Product Changeover (SMT double sided)

Paul,

Many variables that affect changeover, here's a few to start with:

1) Feeder count- do you have enough feeders to be able to do a complete setup off-line? Take your product that uses the most amount of feeders, and make sure you have at least double that many feeders. You need to be able to do a complete setup offline ( look into used or refurbed feeders if you can't get the budget for new )

2)Staff - you need to have enough people to run your line AND setup the next job. If you try to do everything with one or two people, forget it. As soon as one job is up and running, the next should be in the staging area being loaded on feeders.

3) Kitting - the kits must be on the floor when YOU need them. This probably means reviewing your schedule everyday Have the stockroom verify the kits for you, and don't issue until they are short free. You'll waste even more time if you have to tear down a job halfway and setup again later because of parts shortages.

4) COMMUNICATION - everybody needs to know what you are running, and what's up next - your operators, your storeroom staff, management. White board works well for weekly scheduling. You have to engrain it in their heads that number one priority is to keep the machines running.

Phil

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You could start by putting together a matrix of P/N's vs product. This will tell you which parts are common with most of your jobs. These would then become part of a fixed feeder setup that would stay on the machine. (These will probably be mostly R's & C's) On our products I have roughly 30 P/N's that are used on every PCB we make. I just leave these on the machine all the time. Having them fixed may lead to a slightly longer cycle/pcb but, not having to move/change then saves setup time. (=$$$$) You may find a few I.C.'s as well. I leave the non common parts setup on feeders and swap them out as needed. We run some of our jobs with similiar parts in a particular order to reduce the amount of setup that is needed. (I.E. MotherboardS & Option Cards.)

Hope This helps, DG

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Hi Paul

There is free detailed information on how to reduce changeover time and to reduce bottlenecks on our web site at http://www.blissindustries.com then click on Bliss University, it is written as unbiased information on reducing down time during changeover and relaoding throughout out your SMT production line. Hope the info helps

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Kitting: Buy-in material in kit form that is complete and in the proper form. Line set-up: Layout all boards to be the same width. Printer set-up: Use a dispenser, instead of a printer. Dispenser set-up: Program & debug off-line. Placement machine set-up: * Use a machine with the largest feeder capacity that will allow you to remove and replace feeders while it is running. Oh, this machine should also be capable of sequentially running different boards. It would be nice if it didn�t matter where you put feeders on the machine. * Buy 1.05X feeders for every part number. * Program & debug off-line. * Standardize parts and rationalize you product designs to reduce the number of parts in inventory. * Convert tray parts to tape and reel, if you can�t find a BIG elevator. Reflow set-up: Use one profile.

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