At 02:42 PM 4/4/00 -0700, Ken Patel wrote:

>Guys,
>We had a meeting yesterday with design layout house. We wanted a small board
>to be panelized while he resisted saying it will also create a trouble for
>the MRP system (besides his own!).

I heard the same (lame) response here (we are an OEM). The real difficulty is in doing a good fab drawing.

>My question to you guys, how you or your buyer handle buying when the board
>comes in a panel? I believe he/she put an order for the quantity needed and
>fab house make sure that they meet the total board count. Also, how about
>the kiting for the assembly. Applicable MRP system is Oracle.

We issue a separate drawing number illustrating the fabrication of the multiple up array.
The ERP (new buzzword) system here considers the item to be 2 units. When they arrive here, they are counted only as units, issued as units. The fact that they exist as arrays is ignored. Once your board fabricator has done their CAM work, you can be sure they will not be confused, they will build as any array, but they will ship and invoice in units.

Make sure you indicate the unit part number on the artwork, and for instance, put the array drawing number on the web breakoff of the array in etch.

Our materials people here occasionally issue production orders for me to build an odd number of boards in array format, in which case I go yell at them and make them issue an even quantity.

My opinion is that the ERP system should consider the array to be a phantom assembly, with qty two of the unit.
Orders would be made to fab vendors using the phantom assembly number, which is a non-inventory item consisting of two (or three, or four) units.

>There are small size boards which can not be run on machine except on panel
>so there must be a way to handle it.

Oh, there is. And don't give up the fight, it would be idiotic to cave in and fab a small board as a unit because "it's easier" for inventory and ERP. That is just laziness. There are tremendous advantages in machine cycle time, handling, etc. by building multiple unit arrays. Computers and normal intelligence humans ought to be able to deal with this mind boggling issue.


cheers,


Jerry Cupples
Interphase Corporation
Dallas, TX USA

##############################################################
TechNet Mail List provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8c
##############################################################
To subscribe/unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in
the body:
To subscribe:   SUBSCRIBE TECHNET <your full name>
To unsubscribe:   SIGNOFF TECHNET
##############################################################
Please visit IPC web site (http://www.ipc.org/html/forum.htm) for additional
information.
If you need assistance - contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or
847-509-9700 ext.5315
##############################################################