Equipment Selection - Maintenance History

Sirs,

what would be a good way to judge the reliability/robustness of a stencil printer or chip shooter?

Does any equipment supplier specify detailed maintenance schedules? Is there a source of machine failure data (MTBF, etc.)?

I notice that most suppliers provide data that is eye-catching but avoid providing data of significant technical relevance, such as Cp and Cpk. It would perhaps be a wise idea for standards to be formulated in this area. Cheers - Sanjay

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| Sirs, | | what would be a good way to judge the reliability/robustness of a stencil printer or chip shooter? | | Does any equipment supplier specify detailed maintenance schedules? Is there a source of machine failure data (MTBF, etc.)? | | I notice that most suppliers provide data that is eye-catching but avoid providing data of significant technical relevance, such as Cp and Cpk. It would perhaps be a wise idea for standards to be formulated in this area. | | Cheers - Sanjay | Sanjay: How ya doin'?

1 Judging the reliability/robustness of a machine: Contact users of the machine and they will be happy to tell you if the machine is reliable/robust 2 Supplier specified detailed maintenance schedules: Most equipment suppliers provide maintenance procedures and schedules with their machines. 3 Source of machine failure data: Most suppliers can not spell MTTR or MTBF. This is not say anything bad about them, it's just that they do not have a reliable source of information. 4 Cp & Cpk data: Top flight placement machine suppliers have published specs for Cp & Cpk. Other placement machine suppliers can not spell Cp & Cpk, nor can their customers. On other SMT production equipment, customers that care about Cp & Cpk go to suppliers, record data their way with their tools, and calulate the metrics that interest them. So there is not a lot of need to discuss the metrics.

TTYL

Dave F

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