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Company:
• Global electronics
manufacturing services
(EMS) company building
aerospace boards
Key Issues:
• Time-consuming manual
computing of process results
• Inability to fine-tune tests
• Long time to market -
18 months
• High retest rate due to
high false failure
Solution:
• PathWave Manufacturing
Analytics
Results:
• Automatically computes
process performance
• Ability to fine-tune tests
• Reduced time to market by
6 months
• Low retest rate
Global EMS Manufacturer Reduces
Time to Market Using PathWave
Manufacturing Analytics
Achieving top-line revenue with the finest board quality and the highest possible
production throughput is always a manufacturing goal. Launching a new product
to market in a shorter time frame is a positive contribution to the top line revenue.
However, when a high retest rate due to a false failure rate plagues the production
testing, it negatively impacts the EMS provider as the time to market exceeds the
launch plan.
Key Issues: Extended Time to Market and High Retest Rate
A global EMS company in Thailand manufactures aerospace boards for a leading
original equipment manufacturer (OEM) needed to improve their time to market.
There are multiple builds before a product hits the mass production stage. During
each build, in-circuit test (ICT) measurements are extracted, computed, and
analyzed manually to improve the first pass yield (FPY) in the next build. These
manual processes are tedious, time-consuming, and prone to human error.
Engineers review the results and fine-tune tests to improve the FPY. Identifying
tests with the low Process Capability Index (Cpk) value is only the first step. Cpk
is a statistical measure of its capability to produce output within specification
limits. The EMS engineers modified the test with minimum information other than
CASE STUDY
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knowing it had a low Cpk result. Debugging without data led to extended system
downtime on the production floor for test fine-tuning.
The entire process cycle of the production build from manual test measurements,
collection, analysis, and fine-tuning downtime, had a significant negative impact to
the product’s time to market. Adding to the engineer’s tasks was the management of
tracking the high retest due to high false failure.
Solution: PathWave Manufacturing Analytics
While using Keysight’s PathWave Manufacturing Analytics solution, the EMS company
was able to take the ICT measurements in the data log files to seamlessly transfer into
the PathWave Manufacturing Analytics’ server. The engineer can review the Cpk results
in a user-friendly GUI — and can select the project name and date range to get specific
results. The Cpk results for all tests are available in a couple of seconds. The sorting
capability for every column and intuitive search features enable the engineers to sort and
filter the data. The scatter plot provides valuable insight into the measurement trend to
enable making an informed decision during debugging.
The engineers and technicians can now easily debug the issues before releasing the test
program for mass production.
Figure 1. Automated Cpk table in PathWave Manufacturing Analytics