Circuits Assembly - November 2007 - (Page 31)

suppliers then requires a serious system of checking abilities. These tasks may be more than one individual can handle. One can run through all the published specifications and compare basic supplier literature to get to a trial list of “possibles” and “no-hopes.” If there are only two or three possible suppliers for something, then the “no-hope” list might never exist. At least by the end of this part of the exercise you should have some suppliers that are reasonably good bets to supply close to what is wanted. But which one gives you your optimum requirements? You need the dispassionate, facts-only approach and to generate a list of criteria most important to you. Supplier A may offer thousands of “nice to haves,” but if they do nothing for your criteria list, it’s wasted time. Once you have the criteria to your satisfaction, you can start comparing weightings with the suppliers’ scores for each of your important criteria. You will end up with a few, hopefully two or three, suppliers that press all the right buttons and seem similar. If they have identical scores, you may need to revisit the criteria list with a more critical eye. It may be that an item you considered important is not, in fact, after all, and weightings can be changed accordingly. The goal is to end up with one supplier that appears to be the best. But do not stop there. If the item being considered is made in quantity, for example an AOI or a conveyor system, then the supplier will usually be happy with an onsite trial; it is a good idea to ask the top three to put their products on your shop floor for a short period to prove your criteria were correct and choice of supplier founded. If the item is specific to your factory and requirements, and is a one-off, you cannot ask the supplier to build a trial model just to prove your point. If you have used the system properly, the optimum supplier will emerge and the risks will be very low. The “put a machine on trial” approach is really belt-and-braces and is aimed at confidence building, versus informing those on the selection team. Would my daughter have gone to this trouble? Certainly not. Her world is not industrial, and the product cost was low enough for a mistake not to have devastating impact. Even today’s low-cost equipment needs to be evaluated sensibly; the foregoing is just an idea of how to proceed. ■ Better Manufacturing Conformal Coating That’s Fast and Easy Just what you wanted – Easy maintenance and high performance for coating with today’s 100% solids formulations. The award-winning Swirl Coat™ SC-300 Applicator from Asymtek. Visit Asymtek at IMAPS booth #1017 and Productronica Stand #A4-340 FIND OUT MORE ABOUT CONFORMAL COATING SYSTEMS FROM ASYMTEK: Americas: 1-760-431-1919 Europe: +31-43-352-4466 Japan: +81-3-5762-2801 China: +86-21-5899-1879 Email: info@asymtek.com www.asymtek.com circuitsassembly.com Circuits Assembly NOVEMBER 2007 31 http://www.asymtek.com http://www.asymtek.com http://circuitsassembly.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Circuits Assembly - November 2007

Circuits Assembly - November 2007 Contents Caveat Lector Industry News Market Watch Talking Heads Focus on Business Global Sourcing On the Forefront Screen Printing Better Manufacturing Pb-Free Manufacturing from a Tier III EMS Perspective ‘Living Documents, Subject to Change’ Creating Ideal Solder Joints An Alternative Drying Process for MSDs ‘Customer Satisfaction is More than a Score’ Optoelectronic Substrates: Will They Happen? Tech Tips Wave Soldering Process Doctor Test and Inspection Getting Lean Materials World Equipment Advances Product Spotlight Assembly Insider Technical Abstracts Ad Index

Circuits Assembly - November 2007

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