Technical Articles From Optimal Electronics Corporation

Database Driven Multi Media Work Instructions

Mar 25, 2019 | Tommy Fox

Work instructions are time consuming to generate for engineers, often requiring regeneration from scratch to address very minor changes. They need to be produced in varying levels of detail, with varying guidelines, for multiple stations, operators and lines. Minor component, station or process changes – down to the modification of an individual BOM component – can cause headaches when attempting to maintain consistency across multiple work instructions that are touched by the change.

The solution presented here improves efficiency and saves engineering time by making use of a database driven approach. Manufacturing details, component information, process guidelines, annotations, machine-specific data, and more can be stored in one central database. Any information stored in this single repository can then be modified quickly in one location and automatically propagate seamlessly throughout multiple work instructions. These can be instantly printed out or displayed on screens at appropriately affected stations with the simple click of a button, as opposed to regenerating from scratch, or going in and reviewing many documents to find and update with the change....

Lean Kitting: A Case Study

Aug 20, 2008 | Ranko Vujosevic, Ph.D. Optimal Electronics Corporation Jose A. Ramirez, Larry Hausman-Cohen, and Srinivasan Venkataraman The University of Texas at Austin Department of Mechanical Engineering Austin, Texas

Kitting is the first step in printed circuit board assembly. It is initiated well in advance of the actual production start to be able to prepare and deliver the kit on time. Kitting involves the gathering of all the parts needed for a particular assembly from the stockroom and issuing the kit to the manufacturing line at the right time and in the right quantity. This paper discusses kitting, describes ways to eliminate waste in different phases of kitting, and illustrates lean kitting using a case study conducted in a major contract manufacturer site....