On the way to the ultimate one-stop shop

The requirements of electronic production lines have been driven by a number of challenges. Examples include diminishing product life cycles, ongoing product innovations and modifications during the life cycle, smaller and more complex boards demanding miniaturized components and lead pitches, and the globalization of manufacturing in general. All these have produced a demand for flexible manufacturing techniques that can accommodate plenty of issues such as variations in board complexity and component technology and changeovers without loss of throughput.

Installing and maintaining an efficient production process, however, can be very difficult and time-consuming due to the fiercely competitive nature of the industry. Manufacturers have less time and resources to tie-up research, specifying and negotiating the cost of each gear needed for a line, and then optimizing that line for maximum first-pass yield. The multi-vendor equipment market means that most lines are built around a mixture of machines from different suppliers who will often not be willing to accept responsibility for interrelated problems that customers may encounter in their process. When an assembly line is tossed together from various vendors, there can often be countless and unforeseen compatibility and optimization problems. Moreover, there is no guarantee as to how long a line will take to install, how well it will be supported (this depends on the poorest vendor in this chain), and how well it will perform under real conditions.

With its global solutions, Siemens Dematic offers users a relatively easy way to a tailored, leading-edge, turnkey assembly line solutions from one source, including every item of hard and software that is possibly required. The company will seamlessly pre-integrate and take responsibility for performance and throughput to form ”the finest overall production line solution for individual needs,” as Harald Bollen, head of global sales and marketing, claims. In addition, Siplace lines are also based on a comprehensive array of Smartware support services which refers to the value-added expertise that is held by customer-support staff in areas such as process development, training, financing and experience as well as logistics and consulting service, providing users with board and process designguidance. This means that all lines come with guaranteedinstallation times and maximized performance levels (including process certificationto 0201 and lead-free production) and is reportedly designed to meet the most exacting requirements.

”With this introduction, we have set a new standard for integrated assembly solutions and paradigms for the supplier-customer relationship,” underlines Peter Drexel, member of the board and head of electronics assembly systems (Siplace brand). ”What makes this initiative revolutionary in many ways is the unmatched combination of equipment, business intelligence, technical expertise, training capabilities and worldwide service.” He sees for main trends: a convergence of chip and board assembly (advanced packaging), passives moving into smart substrates, electronics to be influenced by opto-electronics, and the mechatronics approach changing assembly methods. All these developments will culminate in the board manufacturing area. This may inevitably lead to further mixing of semiconductor backend with board frontend technologies, directing to minimized placement variations within ±30µm, or resistors and capacitors, fine-line wiring and microvias all integrated to the substrate by means of advanced packaging and laser technologies.

Because even higher demand on outstanding bandwidth (or speed) can not be fulfilled with digital technique hooked up on the traditional analog system layers, opto-electronics will play an important role in high-performance products and must be too integrated in the near future. With 3D-MID technology, first attempts were made in the scientific world, barely influencing current manufacturing. However, with focusing on the inherent benefits, mechatronics comes into play with the integration of mechanical, electrical and optical functions. Peter Drexel expects that by and by the placement performance in terms of speed may rise at about 30 to 40% to new altitudes, and the accuracy for packaging in the electro-optical domain must come down to ±1µm. He still anticipates strong demand for the full portfolio of offerings, from standard SMT to highly sophisticated ultra-fine and other advanced technologies of all kinds. From the company’s view, only vendors with an uncompromized palette of machines, services and expertise on a worldwide scale can adequately fulfill this call for performance, and be a trustworthy partner for globally acting manufacturers. Gerhard B. Wolski

EPP 156