High production volumes Kyösti Soini, JOT Automation/Rohwedder Group, Oulu, Finland

JOT Automation branded Rohwedder products aim to improve the competitiveness of its customers‘ production, specifically in the telecommunication, medical, consumer and automotive electronics industries. With the test and manufacturing equipment, and related services, customers can gain smooth and cost-effective transition to production, short time-to-volume and time-to-profit, with easy and high quality assembly in mass production. The company has skills and abilities in a number of areas including assembly, material processing, material handling and manufacturing test equipment. The equipment is available in standard or customized configurations that can be combined into complete and customer-specific turnkey solutions.

The enterprise has been producing routers for a number of years. Different manufacturing customers have many levels of automation and so the company has produced a selection of different routers for depaneling a PCB. Accordingly, there is also a need for several kinds of routers to cover market needs. In 2007, JOT Automation’s customer requirements for routers pushed them to research into new solutions. The main customer requirements to be considered in development of new machines, and what in fact all manufacturers will face in the future: high production volumes. Therefore, machines are now working 24/7 and customers need routers that have highly reliable components.

Production batches often change and the downtime of an entire production line must be kept to a minimum. The price for product specific equipment in standard machines needs to be competitive and it is necessary for equipment to include a minimal amount of new parts protection against electrostatic discharge. Obviously, customers are paying a lot of attention with regard to ESD safety in machines because every damaged product means loss of efficiency. It is important that products are user friendly for line operators so there is a need to offer a clear user interface. Operators will typically be trained but later have to cope with a machine by themselves.

It is convenient for both the user and manufacturer of the machine to use simple maintenance techniques. Machines must also have good access for this maintenance, without having to stop production by removing the machine from the manufacturing line. To ensure that customers have a high routing accuracy, the depanelled PCBs will be inserted in to a shell of the end-product with additional processes that must occur, such as dust removal. There is always dust generated in the routing process which must not linger on a product. It is therefore important that the machine recognises the efficiency of dust removal. Solutions can be developed through continuous research and development. It is the customer who offers a company the challenge to improve and evolve in this product area. Routers are sophisticated machines and the development process needs to be a collaboration between engineers from different fields – these include mechanical, electrical and software engineers.

JOT Automation offers in-line and offline routers, but what is the most suitable environment for these routers? The most typical solution for in-line routers is a PCB testing line which includes magazine unloader, conveyor segments a router, testing equipment, and inspection station and magazine loader. All these products needed to form a manufacturing line and can be found within the company’s portfolio. The other sample is an assembly line, where routers perform the depanelisation of a PCB before it will be tested and inserted into a shell of the end-product. Offline routers are suitable if production volumes are low and a router is situated separately from the other production equipment. An offline router (especially the Mini-router) is also very suitable as a back-up solution helping to eliminate temporary peaks in high volume production. This again represents a good opportunity for the company to develop as a manufacturer. It is always beneficial to keep an open mind and create different solutions whilst continuing to satisfy loyal customers. There is now a high level of competition in the routers market. Customers have different requirements for machines and of course, they expect an additional value. It is very important to hear customers’ expectations and to be active in introducing them to the new solutions available. By listening to customer feedback, JOT Automation has produced a number of routers for different requirements.

The Mini-router works offline and is suitable for smaller production batches or as a back up solution at an attractive price. It has a small footprint, and is a simple machine with good access for maintenance. The Mini-router has a list of optional equipment including an efficient, reliable and very quiet vacuum cleaner (also found on the company’s other routers). It is available with a single spindle as well as a double spindle to achieve higher volumes. The fixture is product specific and will be designed and manufactured according to the customers specific requirements. This machine is suitable for the telecommunication as well as the automotive industries.

As the name implies, the high-speed router has been developed to achieve very high volumes and is more suitable for telecommunication industries. It has a relatively small footprint and saves the floor space in a factory, but the output of the machine is remarkable. There are two product specific grippers working parallel to achieve high volumes. There is also the option to use one gripper if the production volume is smaller for increased efficiency. All routing parameters are easy to adjust and the statistical view is very clear. There are different user levels for line managers and operators. The same graphical user interface is now being implemented across all of the company’s robot cells.

The Maxi-router is an in-line router and has been developed especially as a versatile router for different customer needs. This router is more suitable for automotive industries. It supports the large variety of electronics manufacturing process areas like test and assembly lines or cells. The working area can vary from 50 x 50 mm to 470 x 470 mm. The input conveyor has a buffer segment before milling to reduce PCB handling time. The spindle located in the underside of the PCB is connected to an efficient dust removing system. It is also equipped with a continuous scrap part out-feeding system and a DXF converter as well as a camera for teaching the cutting points on the PCB. The upper robot is equipped with a total of 4 servo-motor driven axes which makes pick and placement possible even for PCBs with complicated contours. Many optional devices are available to meet customers’ requirements. As in many other industries where serial machines are manufactured, at first a prototype machine will be built (such as in the case of the Maxi-router) and after that manufacturing engineering process will then be complete and ready for manufacturing the routers in batches. The first prototype of the Maxi-router was presented at Productronica 2007. The manufacturing engineering has just been completed and customers have already shown a strong interest in this router.

Traceability of components and final products is important in the electronics industry. As well as the selection of routers, JOT Automation’s parent company Rohwedder also produces lasers. With the in-line marking equipment it is easy to include the process in the production line or specific marking island, wherever the marking is most convenient to do – for example, after routing or assembly, or before the whole manufacturing process. One of the new products within this field is the laser depaneliser. The laser is used to evaporate material in the cutting area.

Rohwedder’s laser depaneliser has a solution which means that gas is immediately evacuated by a vacuum air flow, leaving no dust on PCBs and components. A cutting gap of about 300 µm width (average over PCB thickness) will save valuable PCB area and reduces production costs. The laser beam also doesn’t allow transfer of mechanical stress into the PCB. As a result, the simple PCB carrier design reduces the cost for tooling. It also provides the PCB designer more freedom in placing components closer to the cutting edge.

Tooling costs are a major issue with traditional routing technologies and in addition to expensive gripping technology with a vacuum and mini gripper, it requires expensive PCB space. By using laser cutting, the tooling costs are reduced to a minimum. Product changes can be achieved in just a matter of seconds, by just loading the appropriate cutting programme. Time-to-Prototype or Time-to-Production are reduced to writing a simple cutting programme, supported by the well established Laser-CAD tool, which allows the import of CAD data of the board.

Rohwedder and JOT Automation work in close partnership with their customers and offer scalable services for the customers’ manufacturing processes; the level of the service can vary from just delivering a single piece of equipment to taking responsibility for the total manufacturing solution development of a manufacturing production line. The overall service offering is aimed at reducing manufacturing cost. This can be achieved by maximising the reusability of the test methods and assembly solutions, optimising the manufacturing process and the test strategy, introducing design for manufacturing enhancements in the product’s R&D phase and securing the volume manufacturing capacity.

SMT, booth 7-529

EPP Europe 432

Kunden stellen unterschiedliche Anforderungen an die Automation. Das Unternehmen hat daher verschiedene Router und Nutzentrenner produziert, die im Beitrag vorgestellt werden. Der Maxi-Router vereint eine breite Palette von Routern einschließlich des Mini- und des High-Speed-Routers. Die neue Maschine ist als Antwort auf die große Nachfrage nach in-line-fähigen Nutzentrenn-Systemen entwickelt worden.

Lorsqu’il s’agit d’automation, les clients ont des exigences variées. C’est pourquoi l’entreprise a développé différents routeurs et séparateurs de circuits, qui sont présentés dans l’article. Le maxi routeur réunit une vaste gamme de routeurs, y compris le mini routeur et le routeur grande vitesse. La nouvelle machine a été développée en réponse à la demande importante en systèmes de séparation de circuits utilisables en ligne.

I clienti hanno diversi requisiti in quanto ad automazione. L’azienda ha quindi prodotto vari router e separatori di circuiti, presentati nell’articolo Il Maxi Router comprende un’ampia gamma di router, tra cui il router Mini e High-Speed. La nuova macchina è stata sviluppata in risposta alle numerose richieste di sistemi separatori di circuiti in linea.