Development of cost-based inspection plans for solder paste print deposition and process improvement for a surface mount assembly line

The Electronic Contract Manufacturers (ECM) are striving towards manufacturing products conforming to customer's expectations and specifications simultaneously maintaining low inventory and controlling operational costs to incur profits. Miniaturization of PCBA design has increased the complexity of manufacturing. It is not cost effective for the ECMs to procure new manufacturing equipments in par with the assembly development. To maintain desired level of quality, inspection and addition of modules to the existing line are some short term solutions to compensate for the technological advancements.;The research objective is to develop a near optimal cost based inspection sampling plan for solder paste printing process and installation of a multi functional chip mounter module in the existing manufacturing line to enhance the quality of the product. Simulation is used to replicate the system and study alternate scenarios. The results are analyzed to help the decision making process of the ECMs.