Circuit-Board Maker Adopts RFID

The software then decides, based on the type of circuit board being assembled and the machine program for that specific product, whether the reel is being appropriately installed, or if it is in the incorrect slot. Once its setup has been validated, the trolley is inserted into the machine (some machines can accommodate up to four trolleys at a time). When the trolleys are in place, the system again uses RFID to verify that all of the feeders and reels are still in the correct position for the product being built. If any reel is found to be in the wrong slot, the machine is instructed not to proceed, and its display screen flashes an alert telling the employee to remove the incorrect reel and install the proper one.

Peter Chipman, director of testing at NBS

During assembly, says Francois Monette, Cogiscan's co-president, each circuit board is printed with a bar-coded serial number that is scanned by a camera mounted on the machine. This enables the company to maintain a record of which board receives components from which reels, as well as where on the board those components are installed, based on the slot in which each reel was placed.

"At the end of the building process, if everything is okay, it [the system] will write all the data into a file with the board's serial number," Chipman says, and the company can then store that information for future reference, in the event that a component fails or is recalled.

Peter Chipman points to a feeder's RFID tag.

"We're starting off by targeting the solution for medical device companies," Chipman states. The company's customers have agreed to pay more for the product, he adds, to offset the cost of the new technology. The system is not designed to save labor hours, Chipman notes, but rather to provide a record of the components installed on any given circuit board. "The price of one lawsuit based on a bad component," he says, would be greater than the cost of the new system.

The company is initially employing the system on one of its five assembly machines, to track data regarding components on circuit boards made specifically for medical device manufacturers. However, Chipman says, if the system continues to work properly, the company intends to install it on all of its assembly machines.