Still got it all on the reel?
Or: the search for reels with enough alternative components
For every EMS manufacturer, setting up the placement machines with reels holding enough components is an important criterion for error-free placement. Carefully managed inventory can provide the necessary certainty here. However, finding the right reel in the stores becomes far more complex if the customer project allows some freedom in the choice of components. The suitable reels then have to be found by matching the components' physical parameters against the company's own database. The ERP systems in use are often not suitable for this. With its numerical and fuzzy search options, EFA SmartSuite 2020 can provide an immediate remedy here, even with databases that have grown over many years.
This provocative metaphor highlights a central problem that EMS manufacturers face again and again: are there still enough components on the reels for the placement machine to place the current batch size without the reels having to be changed during placement? After all, every reel change during placement increases the risk of errors, which of course must be minimised.
But let's be realistic: the question above is often just one of a series of questions that have to be answered correctly when preparing the production of assembled PCBs.
Often, the following question comes first!
Which reels in our own stores with enough components can be used for the upcoming placement job?
Answering this question reliably is not nearly as easy as it sounds at first!
If a placement position requires a specific manufacturer for the component to be placed, an inventory management system can of course answer the question above reliably, provided that incoming reels are recorded and consumption per reel is updated each time.
However, if the customer allows some freedom in the choice of components, e.g. with regard to power dissipation, tolerance or voltage rating, any of the components available in sufficient numbers in the stores can be chosen.
The sheer variety of components, distributors and manufacturers makes it difficult to match similar components, which can often only be done via their physical parameters. For this, however, all the necessary parameters must be recorded consistently in the database.
As most databases only allow text comparisons, finding similar components is very time-consuming and often depends on the experience of the staff. The more employees are entrusted with maintaining the component database, the more varied the text descriptions of components often become – and, as a rule, the more difficult the search then becomes.
As a way out of this uncertainty, similar components are bought again rather than using those already in stock!
Of course, this approach aggravates the problem rather than contributing to a lasting solution. Such a lasting solution requires more complex searches in the company's own database!
The search for component reels must be extended from a purely textual comparison to a numerical comparison, focusing on the physical parameters.
Specifically, a search such as the following must be possible!
- Capacitance = 4.7 µF or 4u7
- Package = 1210
- Material = X7R
- Tolerance <= 10%
- Voltage rating >= 50 V
With EFA SmartSuite, numerical searches like these are easy!
It hardly matters in what textual form the data is held in the respective database. EFA SmartSuite can interpret this data and then search it numerically.
Even databases that have grown over many years are not usually a problem!
In addition to numerical searches, the EFA SmartSuite search form also allows fuzzy searches, which can extend to up to 16 search parameters.
In this way, you can find exactly those components in almost any database that are possible candidates for a placement position.
With EFA SmartSuite, you can therefore find out in no time at all whether you've still got it all on the reel!