Manual Visual Inspection of today's complex, high density Printed Circuit Board Assemblies is very inconsistent, subjective and unreliable. This has encouraged the board assemblers to look for Automated Optical Inspection (AOI) machines to replace or augment the manual inspection process. For machines too, inspection is a very complex task. In the past, the machines available in the market were limited in capabilities and too slow to match the SMT line speeds. Rapid growth in computing power and imaging tec hnology has made faster and better AOI machines possible. However, the implementation of AOI in manufacturing is not a drop-in process but rather a learning experience. It involves having a clear set of objectives for implementing the AOI, evaluate and select an appropriate machine, adapt the machine to one's own production environment, train people and maintain the machine through the operation phase. The implementation challenges in manufacturing could be quite extensive especially for the newcomer. The major challenges in the implementat on of AOI are in the areas of program maintenance and control. Day-to-day variation in components and process is the major contributor to the above areas. This paper presents a case study with the whole experience of implementing the AOI in a high volume contract-manufacturing environment.
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