Chances are if every panel has an X-out, there is a single root cause (design issue), and switching board houses might be the last thing you want to do. Better to work the issue with the board house who understands the issue, and perhaps can tell you WHY every panel has at least one X-out.

On the other hand, if there are many X-outs for a variety of different reasons that can be traced back to violation of the process controls throughout the PWB supply chain, and the root cause is because the proper methods were not used to validate the prepreg, the copper foil, the laminate, the plate-up process, and so on and so forth from A to Z, as defined by the pertinent IPC standards for each of these stages, and the user does not intend to make sure all of this is being done properly with a different supplier, then what for?

So, whether there are just a few or many X-outs, for a single cause or for multiple causes, switching fabricators may not be the best option in any case. You need to know all the facts, and without some type of auditing, you never will know all the facts.


-----Original Message-----
From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Jerry Dengler
Sent: Friday, March 21, 2014 11:19 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [TN] NTC - (somewhat) regarding X-outs

Hi Blair,

ASSEMBLY- Your machines probably have a way to automatically skip X-out's utilizing a "Bad Board Mark".  This usually requires another step for every board on the panel and may increase cycle time to an unacceptable level. Sometimes it's better to sort panels by the X-out. Manually skip that board in the program and run that group.  Then change the program to skip a different board and run all of that group. That way you do not add time to every panel you do.

If every panel you get has a X-out I would be looking for a new board house.

PLANNING- MRP will usually require a manual adjustment.  If we order 1000 boards in 4 up panels and the board house has X-outs the board house ships extra to get us past the 1000 usually.  We give extra boards to SMT production and have them skip anything that would put them over 1000 complete assemblies.  They will skip the X-out's and any excess PCB's to achieve the 1000 assemblies.  The 1, 2, or 3 extra bare PCB's will then be scrapped out in the MRP system.

Quality-  If there are only a few X-outs I would not be concerned.  If there are many X-outs we would be looking at the X-outs to see if we could identify why they are failures and decide if there is a risk to the rest of the boards or not.

Regards,

Jerry Dengler
Production Manager
Pergamon Corporation
380 Crooked Lane, Unit# 3
King of Prussia, PA  19406-2567
U.S.A.
(610) 239-0721 Phone
(610) 239-0720 Fax


-----Original Message-----
From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Blair Hogg
Sent: Friday, March 21, 2014 10:16 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [TN] NTC - (somewhat) regarding X-outs

Happy Spring, Technetters! Having enjoyed a very snowy winter here in PA I am now ready to enjoy some warmer weather.

I have a few question as to how others handle x-out boards in a panel, both from an assembly point of view, from a planning point of view, and from a quality point of view. 

Assembly - we are planning to run these boards on our Phillips / Assembleon equipment, and there should be a way to have the machine automatically detect an x-out panel and not populate it, or am I asking too much? We can't seem to figure out how to get this to work. 

Planning - there are n boards in a panel, but 1 is an x-out, and the planning / ERP system thinks there will be n boards, but you get 1 less, how do you tell the ERP system this? 

Quality - If there is a defect on 1 board in the panel, should there be concerns that the other boards may also have defects that weren't detected? 

Thanks!

Blair

______________________________________________________________________
This email has been scanned by the Symantec Email Security.cloud service.
For more information please contact helpdesk at x2960 or [log in to unmask] ______________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________
This email has been scanned by the Symantec Email Security.cloud service.
For more information please contact helpdesk at x2960 or [log in to unmask] 
______________________________________________________________________