Homepage » Allgemein »

Calculate and keep the benefits at home

Keys to competing with low-labor-cost regions: focus on automation and quality
Calculate and keep the benefits at home

Competing with low-cost labor regions for electronic and light mechanical assembly is a daunting challenge, but not an impossible one to overcome. Before joining the rush to offshore assembly, manufacturers need to explore several factors and strategies that can help them achieve high-quality, low-cost assembly close to their markets in North America and Western Europe.

Stan Earley, Kelly O’Brien, Universal Instruments Corporation

The primary financial factor to consider is the true overall cost of assembling products at a distance from the end market. The key competitive strategy is to automate those portions of the process that have previously relied on manual assembly. With the latest advances in odd-form and end-of-line automation, electronic manufacturers can achieve two objectives: reducing labor costs and improving quality in comparison with manual assembly. As a result of the efficiencies that automation delivers, it can become cost-effective to maintain a domestic manufacturing base.
The true cost of offshore assembly
Small, standardized items manufactured in high volumes, such as consumer electronic products, have been the most likely candidates for offshore assembly using low-cost labor. However, when the markets for such products are thousands of miles away from the manufacturing location, factors other than labor can affect the total cost.
When a company compared the costs of assembling a handheld computer on an offshore manual line to a domestic automated line, some interesting results emerged. Labor costs would indeed be lower offshore but, as volumes ramped up, so would the need for additional labor, which in turn would raise manufacturing costs. An automated line could handle higher volumes with smaller incremental cost increases, and pay for itself after 700,000 assemblies finished. The company determined that, with domestic automated production, the savings would amount to $2m in the first year (see figure 1).
Among non-labor factors affecting costs, quality and time-to-market were the most critical issues. Typical first-pass yields of 95% (at best) for manual assembly, versus 99% for automated assembly, represent a sizeable investment in rework and repair, even at the point of assembly, for products assembled in the hundreds of thousands. If the problems are not discovered until the finished products are in transit – very likely in an ocean-going container storing more than 7,000 units – or have arrived at their destination, the cost for rework and additional transportation can rise significantly.
In an industry where profitability often depends on getting products to market in a timely manner, distant manufacturing sites present several high risks. The first time lag can arise when transmitting engineering, design or volume change orders to the assembly location. The second gap can occur when transport to market takes several weeks or longer, which carries the potential for delay, loss or damage to the finished goods inventory. Among other issues to consider are brokers‘ fees, taxes and tariffs for certain countries and the increased incidence of repetitive stress injuries among manual assemblers.
Bridging the savings gap with automation
Assembly automation with the means of chipshooters, pick-and-place systems and fine-pitch placement systems is a common and cost-effective feature of modern manufacture. Two areas that have so far resisted automation efforts are odd-form placement and end-of-line assembly. In both areas, manual labor has usually won out over the available forms of automation: expensive single-task or custom cells, which are economically used only at high volumes, and do not adapt easily to the rapid changes that characterize most current market needs.
However, automation technology has advanced to the point where systems are now available that can replace several workers per station, either for odd-form placement along the manufacturing line or for final assembly tasks at the end of the line, in a cost-effective manner. Automated cells are faster and more accurate than manual labor and incorporate greater flexibility and scalability than customized or single-task cells. When a manufacturer considers adding this type of advanced automation to an electronic or light mechanical assembly line, several key features need to be evaluated.
The foundation of flexibility in odd-form and end-of-line automation is a uniform equipment platform with common interfaces, such as for I/O, mechanical mounting, electrical connections, software user interfaces and programmability. Also needed is an additional positioning system with extremely high resolution and reliability. The uniformity and precision of the machine platform enables the cell to deliver its benefits to the assembly line through modular tooling.
When the only modules requiring change in an automation cell are the task-specific tools, a single work cell is able to perform multiple tasks. Odd-form components may be placed using a variety of interchangeable feeders (radial and axial tapes or bowl, edge stack and tray feeders) and grippers, leads may be clinched, barcodes scanned and cameras used for positioning or inspection, respectively. A variety of final assembly tasks such as dispensing, vision verification/inspection, lid attach and screw driving may be performed at the end of line (figure 2). If custom tooling is required, it can be designed as a module to fit within the platform rather than requiring an entire customized cell.
This modular approach to automation provides flexibility and scalability on many levels. Tools may be added or replaced easily and quickly, or a work cell may be moved to a different position in the line, in response to rapidly changing production requirements (figure 3). As manufacturing volumes begin to increase, multiple operations can be performed on the same cell. At even higher volumes, an additional work cell may be added and the tools used interchangeably. Increase of production based on a single platform with modular tooling allows a more efficient allocation of human resources to higher value tasks such as troubleshooting and programming. The incremental cost of growth in automation is also lower than the proportional cost of adding manual labor as volumes increase.
When automation replaces manual labor, the production line can achieve higher levels of quality, since machinery is capable of greater reliability and consistency of placements at higher speed than human labor, shift after shift and day after day. The footprint of a line can also be reduced when a single cell replaces multiple workstations. While the initial cost of a flexible, scalable platform may be higher than a single-task customized cell or an individual worker, the long-term cost of ownership often proves to be less than either alternative.
Odd-form automation
On a typical electronic assembly line, the progression of boards is often interrupted by one or more manual assembly stations for placement or insertion of components that automated systems cannot handle. This can occur between automated placement and reflow, then again before wave soldering. At the end of the line, additional manual labor may be required for final product assembly and packaging.
Manual assembly requires not only workers but also workspace – 36 to 40 inches per worker for an ergonomic workstation. As production volumes increase, this space can grow to a considerable length. An alternative is to install buffers where output from high-speed machines is held temporarily until the manual tasks can be completed, although this can slow down overall line speed.
Replacing odd-form and end-of-line assembly with flexible, automated cells (figure 4) accomplishes several objectives. It reduces the number of workers dramatically – from 13 to 5, in the example shown – and shortens line length, since the space required for three workers can be filled with a 48-inch-wide cell. To increase productivity, an automated work cell can be programmed to perform either multiple tasks, or multiple quantities of the same task, at rates that match the output of high-speed placement systems, with defect rates lower than those of manual assembly do.
Automation for mechanical assembly
Even greater benefits can be achieved in light mechanical assembly, where production often relies almost exclusively on manual labor for items such as medical instruments, toys and games, office products and smaller automotive subassemblies. Using an automotive control module as an example, and breaking down its assembly into individual tasks, it is possible to automate each step of the process with multi-purpose cells (figure 5).
Automation can be introduced incrementally to the mechanical assembly process, with one cell taking over several manual tasks in an ”island of automation” and eventually extending to the entire process. Ultimately, the line length can be reduced from 72 to 48 feet and the number of workers from 24 to 3. The nature of the remaining workers‘ tasks will also change significantly, from repetitive manual labor to monitoring, controlling and managing several automation cells.
In terms of productivity, as expressed by speed of output, the results are equally dramatic. A manual operation that takes about 5 sec to complete can be accomplished by automation in 2.7 sec or, if vision is required to ensure positioning accuracy, in 3.1 sec. The result is a potential productivity improvement ranging from 38 to 46%.
Keeping the benefits
An investment in odd-form and end-of-line assembly automation can yield impressive results: significantly lower labor costs and higher productivity. Before joining the rush to move production to low-cost labor regions, manufacturers need to calculate the true and realistic long-terms costs involved in both offshore and domestic production. With the flexibility and scalability that modern manufacturing equipment offers, domestic production may well prove to be the more cost-effective solution. Factoring in the advantages of locating production close to the enduser market – reduced time in transit, shorter time-to-market, faster response time to changing market conditions – domestic production can help manufacturers achieve a distinct competitive edge in a challenging marketplace.
ZUSAMMENFASSUNG
Einfach die Elektronikproduktion nach Südost-Asien auszulagern und zu glauben, dass damit viele Auflagen einer Fertigung in westlichen Ländern vom Tisch wären, ist ein Irrtum. In hochautomatisierten Fertigungen ist der reine Handarbeitsanteil nur noch gering und kann in vielen Fällen andere Nachteile solcher Verlagerungen nicht völlig kompensieren. Grundsätzlich sollte man so nahe wie möglich an den Endanwender-Märkten fertigen, also beispielsweise in Europa für europäische Verbraucher. Allerdings gibt es noch einiges Potential für weitere Fertigungs-Automatisierung, speziell in der Odd-Form oder Exotenbestückung und End-of-Line Rationalisierung.
RESUMÉ
C’est une erreur de délocaliser sa production électronique en Asie du sud-est et de croire qu’ainsi de nombreuses phases de production seraient supprimées en Occident. La part de travail manuel pur est minime dans les productions hautement automatisées et dans de nombreux cas, il ne peut pas compenser totalement d’autres inconvénients de telles délocalisations. De manière générale, il est recommandé de produire à proximité du marché du consommateur final, c’est-à-dire par exemple en Europe pour les consommateurs européens. Toutefois, il existe encore d’autres possibilités d’automatisation de la production: en particulier l'“odd-form“ ou l’assemblage hybride et la rationalisation en fin de production.
SOMMARIO
Il fatto di trasferire semplicemente le produzioni di componenti elettronici nell’Asia sudorientale, e di credere che si possa così sfuggire ai tanti obblighi e premesse sulla produzione vigenti nei paesi occidentali, è un errore. Negli impianti di produzione altamente automatizzati la quota della pura lavorazione manuale è diventata talmente bassa e in molti altri casi non è in grado di compensare completamente gli altri svantaggi che portano con sé simili trasferimenti. In linea di massima si dovrebbe cercare di produrre possibilmente in diretta prossimità dei mercati degli utenti finali, cioè, ad esempio, in Europa per i consumatori europei. Ma esiste ancora un certo potenziale per ulteriori automazioni negli impianti di produzione, in particolare nella forma Odd o nelle connessioni di esotici nonché nella razionalizzazione End-of-Line.
Current Issue
Titelbild EPP EUROPE Electronics Production and Test 11
Issue
11.2023
READ
Newsletter

Subscribe to our newsletter now

Webinars & Webcasts

First hand technical knowledge

Whitepapers

Find all current Whitepapers here

Videos

Find all current videos here


Industrie.de Infoservice
Vielen Dank für Ihre Bestellung!
Sie erhalten in Kürze eine Bestätigung per E-Mail.
Von Ihnen ausgesucht:
Weitere Informationen gewünscht?
Einfach neue Dokumente auswählen
und zuletzt Adresse eingeben.
Wie funktioniert der Industrie.de Infoservice?
Zur Hilfeseite »
Ihre Adresse:














Die Konradin Verlag Robert Kohlhammer GmbH erhebt, verarbeitet und nutzt die Daten, die der Nutzer bei der Registrierung zum Industrie.de Infoservice freiwillig zur Verfügung stellt, zum Zwecke der Erfüllung dieses Nutzungsverhältnisses. Der Nutzer erhält damit Zugang zu den Dokumenten des Industrie.de Infoservice.
AGB
datenschutz-online@konradin.de