, revise PFMEA, CP, and submit it to the manufacturing department for execution.

The manufacturing department faces the same production line and different products have different operating parameters. Therefore, in order to cope with rapidly changing new products, the following requirements are very important:
1. The engineer who follows up the sample board has a deep technical knowledge, and at the same time masters a deep quality management tool.
2. Organize the APQP meeting before the prototype is produced, accurately identify the special characteristics of the customer's new product (need to be combined with the factory's process capability level), study the Ppk, and complete the control plan (CP).
3. After the production of the new product is completed, summarize and revise the control plan (CP).
4. Transfer the new product production parameters to the manufacturing department.
5. The personnel in the manufacturing department have strong process knowledge, and at the same time have a certain knowledge and understanding of quality management tools and methods.
6. The personnel of the factory are relatively stable, and a complete training mechanism has been established. If some factories implement the "Employee Job Function Appraisal Form", it is easy to understand the status of the employees in each position and the ability to be improved.

In this way, it can be guaranteed that different products have different control methods and control parameters. These control methods and control parameters are controlled, that is, a controlled process can ensure that new products delivered to customers meet customer quality requirements. Therefore, in the era of rapid change, we need to pay more attention to the stability of the process. Only by doing this can the circuit board company gain customer recognition and order business in the fierce competition environment.