Automation had been the main driver for cheaper, mass
production goods in the consumer market since post world war II. In electronics gadget supply chain, the
higher tier supply chain such as electronics and piece part mechanical
component are made from fully automated manufacturing line as this is marketed
as mass production commodity part. Most
of the downstream supplier use manual assembly process. However with the rising labor cost all over
the world especially the global manufacturing hub China, most of the
manufacturers are now looking into automation solution for their manufacturing
process.
An automated manufacturing equipment
Since manufacturing line automation and equipment is the part of process input, machine, governance process is vital to ensure that variation from automation and equipment is controlled and managed to minimize its contribution to the process variations.
A fully automated manufacturing line for battery cell assembly process |
The
qualification of manufacturing process machine is much more complicated compare
to jig and fixture qualification featured in the previous article (21 Oct 2017). As manufacturing equipment is a major capital
investment, therefore there should be proper planning before acquisition of the
equipment to ensure optimum return on investment (ROI). Acquisition and setting up equipment is a
project by itself, therefore it must follow the proper protocol of project
management process which consists of initiating, planning, executing,
monitoring & controlling and closing before being hand over sustaining
process. Below are recommendations for
activities in each phase:-
Phase
|
Consideration
points/activities recommended
|
Initiating
|
Define
the purpose of the equipment, function needed and who are the stake holders
at both supplier and equipment user. Consider the following factors before
investing:-
|
Planning
|
Once
the equipment is identified for purchasing, planning should be made for acquisition of
the equipment. This include scope,
scheduling, resources- human, space, etc., quality, cost, and communication from internal to
equipment supplier, risk, and procurement of the equipment. There should be planning for process input
and output for each element in planning.
|
Executing
|
Performed
all the work per planning phase until the equipment is fully commissioned on
site. It would be best to deploy
design of experiment study to determine which machine parameter setting would
impact output Y and optimization. DOE will be discussed in future article.
|
Monitoring
& controlling
|
After
equipment is fully installed, there
should be monitoring on the performance of the equipment during pilot run
which include :-
All the above study must be based on schedule plan developed during planning phase with goal setting for pilot run.
If any quality or
productivity metrics does NOT meet the goal defined during planning phase,
there should be feedback loop for improvement before mass production.
|
Closing
& Sustaining
|
Once
pilot run is completed, then there
should be a handover of the equipment to the sustaining equipment department
|
Design of Experiment approach to optimize equipment setting |
The above is very compressed summary of project
management approach to setup manufacturing equipment or even an automated
manufacturing line. Project planning
should be done by subject matter expert and project management professional
(PMP) especially for big automation project. Unfortunately most of the high technology
electronic component suppliers who had invested millions of dollar to acquire
highly sophisticated are not aware that investing in planning and qualification
of the equipment is equally important. Having
the privilege to qualify a few high technology electronic component new
manufacturing line during my career as supplier quality manager, it is ironic that none of the suppliers are
aware of the project management approach to set up new manufacturing equipment
or line. There are no proper DOE
conducted to find which equipment parameter had an impact product performance
follow by optimization. Trial and error study is mistaken to be DOE!
After the qualification of the automated manufacturing
line or equipment, it is imperative to setup proper monitoring system and
preventive maintenance. This will be the
main focus in my next blog.