HOW DO WE GET INTELLIGENCE INTO THE BUSINESS OF ELECTRONICS MANUFACTURING? BERNARD SUTTON, PRODUCT MANAGER, VALOR DIV. OF MENTOR GRAPHICS CORP.

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1 HOW DO WE GET INTELLIGENCE INTO THE BUSINESS OF ELECTRONICS MANUFACTURING? BERNARD SUTTON, PRODUCT MANAGER, VALOR DIV. OF MENTOR GRAPHICS CORP. M A N U F A C T U R I N G W H I T E P A P E R w w w. m e n t o r. c o m

2 Business Intelligence (BI) is a current hot topic among managers at all levels in electronics manufacturing. Intelligence in business sounds like a must have ; who wouldn t want it? And it s never been easier to add. Great visualization tools like dashboards, dials, gauges and pie charts are common place. However, it is crucial to ask the question visualization of what? Otherwise, BI can become just another view of raw data. Effective Business Intelligence must be based on reporting metrics that matter and employ specific domain knowledge to drive the right improvement actions optimized for our industry. In addition, Business Intelligence, correctly adapted, can satisfy the increasing market demands for traceability, reporting and proof of compliance. In this paper we will look at the opportunities for Valor MSS Business Intelligence from Mentor Graphics, to put intelligence into the hands of managers and knowledge workers, and to add value electronics manufacturing. THE BACKGROUND ON BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE Business Intelligence is referred to as a decision support system. The ultimate goal of BI is to deliver insight that will drive competitive advantage. Insight for better decisions will focus on solving the right problems to improve factory performance and product quality in concrete ways. The power for business improvement by BI is further extended by making it the central distribution point of performance reporting and performance improvement. The key components of BI technologies are: 1. The data sources and extraction 2. Analytical engine 3. Report generator / visualization layer 4. Report distribution We will further explore these components. DATA SOURCES FROM ELECTRONICS MANUFACTURING The value of BI for end users is determined by the data sources and the data extraction solutions that can be applied. DATA SOURCES There is very little on the manufacturing shop floor that does not have an identity; a barcode, ID, operation number, operator ID, bin location, feeder ID, component codes, etc. etc. We could accept all these inputs from numerous individual databases but I would advocate that a single MES solution managing all this data will rationalise the data collection, improve efficiency and lead to removing paper documents. A single MES system can also provide a higher level of control than is possible by disconnected systems, for example: 2

3 1. If we check-in components into store, we want to know these are available for manufacturing and can proceed knowing all the components are available. 2. If our customers demand that we strictly follow an operation sequence; we can record all actions in a post build report. Or even better; monitor progress to the approved plan at each step of the plan. For complete data traceability all captured data must be capable of being linked. The fundamental building block for electronics Manufacturers is the product serial number. We can link all materials & process trace data to the PCBA serial number. And further link this to higher level assemblies containing multiple PCBA s. The sooner we register the PCBA serial number as active the sooner we can link the other data sources. Whilst our ideal might be a single data source there can be additional hierarchical and legacy systems in place that need to be integrated also. Hierarchical database sources are: ERP Systems or other master scheduling tools These will be required to be bi-directional, as it is normal to post materials back-flushing and as-built configuration data back to the ERP. Legacy database sources can be: An in-house point solution that may still be required to be integrated or a 3rd party point solution that may still be required to be integrated. While it should be possible to have a common template and format for ERP interfaces, today this is not the case. The same ERP vendor may even have differing interface requirements in differing end customer sites, all of which make the correct analysis and the skills to implement the data integration, a vital component of success. DATA GRANULARITY AND LATENCY Data granularity and latency also need to be clearly defined to meet the desired business objectives. Here is an example of the necessary granularity to support a few sample objectives. Objective Meet compliance and traceability commitments: Serial number Product type Work order Process operation Operator & Skills Materials trace / part number / vendor / reel / reference designator 3

4 Objective Support route cause analysis: Process operation history Test results Repair actions Repair analysis Objective Drive performance improvement: Performance metrics Cycle times Waste The required data collection latency and analysis will be set by the data type and its use. So, for instance, an alarm for poor test yield is needed in, or near, real time to be effective. On the other hand, the daily reports on factory performance are typically compiled over a 24 hour period to be meaningful. FOUNDATION OF VALUE The value foundation for BI is derived from making the right data available to the right people in formats that fit the end users requirements and, in a time frame that supports the business process improvement opportunity. ELECTRONICS MANUFACTURING IS COMPLEX Electronics manufacturing could be described as the perfect storm because there are such diverse sources of data in interrelated operations and manufacturing constraints. Our experience with electronics manufacturers has led us to identify three distinct channels for information from within this storm. The Valor MSS Business Intelligence solution is built around these channels of demand. 1. Materials 2. Asset Utilization 3. Quality DOMAIN KNOWLEDGE IN OUR ANALYSIS With all of the possible data sources available across the shop floor we need to extract, filter and analyze this data to make use of our data gold mine if we want to improve performance and hence business results. We are running a dynamic, real-time businesses on our shop floors. Some data and the analysis of that data should be immediately available to key workers and their actions recorded without data latency. These will not be database experts who can mine for the data, or even be required to be computer literate. And why should they be? It is reasonable to expect data to be analyzed and presented in plain terms to guide actions. To achieve this, we need manufacturing expertise built into the BI solution. Ensuring data analysis is performed automatically, to industry standard calculation methodologies, and the resultant analysis presented directly to end users is critical. Domain knowledge is also required to establish the metrics that matter to our business and the data sources that are required as the input to the calculation. There are, for instance, specified metrics and formulas for calculating Defects Per Million Opportunity (DPMO) in the industry IPC standards. Performance measures like overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) and total effective equipment performance (TEEP) also have specific industry meaning. 4

5 In addition to the standard industry metrics, leading organizations are using the captured data to achieve higher level goals. Examples of these are: Product change over time reduction Quality improvement Materials usage Order fulfilment (right quantity, on time) THE RESULTS OF BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE PAPERLESS SHOP FLOOR When we collect the required data automatically, provide the analysis automatically, transmit corrective action metrics directly to key workers electronically, we can begin to say we have a paperless shop floor. FARID ANANI, PRODUCTION MANAGER, COMPUTROL The MSS Business Intelligence (BI) solution from Mentor Graphics is helping our factory achieve even higher performance. We take on the toughest projects in the business and we need immediate access to clear information we can act on. We are using BI now to achieve visibility on standardized metrics like DPMO (Defects Per Million Opportunities). This has dramatically reduced our time-tocorrective action, and the diagnostic tools for drilling into the data have made it much easier for engineering to find the cause of the problem and fix it. We cannot afford to waste time fixing the wrong problems. The BI solution makes our engineering and quality teams much more effective. We have also found an unexpected value from BI. It is very easy to set up comparisons on several different quality metrics, to study the effect of process changes or selection of new capital equipment. Using BI we were able to easily justify a change in screen printers because of the clear improvement we saw in the quality in products run on screen printer A vs. screen printer B. Deploying the MSS Business Intelligence solution was an easy decision for us. It makes us more profitable and more competitive. THE DASHBOARD Dashboards are created to address specific end user requirements and can significantly reduce the time taken to search for data on current performance, instead immediately pointing to what they should be paying attention to. Figure 1: Dashboards are set up to quickly display Key Performance Indicators (KPI) that are important to you for immediate insight. Many dashboards also support drill down into the data. 5

6 THE DRILL DOWN From the dashboard and standard report views it can be hugely efficient to be able to drill-down into the data further by click on the image to gain additional insight and higher granularity of the analysis being presented. AUTOMATED DELIVERY OF STANDARD REPORTS Automating the delivery and distribution of reports to authorized recipients can reduce the response time to critical issues while removing the tedious task of compiling daily, weekly, and/or monthly reports. Targeting meaningful reports to specified recipients can greatly improve communications and team-working. Figure 2: Reports of all kinds can be setup to run automatically for periodic delivery on your desktop or ipad. 6

7 MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS Performance data required by multiple recipients to undertake teamworking can reduce costly delays and aid corrective action processes. A feeder performance report distributed to engineering and operations teams can help set the maintenance requirements and access to poorly performing feeders identified in the report. Figure 3: Feeder Error reports will quickly identify the poorest performing feeders. 7

8 INTERACTIVE ANALYSIS Engineers and other knowledge workers will want to explore the data in familiar Excel pivot table views that enable them to collect data and present some insight that drives actions. With a comprehensive range of measures and dimensions engineers can readily explore the database for insight. Figure 4: Many reports can be customized with simple drag and drop pivot construction. BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE APPLIED TO VENDOR QUALITY MANAGEMENT Business Intelligence can be applied to resolve specific high level challenges to manufacturing performance. Within the context of vendor quality management we have such an example. It is often very difficult and time consuming to measure the performance of vendor materials by their lot codes, on product quality. Integrated data collection between incoming inspection, lot code traceability, assembly process data, and production test results are required to achieve this. BI can assist in managing component sourcing by tracking the quality levels of specific suppliers, and ultimately the quality of the product built in the factory. The key factor is establishing and maintaining the data chain between every component vendor lot code and linking this to the product serial numbers and the other data from the shop floor. Figure 5: Component traceability data can be viewed in relation to all other manufacturing data flows. 8

9 PUTTING IT TOGETHER The database knows the supplier trace data for each reel ID, and the SMT machine MES interface captures the reel IDs used for component placement locations on every individually serialized circuit board. The manufacturing Bill of Material (BOM) for the circuit board assembly specifies the part number and reference designator (Ref Des) location for every electronic component on the board. The MES database then links the lot codes for each Reel IDs issued to the Work Order to the installed locations on each PCB. Figure 6: Test and inspection results link to the URD. The value to the supply chain manager is that BI quickly reveals very useful information about the performance of materials from each individual supplier. Figure 7: Material suppliers are tracked for PCB component related defects over time. 9

10 It becomes a simple step within The Valor MSS Business Intelligence solution to cross reference all the product serial numbers affected by a suspected part performing below Acceptable Quality Levels (AQL s) to monitor or quarantine these products. SUMMARY Once implemented, Valor MSS Business Intelligence can transform the task of data collection and report distribution into an error free automated process. Business Intelligence can significantly improve the visualization of factory performance and enable the timely engagement of knowledge workers to meet business objectives. There are some considerations for those evaluating BI solutions: Accessing the available data sources The granularity of the data sources available directly from the shop floor. The depth of domain knowledge built into the BI solution to meet the specific requirements of electronics manufacturing. BI quickly becomes the cornerstone of manufacturing performance monitoring, quality compliance and materials traceably. Put simply by our customers: It makes us more profitable and more competitive Several studies show that more and more successful companies are harnessing the power of BI to fine tune their manufacturing operations. The Aberdeen Group reported in 2011 their finding that As the speed of business accelerates and more data is created, the ability to harness the power of information is proving to be a competitive advantage for companies that have made fact-based decision making a priority. For the latest product information, call us or visit: w w w. m e n t o r. c o m 2011 Mentor Graphics Corporation, all rights reserved. This document contains information that is proprietary to Mentor Graphics Corporation and may be duplicated in whole or in part by the original recipient for internal business purposes only, provided that this entire notice appears in all copies. In accepting this document, the recipient agrees to make every reasonable effort to prevent unauthorized use of this information. All trademarks mentioned in this document are the trademarks of their respective owners. MF MISC1460-w