Chemigraphic

The importance of vendor scorecards

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Large OEMs, especially those who’ve grown through acquisition, will have thousands of suppliers, and at some point they will conclude that it’s time to streamline and focus on more strategic partnerships. Suppliers are usually awarded on a best-performing basis, so how do you compare?

Within an organisation there may be many different supplier stakeholders, and these people will have different views and opinions based on their interactions with different departments. Sometimes a decision is made based on intangibles such as a clash of personalities, old or second-hand information, incorrect data, or recent issues that are skewing longer-term performance; bad data entry, inflexibility, or issues where the supplier was not the root cause can also affect decisions. In these situations, vendor scorecards provide not only a way to objectively set and monitor performance but a way to work through issues and strengthen relationships.

Builds more predictable supply-chains

Scorecards provide a way to predict and eliminate risk. Ideally, a supplier should be made aware that their performance will be monitored and measured throughout the term of the contract so there are no surprises when a decision is made. Metrics are based on consistent and regularly scheduled audits or evaluations that are agreed to by both sides. This awareness between both parties are typically part of the contract negotiation phase. With performance data in hand, supply-chain managers can make data-based decisions regarding where to direct spend.

Provides an intuitive, easy to understand dashboard

Vendor scorecards should show data in a consistent and centralised manner, making it easy to make side-by-side reviews. Having an intuitive, easy to understand layout is critically important, otherwise nobody will use it – which defeats the purpose of having a scorecard

Helps build long-term partnerships

Scorecards have limited value taken in isolation: trends are more valuable over longer periods. Harnessing the long-term benefits is actually what makes them a very powerful tool for building, engaged collaborative partnerships. As one of the UK’s top 10 EMS companies, Chemigraphic takes vendor scorecards seriously. We regularly discuss metrics and data with our customers and our performance against an agreed set of KPIs. Through these KPIs we get to understand what’s really important to their organisation. The gains are numerous: formation of common goals, continuous improvement, contractual reviews based on past performance, more targeted and frequent communication, and ultimately the most important of all – greater trust.

Helps define what’s acceptable, what’s not

Typical scorecard measurements include on-time delivery, quality, yield, returns, warranty and communications, along with customer-specific requests. Working through the details of these metrics is very useful, as this will help to determine what’s acceptable or isn’t. On-time delivery, for instance, often leads to differences of opinion. Some OEMs will take a very strict view and penalise for any deviation – no later, but also no earlier. Is there a window of acceptability?

Empirically quantifying performance can have benefits in itself by making poor performance highly visible, but the true value of scorecards comes from cooperation to implement corrective actions. Within EMS suppliers, the performance may not be measurable purely based on internal capabilities; it’s very often subjective at the product level. For example, what’s an acceptable cosmetic appearance? No assembly is 100% visually perfect. A glaring defect in a highly visible surface should be blatant to everyone, but what about a small underside scratch or a minute speckle in a painted finish. Where is the dividing line between what acceptable and not? This is where it can be useful, or even a necessity, to have clearly documented and agreed acceptability criteria.

An EMS does not own a product design, and their extent of liability is “to the defined customer specification”, however, there can be grey areas and one of the most common is a cosmetic standard. For instance, in a plastics moulding process, there will be some visual features and acceptability may be entirely subjective. A small blemish may derive from the core process and is not necessarily a “fault”. Subjective elements can be difficult to quantify outright, but it is possible to define things like surface blemishes by size, type and location. There may be a need to extend this to viewing angles, inspection lighting conditions, viewing distance and levels of magnification. The important point is that there is a definition and agreement of what is and is not acceptable, and this may require adjustment if a selected process or material is simply not able to consistently deliver that output or within a realistic budget.

Points to other factors

Certain data may require further investigation. For example, supplier returns can be a good indicator of supplier performance, but were 100% of the returns valid? Were there defects or issues where the supplier could not be realistically held accountable? Within the complex and fast-paced transactions of a modern manufacturing environment, materials can be ‘put aside’ for a variety of reasons. Over time the pile can accumulate. When someone then eventually addresses this ‘bone-pile’, the original reasons for segregations may be lost and it can be tempting to return to supplier, causing a returns spike.

The effectiveness of a vendor scorecard regime depends on the attitudes and style of the relationship. Ideally, a supplier should commit to a process without getting defensive or obstructive and correspondingly the customer should be able to ensure those metrics captured are fair and accurate and concede when liability is closer to home.

Mind the gap! Small data variations may suggest big problems

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Quality measurement plays a pivotal role in helping drive stability, prosperity and growth – and that’s good for everybody, especially in these uncertain times. Within the details of quality data are small differences – gaps – between predicted and actual results, and a thorough examination of these gaps, even relatively small ones, can point to wider issues of commercial management. Minding these ‘gaps’ goes beyond just collecting quality metrics and conformance data, it’s about getting to the root cause in order to be operationally-efficient and ultimately sustainable, with all the benefits this brings to customers.

We’ll look at a few areas where a rigorous ‘mind the gap’ ethos within commercial management can deliver clear customer advantages.

Scrappy data leads to higher costs

Scrap is the commonly used term for what’s rejected as “non-compliant” after a production job. The usual issues are damaged or faulty items, which can be blatant, but can also include less tangible issues as borderline tolerance issues, temperature or time-dependent failures, failures under one set of circumstances but not another identical situation, and subjective defects, especially cosmetic imperfections. Companies may absorb scrap as an inevitable cost of manufacturing but failing to at least track and investigate the causes of scrap can be a lost opportunity to identify a number of issues: inefficient manufacturing processes, supplier problems, inappropriate or poorly applied acceptability criteria, tooling issues, manual and handling issues or even poor documentation.

We make sure that even relatively small value materials are quarantined and go to a Material Review Board (MRB) that consists of sales, quality, purchasing and production, where a joint decision is made on disposition. The MRB asks questions like:

  • What’s the root cause of this material being segregated and quarantined?
  • Are defects physically repairable? Will the result be fully compliant? Will the repair be acceptable to customer? If not, will the customer concede in this instance. Should we instigate a new repair process?
  • Is there an underlying defect in supplied materials and can this be compensated by the supplier?
  • Is a material truly non-conforming or just sub-optimal? Is the acceptability criteria properly defined and applied?
  • What is the repair cost vs replacement cost vs item value? Are there other strategic reasons for extra efforts for recovery in this instance, e.g. to complete a consignment; no time to source alternatives; a one-off build is inefficient, or other reasons.
  • Is this incidence part of a trend? i.e. the individual part value may be insignificant, but the ongoing accumulated cost could be substantial.
  • Is this incidence an indicator of a wider or more systemic problem? Will the benefits of a corrective action improve capability in other areas?

This MRB process also helps to ensure that standards are correctly interpreted.

Scrapping not only has a direct effect on materials used in production and costs money but there’s time and labour spent dealing with the disposition. Monitoring the scrap data provides opportunities to build leaner manufacturing processes by looking at:

  • Who is handling the materials and how frequently?
  • What are the costs of scrapped materials?
  • Can any parts be salvaged for reuse of return?

Longer job times can actually lead to better business

Every production job has a job time. These may vary enormously – and even on repeat builds job time can vary depending on which operators have been assigned and the batch size. Typically, we put a traffic light system in place to monitor the data. From a commercial management perspective, it’s important to focus on growth and stability and ask questions around the red and amber lights:

  • Why did that job make nothing?
  • Is that a continual loss making job?
  • Was there an excessive amount of scrap on the job?
  • Did we over-run time?
  • Where did that cost occur?

Growth and stability improvements are typically made not from simply replicating sales in the best performing customers but looking at the bottom performing jobs and addressing those issues. By collecting quality data over a long time, it’s possible to determine whether there’s exceptional circumstances or a persistent problem.

The return of the return

Returns under warranty happen for lots of reasons. Where a product doesn’t function in the intended manner due to a fault then it is clear the responsibility lies with the manufacturer and it is their liability to fix the problem. However, a product may ping-pong back and forth between manufacturer and supplier before somebody intervenes to halt the process. By then there may be limited options, having been inspected by both parties without anybody accepting liability. In these instances it remains very important to maintain accurate detailed data.  There might be an underlying quality defect – a board might be delaminating after the components are mounted, for instance. This would be an issue of the materials supplied and in these instances it might be appropriate to address issues of compensation with suppliers.

The age of returns is critical too. Within the complex and fast-paced transactions of a modern manufacturing environment, materials can be put aside for a variety of reasons. Over time the pile can accumulate. When someone eventually addresses this pile of returns, the original reasons for the segregations may be lost and it can be tempting to simply return the goods to the supplier.

Detailed quality data generates lots of opportunities to improve a process. Being mindful of the small gaps in quality data makes a big difference in the long run.

A quality result: placing accuracy at the heart of medical device manufacturing

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Risk management, quality and accuracy are essential in the manufacturing of medical electronic devices. Increasingly stringent regulatory requirements apply to every step of a product’s life cycle, including the design, engineering, service, delivery and returns process.

As new ‘invasive’ devices appear on the market (those that are applied to, or used in, the body) it looks like the level of regulatory scrutiny is set to be turned up yet another notch.

Medical OEMs demand that their EMS partners can demonstrate a comprehensive quality management system. Checks, best practices, monitoring and recording must be embedded into every stage.

Traceability is particularly important, and not just to meet regulatory demands. Medical products must be built exactly to specification – using verified components and with fully defined finishes, battery types, temperature ranges, and so on.

It’s critical that the provenance of each component can be traced and that detailed records are kept of each stage of the manufacturing process. Lot traceability helps contain any issues that arise and ensures that problems are not spread.

ISO 13485 (2016)

ISO 13485 (2016)

The international agreed standard that sets out the specific requirements for a quality management system that meets the rigorous needs of the medical devices industry is ISO 13485 (Medical devices – Quality management systems – Requirements for regulatory purposes).

The latest version of this was published in March 2016. Unsurprisingly it places a greater emphasis on risk management and risk-based decision making, as well as increasing the regulatory requirements for managing the supply chain.

When Chemigraphic successfully transitioned to the new 2016 version, our NPI and sales director, John Johnston, commented:

“It’s a huge privilege for us to be involved with some of the most pioneering medical projects in the world, something we take great pride in.

In order for us to deliver the very best for our customers, it’s vital that we take quality and processes extremely seriously.

Standards such as the ISO 13485:2016 are an excellent mark of our commitment to quality, allowing us to credibly demonstrate our excellence in medical electronics manufacturing.”

Let’s take a look at how Chemigraphic is placing quality, accuracy and safety at the heart of its electronic manufacturing services for medical device OEMs.

5 critical questions medical device OEMs need to ask their EMS partner

We adopt a quality mindset.

The focus on quality permeates our culture, every level of our organisation. Every aspect of our manufacturing process is analysed continuously – and risk management informs our design, engineering, testing and supply chain decisions.

Here are 5 questions that you can ask any potential EMS partner to assess their suitability for your medical device production.

  1. Do you take a proactive approach toward quality management systems? Specifically, are you positioned to respond to likely regulatory or market changes?

New developments in Industry 4.0 practices, including the Internet of Things (IoT) and machine-to-machine (M2M) communication, are helping us to deliver a more seamless and ‘mistake proof’ production process.

What’s more, should a manufacturing issue come to light later, our technology can quickly and effectively isolate the products that must be recalled.

By integrating data more comprehensively into our quality management systems, we have greatly enhanced our accuracy and responsiveness.

  1. How well can you support my risk management requirements?

Real-time notification and preventive or corrective action workflows enable us to efficiently communicate issues, streamline collaborative activities and resolve problems quickly and effectively.

At key test stations we use camera-based system verification, X-rays or automatic optical inspection (AOI) to double-check placement of materials at levels the human eye cannot identify. This allows us to compare derailed visual information against known valid characteristics of a medical device to verify the product’s quality.

  1. Are your quality control measures apparent at every stage of manufacture – and, just as importantly, are they comprehensively recorded and responded to?

We embed procedures, steps, checks and balances into everything we do. Our continual closed loop feedback system ensures a highly reliable, high quality and repeatable product.

  1. What does an analysis of your pass yields and data matrices reveal?

Our detailed data matrices document quality measures, progress levels and information about the various stages of the surface-mount technology assembly process, including testing.

They reveal, at a glance, exactly what we monitor and measure to determine if quality is being met.

  1. Do you have test strategies suitable for the rigorous requirements of medical electronics sub-assembly?

The capabilities to conduct the most suitable test is critical in ensuring quality for medical devices. The testing criteria that we can deploy includes full functional, flying probe and in-circuit testing (ICT).

Find out more about our quality-centred approach to medical device manufacturing

To find out about any of the products we have helped OEMs launch into the medical market – or to discover how we place quality at the centre of all we do – call our team on +44 (0) 1293 543517.

Wear it’s at: the manufacturing challenges of wearable technology

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John Johnston, NPI Director, Chemigraphic

Wearable tech has come of age.

Most of the heavy-lifting has already been done, which is why so many start-ups are keen to use their focus and agility to bring new wearable products to market.

Multiple technology and component solutions are already in place, so there’s no need for a huge R&D budget or large resource team.

Start-up OEMs can now focus on innovation. They can develop a prototype and then rely on the skills, knowledge and network of an EMS partner to overcome the manufacturing challenges posed by wearable devices.

There are three key challenges:

  1. What works for small-scale design validation and prototyping may not translate smoothly to a volume ready manufacturing process.
  2. There is a risk of enduring a lifetime of sub-optimal manufacturing efficiency if you’re not aware of all the options available for materials, components and build. These need to be implemented at the beginning for the best results.
  3. Unnecessary costs and delays can be incurred if you lack access to a reliable network of specialist suppliers in an effective supply chain.

The wearables market

watch tracker

Wearables burst on the scene with the fitness tracker boom in recent years but such simple tech has quickly run its course, to be replaced by more sophisticated alternatives.

As the market has developed it has matured: more complex devices such as smartwatches now dominate and specialist devices aimed at the military and industrial market are proliferating.  Other key sectors for this technology are medical, where applications include condition monitoring systems such as heart rate trackers and industrial, in which human-machine interfaces such as augmented reality vision systems are used.

  • The global market is now worth £10.2m.
  • It’s growing at a healthy 6% each year.
  • China is far and away the largest market, followed by USA and India.

Sensors and switches

‘From an electromechanical perspective, a wristwatch and a smartwatch are polar opposites and require a different design. Contact and operability are of paramount importance for smartwatches: they must provide a satisfying, tactile experience, a high life-cycle and a consistency of operation.’ Eric Ewing, Senior Product Manager at Panasonic

The more ‘smart’ functions you incorporate into your device, the more important your position and choice of switches and sensors becomes.

For sensors, they must be placed incredibly accurately – and tested extensively – to ensure they are sensitive enough to relay accurate data that can be transferred to other devices.

For switches on devices worn on the head, such as listening devices and smart glasses, a light actuation force is required. However, for easily accessible wearables that are within the user’s direct field of vision, a high actuation force is needed to avoid operating errors from knocks and bumps.

Protection and flexibility

Tactile switches for wearables also need to be able to work properly in different environments over many years. Worn close to the skin the salt contained in sweat is a major threat to unprotected components, but protection is also required against water, damp, moisture and dust penetration.

The components must be fitted to withstand the inevitable knocks and bumps of daily life – but they must also be encased in flexible materials that stretch and adapt.

Wearables demand a manufacturing partner who can creatively respond to restrictions on how components can be used and where they can be placed. To avoid costly changes late in the manufacturing process, early engagement is critical.

Beyond electronics themselves, successful material selection for wearables requires experience in working with products where hygiene, sterilisation, durability, adjustability, waterproofing and stain resistance are all factors in play.

  

Batteries, charging and connectivity

Battery life is one of the biggest challenges for wearable tech. Space is limited, so the more efficient the electronics the better. This also means that the user will be less likely to suffer discomfort through heat.

Lithium ion is the preferred battery option for longer life from a smaller space. This hazardous material can cause issues for transport, shipping, handling and storage. And at least two big names – Samsung and FitBit – can attest that the risk to users should not be taken lightly either.

Wearable devices tend to use Bluetooth for connectivity rather than Wi-Fi. Tests have shown that Bluetooth technology can use 3% of the energy required by Wi-Fi.

Wear it’s at

Wearable tech is a growing market. Beyond the consumer market, sectors such as medical, military and industrial are increasingly relying on IoT-enabled wearables.

Potentially, manufacturing and supply chain considerations still pose significant challenges to OEMs. These are challenges that the best EMS providers have been meeting for a long time.

Engage early and you’ll be wearing a smile. 

The challenges facing unmanned vehicle design

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Unmanned vehicles are in the news again

Just before Christmas 2018, hundreds of flights were cancelled at Gatwick Airport following reports of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) – or drones as they are better known – being repeatedly sighted near the runway.

For three days there were 140,000 passengers and over 1,000 flights affected but, despite strong police and military involvement, no credible suspects are yet to be identified.

Unmanned vehicles in themselves are nothing new

Even if we just consider UAVs – as opposed to unmanned sea vehicles (USVs) or unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) – history tells us that unmanned vehicles (UVs) are not a recent invention.

Nearly 170 years ago the earliest recorded UAV flight was when the Austrian military attacked Venice using unmanned balloons with baskets stuffed with explosives.

UVs remained the preserve of the military for many years. By 1916 the US created the first pilotless aircraft for use in World War One and it was rolling out the first remote-controlled during World War Two.

Until the 80s drones were still largely considered an unreliable and expensive toy, but Israel’s UAV-led victory over Syria in 1982 changed this.

UVs are the disruptive tech par excellence

UVs are set to transform our society – our military capabilities, our industrial operations, our commercial services and our daily life.

It still remains true that today many of the most notable drone flights have been conducted for military purposes.

But not for long.

Goldman Sachs predicts that by 2020, 30% of what is estimated to be a $100 billion global UAV market will be consumer or commercial rather than military.

Already drones are widely used for agriculture, aerial photography, geodesy, law enforcement, advertising and building safety.

In the near future UAV taxis may be on the cards, Amazon has been publicly investigating UAV deliveries since 2014 and drones may emit radio/video signals – or other forms of bandwidth – for connectivity in rural areas.

Meanwhile, under the ocean and across the roughest of terrains…

UV potential is already widely used by oceanographers and the oil and gas industries to carry out work in depths that would create a host of problems for manned sea vehicles. In the surf zone and on land, UGVs are used to scan and neutralise mines. Across difficult terrain, they are reducing operational demand for troops travelling cross-country and in commercial plants, they are used for surveillance.

In fact, UVs in general tend to be used to accomplish the 3 ‘D’s – work that is too dull (or repetitive), dirty or dangerous for humans to carry out.

And herein lies one of the biggest challenges for OEMs when they begin to design UVs.

The design challenge of UVs

An experienced, quality EMS partner will reduce manufacturing risk, increase operational efficiencies and overcome technical challenges for OEMs entering the UV market.

Typically, UVs are put to use in hazardous – or at least challenging environments.

  • UGVs must withstand the knocks and bumps of rugged terrain
  • USVs often operate in deep sea environments and must withstand intense atmospheric pressure and the corrosive force of salt water
  • Surf zone mine sweepers face the risk of explosions and the pounding force of the ocean as they prepare the way for troops

To design UVs that can withstand such situations an in-depth understanding of suitable casings is essential, as is the ability to pack a lot of functions into a small space.

Many UVs are reliant on as large a battery as possible to deliver sufficient operating times. And the larger the battery the more compact the space for other essential electronics.

Rapid improvements in battery technology mean that the energy density of lithium-ion batteries is improving by 5 to 8 percent every year: their lifespan is expected to double by 2025.

But system integration can unlock equally mission critical doors for UVs as their power sources can.

System integration is vital for designing efficient, effective and robust UVs. It takes a specialist EMS partner to skillfully design and integrate custom PCB assembly with sub-assemblies and modules, enclosure design, fabrication, cabling and wiring.

All these elements are used to create complex, multi-tier systems that marry robotic functionality with vehicular design. And each design is made ready through testing, software, programming and calibration.

Factors such as size and weight are critical here – but so too is longevity, resistance to environmental forces and reliability. Materials must be selected to offer protective enclosures that are able to withstand factors such as immense pressure, intense heat, corrosive forces and jolts, impacts and explosions.

Yet, these rugged exterior and interior casings must protect incredibly complex and intricate electronics that are at the forefront of developments in navigation, control systems, robotics, communication and connectivity.

Where IoT capabilities are employed for security or data collection, it is also vital that the electronics are not only robust enough to handle challenging environments but also offer maximum security and defence against cyber-attacks.

All of these layers of complexity call for a specialist EMS partner – and for one who can confidently prototype for successful and effortless integration into wider systems.

Why choose Chemigraphic as your UV EMS partner?

Chemigraphic has been supporting complementary market sectors that include the oil and gas industry, aviation, aerospace, military and transport for many years. Our knowledge of and experience in designing, assembling and fulfilling products destined for hostile and challenging environments means we can help you design, prototype, and run rigorous tests to ensure reliability and the best possible results for your UV.

Feature photo by Lance Cpl. Rhita Daniel.

Four critical questions to ask your EMS provider about your data’s security

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We live in a connected world.

The Internet of Things (IoT), the ubiquity of data and the Fourth Industrial Revolution deliver gains in productivity and efficiency through connections across the manufacturing sector.

Yet the same connections that strengthen us could also weaken us: as our shared data becomes more powerful it could prove to be our Achilles heel.

And it’s the weak link in the chain that hackers are increasingly keen to exploit.

The importance of security for electronic manufacturing

Recent concerns have highlighted how security threats could derail the application and uptake of IoT.

A study released by Hewlett-Packard discovered that 70% of the most commonly used IoT devices contain at least some vulnerabilities.

A review of these breaches led a contributor to New Electronics to bemoan that ‘vendors are repeatedly failing to apply simple security best practise and are exposing their customers to attack.’

The article goes on to list ten common security breaches, among which it includes issues with the hardware itself.

  • Unnecessary functions such as debug ports are left in place creating potential routes in for hackers.
  • Devices are under-utilising security mechanisms such as BGA (Ball Grid Array) packages which, when combined with good PCB design, make it harder to tap into signals.

But these concerns about security are not just about the end-products but can be found in the manufacturing process itself.

Here are some of the stories that have hit the headlines in the last few years:

  • Electronics manufacturer Foxconn was breached by a hacktivist group that released every employee’s login information.
  • Boeing was compromised repeatedly for four years by foreign nationalists trying to steal defence program manufacturing plans.
  • In Japan, Korea and Germany manufacturers have been targeted by hackers, believed to be from China, trying to access IP data, trade secrets and blueprints.

And here’s a story that did not make quite such a big splash but is even more alarming.

  • 48% of UK manufacturers have been subject to a cyber-attack – and half of these businesses suffered either financial loss or disruption to business as a result.
  • Manufacturing is now the third-most targeted sector for attacks by hackers.

These shocking statistics are from a report on cyber-security for manufacturers, published by EEF and AIG and carried out by the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI).

It goes on to suggest that this threat will only deepen with increasing digitisation – and notes that 91% of manufacturers are investing in digital technologies.

The report also found that across the manufacturing sector cyber security maturity levels are ‘highly varied’ both in terms of awareness of the cyber security challenge and the implementation of appropriate risk mitigation measures.

Which suggests there are many weak links in the supply chain out there.

Critical questions to ask your EMS provider

The good news for electronic manufacturers is that GDPR has helped to focus minds. Manufacturers are increasingly willing to question their suppliers to ensure adequate security procedures are in place.

The EFF/AIG report found that 58% of manufacturers have been asked to demonstrate or guarantee the robustness of their cyber-security processes by a business within their own supply chain.

Worryingly, 42% haven’t.

And of even more concern is that 37% of manufacturers admitted they would be unable to do this if asked today.

If you are looking for an EMS provider to partner with here are four critical questions you should ask about their security arrangements.

(We’ve provided our own answers after each one.)

1/ How do you ensure the security of your customer’s product data?

  • Our data is stored in a protected area that has restricted access.
  • Data is only ever distributed on a need to know basis.
  • Our network has strict access controls, with verification required at each level of security.
  • We do not outsource any area of your PCB assembly – to ensure there is no risk of compromise from this.
  • We manage our supply chain robustly, establishing long-term relationships and always ensuring Non-Disclosure Agreements are in place where needed.

2/ How do you ensure security on-site?

  • Our site has controlled access – this extends to each facility and internal area.
  • We carefully manage any contractors on site – access to customer data is never granted to anyone not employed by Chemigraphic.
  • The data itself is stored in a vault storage.
  • We have access-controlled IT server rooms.

3/ How do you manage your supply chain to ensure data security?

  • As the outsourced manufacturing partner to our customers, we take full responsibility for the entire manufacturing process and the management of any suppliers and materials within it.
  • We source excellent materials using only reputable partners.
  • We have enhanced inspection and qualification procedures for new parts to minimise the risk of counterfeit parts with security feature defects or malicious designs.
  • We undertake supplier site security audits if necessary – especially for overseas suppliers.
  • All employees and contractors are thoroughly screened.
  • If you prefer, we can work only from UK sources.
  • We discretely manage customer information, including the restriction of signage and non-publicity clauses etc.
  • We offer segregated materials storage and build areas – and we can provide a dedicated restricted-access area for security-conscious customers.

4/ Can you show me an example of a project of yours that had high security requirements?

Sure.

This case study of our work with a cyber-security sector customer is just one example of a project we’ve delivered where customer data and through processes were highly important.

Ask us about your data’s security with us

Everything we do is governed by robust processes. These are designed to meet exacting standards of security while delivering optimal efficiency and consistently excellent results.

We believe that through intelligent planning, proper process and strict control, anything can be achieved.

If you’d like to know more about how we ensure your data is safe and secure with us, don’t hesitate to ask or take a look at why we stand out from the crowd.

From art to science – the development of the PCB

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We recently outlined the evolution of the PCB after it emerged to replace point to point connections on a chassis in the years following World War II.

Here we’d like to trace the key moments in recent years that our brief history did not allow us space for.

As we chart how the manufacture of PCBs transformed from an art to a highly-specialised science we pinpoint five decisive moments that have kick-started their development in recent decades.

In the beginning

The earliest PCBs were very much works of art.

Etched by hand, they owed more to technology from artwork reproduction than to high tech.

To create these circuits copper-clad boards were used. The artwork was hand-drawn, and once the track layout was defined, it was printed onto the board as an etch-resist mask. Acid was next used to etch away the exposed copper before another chemical removed the etch resist.

Although we would still recognise the circuit board produced today, the process of producing it had its roots squarely in methods that had long been used in printing and artwork reproduction.

These processes have changed much since the tech breakthroughs and the manufacturing and electronic development that came to a head in the 1990s.

Here are just five of the ways that PCB manufacture was transformed from an art to a science.

The multilayer breakthrough thanks to via

It was in the 1990s that the use of multilayer surface boards became more frequent, allowing for greater complexity and speed.

The inevitable reduction in size of PCBs allowed them to be incorporated into a wider range of designs and devices.

What  the introduction of blind via and buried via permitted was connection on different layers through copper-plated holes functioning as an electrical tunnel through the insulating substrate. In the past connection through layers had been allowed using plated thru-barrels, but these created an obstacle to connections to every other layer.

The result, following the introduction of via technology in 1995, was the production of High-Density Interconnect (HDI) PCBs.

These could accommodate a much denser design on the PCB and allowed the use of significantly smaller components. With multilayer HDI PCBs reliability is enhanced in all conditions, which is why the most common applications for HDI technology are computer, mobile phone components, medical equipment and military communication devices.

Via have continued to evolve, with the recent emergence of micro-via, a specific type of small via which is used on particularly high-layer-count, densely populated PCBs, which are typically performing some form of high-speed number crunching.

Leadless components and the shrinking PCB

As we’ve seen PCBs really started to shrink in the 1990s (and they haven’t stopped since). Alongside the use of micro-vias we also saw the advent of leadless component designs, such as BGAs, uBGAs, chip-scale packages and so on.

These paved the way for integrated circuits with more gates which ushered in the start of successfully embedding memories and Systems on Chip (SoC) together.

Leadless packages save space by keeping the contact points in a matrix underneath the component instead of squeezed side-by-side around their perimeter. This extra space is crucial for applications like mobile devices, tablets and wearables, where every millimetre counts.

However, leadless packages also have a great deal of mechanical strength, so they don’t separate from PCBs as easily. This is thanks to their high contact area to package ratio which allows them to withstand a great deal of pulling and shear forces.

Since leadless devices are suspended on a matrix of underside solder spheres rather that soldered pins around the perimeter, manufacturing and inspection techniques need to be much more sophisticated, but the space-efficiency and reliability benefits are compelling.

Flexible circuits transform PCB designs

It was, again, in the 1990s that flexible circuits really made their presence felt, although their history can be traced all the way back to the birth of the PCB itself.

With the first PCB manufactured by Paul Eisler less than a decade old, we find a published exploration by Cledo Brunetti and Roger W. Curtis in 1947 of creating circuits on flexible insulating materials. Indeed, by the 1950s Victor Dahlgren and Royden Sanders had already made significant advances in actually developing processes that could print and etch flat conductors on flexible base materials.

Today, flexible circuits are produced by mounting electronic devices on flexible plastic substrates (such as polyimide, PEEK or transparent conductive polyester film) or by screen printing silver circuits on polyester.

They offer several advantages for many applications. These include their potential to replace multiple rigid boards, their suitability for dynamic and high-flex applications and their ability to be stacked in various configurations.

You will find them in:

  • Tightly assembled electronic packages, where electrical connections are required in three axes, such as cameras.
  • Electrical connections where the assembly is required to flex, such as folding mobile phones and laptop screen hinges.
  • Connections between sub-assemblies to replace the bulky and heavy wire harness, such as in cars, laptops, rockets and satellites.
  • Electrical connections where board thickness, weight or space constraints are important factors.

The finishes that created new beginnings for the PCB

The range of finishes that have been introduced into PCB manufacture over the last 20 years has also greatly enhanced their suitability for use in a number of applications.

The finish is applied to ensure solderability and to create the base of electronic connection between board and device. But, the correct surface finish selection can also affect PCB reliability – and the introduction of new finishes has greatly enhanced their reliability under a number of different conditions.

  • HASL

The traditional finish is Hot Air Solder Levelling (HASL) but this is now increasingly being replaced by lead-free HASL.

All HASL finishes prevent oxidation from the underlying copper but the process causes high stress on the PCB and this can diminish its long-term reliability. The process is also not suitable for HDI PCBs.

  • ENIG

ENIG (Electroless Nickel Immersion Gold) offers a great alternative – but one that comes with a price tag.

Ideal for fine pitch, flat surfaces, ENIG perfectly suits the modern-day HDI PCB. It can, however, carry undesirable magnetic properties and is prone to a build-up of phosphorous that may cause faulty connections and fractured surfaces.

  • OSP

OSP (Organic Solderability Preservative) is a finish that can be considered for fine pitches, BGA and small components. In addition, it is less expensive than ENIG and highly repairable, but it is difficult to test and has a limited shelf life of six months.

The rise of the exotic substrate

PCB manufacture has over the years gradually settled on the glass epoxy laminate of FR-4 as its preferred material.

There is good reason for this – in terms of performance and affordability – but we have, in recent times, seen the introduction of a number of alternatives. These ceramic and metallic substrates are often suited to specialist applications, such as those requiring performance in conditions of high temperature and high power.

They include:

  • Aluminium
    Used for parts requiring significant cooling, such as power switches and LEDs.
  • Kapton
    A polyimide foil used for flexible printed circuits that is resistant to high temperatures.
  • FR-5
    Woven fiberglass and epoxy offering high strength at higher temperatures.
  • G-10
    Woven glass and epoxy offering high insulation resistance, low moisture absorption and very high bond strength.
  • G-11
    Woven glass and epoxy offering high resistance to solvents as well as high flexural strength retention at high temperatures.
  • RF-35
    Fiberglass-reinforced ceramics-filled PTFE (Teflon) offering good mechanical and high-frequency properties.
  • Polyimide
    A high-temperature polymer offering excellent performance that can be used from cryogenic temperatures to over 260 °C.

The return of the art of the PCB

The diversity of today’s PCB technology requires an artist to create the perfect board for each device, application and customer.

Chemigraphic has the broad expertise and capability in each specialist area to understand and decide which technology and processes will create the right PCB for your requirements and budget.

How is 3D printing freeing up design space?

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“If by some miracle some prophet could describe the future exactly as it was
going to take place, his predictions would sound so absurd, so far-fetched that everyone would laugh him to scorn.”
Arthur C. Clarke, author, speaking in 1964

Science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke went on from making this observation to describe the forthcoming advent of 3D printing.

And, sure enough, it came to pass.

Today, as 3D printing quite literally breaks the design and manufacturing mould across a range of sectors, it’s time to assess its true impact and where it may take us next.

The path that 3D printing has taken bears very little resemblance to what the prophets foresaw. Throughout the early years of the new millennium, futurists prophesised it would usher in a new consumer society. In this brave new world, the need to visit shops to buy things would be gone – and so too would the need to rely on online retailers’ massive warehouses to deliver our goods.

Soon, we were told, we would all be downloading a design file to our personal 3D printer and manufacturing our products – exactly as we wanted them to be – from the comfort of our homes.

Of course, this consumer revolution never happened.

However, a sea-change is quietly washing over the design, manufacturing and production sectors, one that is not deluded tech fantasy, but very real indeed.

Richard Hague, professor of innovative manufacturing at the University of Nottingham, compares the hype and reality of 3D printing with the dotcom crash of the late 90s.

“There were all these expectations about what the internet would do, and then the hype disappeared. But meanwhile, in the background, people were forging ahead, and actually some major industries emerged after that point. I think that’s where we are now.”

We’re going to look in more detail in our next blog at how 3D printing has led to additive manufacturing. We’ll chart how its disruptive potential is transforming the processes used – and products made – by sectors as diverse as medical, military, automotive, aerospace and electronics.

First, though, in this blog we’re going to highlight how 3D printing has also been freeing up the design space in which new products can be imagined and then tested.

3D printing and design

Let’s start with the basics.

There are a number of ways to print in 3D, but all are based on creating a digital model as a physical three-dimensional object by the gradual addition of material a layer at a time.

It is this process of addition that makes 3D printing a radically different way of manufacturing. Traditional technologies are based on subtraction from materials (such as CNC machining) or forming these existing materials (such as injection moulding).

One of the key benefits of 3D printing is that no special tooling or moulds are required – and this leads to many of the benefits we discuss below and in our next blog.

The 3D printing process is initiated directly from the digital model that forms the blueprint of the manufactured object. This model is sliced by the printer’s software into incredibly thin, 2-D layers and these are translated into the machine language (G-code) that the printer executes.

It is at this stage that 3D printers differ in their operation. For example, desktop FDM printers melt plastic filaments that are laid down through a nozzle, whereas large industrial SLS machines use lasers to melt (or sinter) thin layers of metal or plastic powders.

For more information about 3D printing technologies, this excellent guide from 3D Hubs details the differences.

Despite the possible production speeds of as little as four hours, it’s important to note that 3D printed parts often require some post-processing (usually manual) to achieve the desired level of finish.

3D printing and design benefits

Generally speaking, 3D printing is the best option when:

  • A single (or only a few) parts are required
  • A quick turnaround time and a low-cost is needed
  • When the part geometry cannot be produced with any other manufacturing technology
  • When high material requirements and tight tolerances for functional parts are not essential

Faster verification of designs

One of the main advantages of 3D printing is undoubtedly the speed at which parts can be produced compared to traditional manufacturing methods. The lead time on an injection moulding die alone can be a finger-tapping matter of weeks.

Complex designs can be uploaded from a CAD model and printed in a matter of hours. This offers designers rapid verification of design ideas.

It cuts out the need to create tools to create parts and also places the capabilities of production within the working space of the designer themselves – as opposed to at a plant that may be geographically remote from them.

Efficiencies

3D printing allows designers to manufacture products and parts as efficiently as possible, cutting down on the number of manufacturing steps required by traditional technologies. These may include cutting, welding, polishing, drilling, mounting, sandblasting, priming and painting. 3D printing can complete all these steps as one, with no interaction from the machine operator.

Cost-savings for prototypes

Particularly where labour costs are concerned, 3D printing can slash the design costs for manufacturing prototypes.

Post-processing aside, the majority of 3D printers only require an operator to press a button. Compared to traditional manufacturing’s reliance on highly skilled machinists, the labour costs for a 3D printer barely register.

This means that for the creation of prototypes that verify the form and fit of a product, 3D printing is significantly cheaper than other methods.

Freeing up design space

The restrictions of traditional manufacturing on what can and can’t be made hold much less relevance for 3D printing. Design requirements such as draft angles, undercuts and tool access do not apply to designers using additive manufacture.

This gives designers a large amount of design freedom and enables the creation of very complex geometries.

Customisation

Another freedom that 3D printing allows is the ability to completely customise designs. As additive manufacturing technologies excel in building single parts one at a time, they are perfectly suited for one-off production of unique, bespoke designs.

Source: Wired 

This ability has transformed the medical and dental industry to realise the manufacture of custom prosthetics, implants and dental aids. High-level sporting gear can now be tailored to fit an athlete perfectly and the fashion industry is also proving quick to realise the custom design benefits of 3D printing.

Source: 3D natives

The brave new world of 3D printing

We opened with a quote from Arthur C. Clarke suggesting that prophets of the future risk appearing ‘so far-fetched that everyone laughs them to scorn’.

The design benefits of 3D printing are not far-fetched hype: they are here, they are happening and they are making a real difference to the world we live in.

In our next blog we’ll look at how these benefits are not only transforming design but manufacture itself.

A short history of the PCB

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As PCBs increasingly shrink in size, their capabilities, power and importance continue to grow.

Space travel, the consumer electronics boom and many ground-breaking (and life-saving) medical devices are quite simply unimaginable without the humble PCB.

The world market for blank PCBs exceeded $60 billion for the first time in 2014 – and it’s estimated to reach nearly $80 billion by 2024.

Let’s review how we got here – and where we might be going – with a short history of the PCB.

A short history of the PCB

Point-to-point precursors

Before the development of PCBs, circuits were wired point-to-point on a chassis.

This was usually made from a sheet metal frame with a wooden bottom. Insulators connected the components to the chassis and their leads were connected by soldering.

They worked – but they also left a lot to be desired. They were large, bulky, heavy and relatively fragile, not to mention being incredibly labour-intensive and costly to produce.

Early innovators point to the way forward

At the turn of the 20th century a number of innovations began to pave the way for the PCB – but it would take 36 years for these to coalesce into the PCB as we know and love it.

In 1903 Albert Hanson filed a British patent for a device described as a flat, foil conductor on an insulating board with multiple layers and the next year Thomas Edison experimented with various chemical methods to plate conductors onto linen paper.

By 1913 Arthur Berry was busy in the UK filing a patent that described a print-and-etch method while, across the pond, Max Shoop obtained a US patent for flame-spraying metal onto a board through a patterned mask.

We were getting closer – but there was still no cigar.

The first real breakthrough moment must be awarded to Charles Ducas.

He applied to the US Patent Office in 1927 to protect his method of electroplating circuit patterns. The process he used placed an electronic path directly onto an insulated surface. Copper wires were not yet available for these printed wire circuits, so the first almost-recognisable PCB was made from brass wires.

The music printing industry creates the first PCB

Closely resembling a PCB, Ducas’ electroplated circuits were only intended to be used as a flat heating coil. There was no actual electrical connectivity between board and components, but it was only going to be a matter of time until this was realised.

And it was realised by an Austrian engineer on the run from the Nazis. Working in the English music printing industry, Paul Eisler developed his PCBs partly while in jail as an illegal alien.

It was in 1936 that Eisler first produced a PCB as part of a radio. Eisler’s dream was to use the printing process to allow electronic circuits to be laid onto an insulating base in high volumes. At the time, the hand-soldered circuit wires were error-prone and not easily scalable.

The demands of war led to the PCB’s wider adoption

It wasn’t until 1943 that Eisler’s dream became a reality. In 1943 the USA began using his technology on the scale he envisioned to manufacture proximity fuses for use in World War II.

After the war, in 1948, the US military released their innovations into commercial use and the stage was set for a much wider adoption of PCBs.

Despite this, printed circuits did not become commonplace in consumer electronics until the mid-1950s. It was in the baby boomer years that the auto-assembly process developed by the United States Army Signal Corps allowed for much faster creation of PCBs.

This process was developed by Moe Abramson and Stanislaus F. Danko in 1949. It used component leads inserted into a copper foil interconnection pattern and dip soldering to speed things up.

This concept, complemented by board lamination and etching techniques, remains the standard PCB fabrication process used today. It solved once and for all the time-consuming demands and high costs of through-hole construction, which required holes to be drilled through the PCB for the wires of every component.

 

Multilayer PCBs and Surface Mount Technology

The rise in popularity of multilayer PCBs with more than two, and especially with more than four, copper planes was concurrent with the adoption of Surface Mount technology (SMT).

This began in the 1960s but it wasn’t until the 1980s that it was fully adopted as standard.

SMT was developed by IBM, and the densely packed components it allowed found their first practical use in the Saturn rocket boosters.

Throughout the 1970s, the circuitry and overall size of the boards were shrinking in size.

Components were mechanically redesigned to be soldered directly onto the PCB surface – and hot air soldering methods helped achieve this.

As components became smaller, they were increasingly placed on both sides of the board, allowing for much smaller PCB assemblies with higher circuit densities.

Surface mounting lends itself well to a high degree of automation, reducing labour costs and greatly increasing production rates.

 

Gerber and EDA in the 1980s

 

Despite these developments, many PCBs were still being drawn by hand with a light board and stencils until the 1980s.

The arrival of computers and EDA software, such as Protel and Eagle, was about to completely change the design and manufacture of PCBs.

Today designs are saved as Gerber text files and these coordinates are fed directly into the manufacturing machinery.

The HDI era of the 1990s

In 1995 we saw the first use of micro-via technology in PCB production, introducing the era of High Density Interconnect (HDI) PCBs.

HDI technology allowed for a denser design on the PCB and significantly smaller components. As a result, components can be closer and the paths between them shorter.

This is achieved through the use of blind (or buried) vias or microvias, which offers enhanced reliability and lower costs, especially for multilayer PCBs. HDI technology is particularly favoured for computer, mobile phones, medical and military equipment.

And into the future

Which brings us bang up to date.

But why stop there?

The incredible advances of the last 80 years show no signs of slowing.

In fact, the opposite: Moore’s law is far from being repealed, despite what you may have heard.

Here’s just a few of the forthcoming PCB features that will drive new capabilities and developments.

  • Recent advances in 3D printing, using liquid inks that contains electronic functionalities, are leading to several applications for PCB manufacture.
  • The increased use of integrated circuit chips to deliver millions of tiny resistors, capacitors, and transistors fabricated on a semiconductor wafer.
  • The space-saving benefits and electrical performance benefits offered by package on package (POP) and embedded component techniques
  • Greater environmental awareness is spearheading research into the possibility of adopting PCBs made from paper
  • As medical technology look to create an endless feedback loop between patient, doctor and device flexible circuitry for wearables looks set to drive innovation
  • Photonics and PCB are inching closer and herald efficiency, miniaturisation and flexibility on a scale previously unimaginable, as photons, rather than electrons, are used to route electrical signals.
  • Wave technology may even replace the need for a physical medium to connect components – these are copper-less PCBs for a wireless age

How to frontload the manufacturing process for electronic NPIs

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How to frontload the manufacturing process for NPIs – and avoid a lot of heavy lifting later

John Johnston, NPI Director, Chemigraphic

Let’s be blunt: DfM (Design for Manufacture) is not something you can bolt-on after the fact.

It simply has to be there from the start. Once a design is released to production, and especially after it has been validated for regulatory compliance, then design change costs can be prohibitive. There is often a singular, and closing, window of DfM opportunity that must be grasped to avoid later complications.

Working closely with an EMS partner from the earliest possible stage ensures that both manufacturing and supply chain considerations are factored into your designs.

And it means they are factored in before there are major cost and time implications.

Frontloading manufacturing concerns is not an additional barrier to faster completion.

In fact, it’s quite the opposite.

Through earlier consideration you cut down on the number of costly design re-starts that may be needed later in the manufacturing process – and you get your end-product to market faster.

By getting a manufacturing supplier involved early on in your design process it allows us to gain a clear understanding of your business objectives and to marry these to the development of your product. This allows you to identify and eliminate potential pitfalls and delays before they arise.

Of course, it’s not all about avoiding problems. It’s also about creating better products.

Through early stage involvement your EMS partner can also ensure optimal efficiency is achieved through practical and often seemingly minor changes. Such adjustments can deliver substantial tangible benefits without affecting your product’s quality or adding cost to it.

Although an individual design amendment may make modest savings if taken in isolation, this benefit is of course enjoyed for every item ever made, over the entire lifetime of that product.  This often becomes embedded into normal practice that then percolates into other designs thereafter, making the “accumulation of marginal gains” very significant indeed.

Not all design changes in the electronics industry are caused by issues directly related to the manufacturing process.

Even the most perfectly designed piece of electronics, presenting zero fabrication, regulatory or inspection issues, can create critical delays and costly substitutions if components are not sustainably available.

Unexpected breaks in the supply chain are, in today’s environment, an ever-larger threat.

Product design engineers are often focused on component selection to achieve the desired functional performance and sometimes struggle to see beyond the immediate prototype or small-batch production stages.

A high-capability EMS partner can offer valuable input to help create selections that are also sustainable and cost effective, addressing future requirements when the product ramps into eventual production volumes or off-shore manufacturing locations.

A proactive EMS approach can also widen options to include considerations such as component packaging- selecting functional equivalents that are available in “machine friendly” packaging formats. This then means that automated assembly options can be applied for further cost, efficiency and removal of any risk of human error, considerations which can be overlooked by product design engineers.

The marketplace for components can be fraught with historical supplier mergers and takeovers so an EMS specialist who has oversight of all a marketplace dynamics can often offer advice regarding parts which are exactly the same and built in the same factory, but have different branding and no unnecessary price premiums attached.

However, there should never be any requirement to compromise product integrity by going to dubious or unqualified sources. Any short-term cost benefits can be massively outweighed by eventual corrective measures when things go wrong.

Reviewing the risk of obsolescence is very much a part of designing for the realities of manufacture. These supply chain breaks may be due to:

  • Changes in distribution
  • Components being placed end of life
  • Stocks being allocated as they run low
  • Or mergers and acquisitions creating ever-widening ripples.

Regardless of the reason, it’s possible to avoid many problems through early discussions with your chosen EMS partner.

With the benefit of strong supplier relationships, deeper visibility of component availability over a product’s lifecycle can be gained and, with stronger buying power, availability and price stability can be ensured.

It’s because the frontloading of manufacture and supply chain concerns are so critical to the success and profitability of your designs that we launched our dedicated design centre.

The centre provides an injection of skilled, engineering resources to ensure your designs can be efficiently optimised at the proposal stage.

We offer you the benefit of our 30 multi-disciplined engineers to positively enhance your product development process. There’s a collaborative NPI Ideas Area for you at our Crawley headquarters, where NPIs can be discussed with our manufacturing experts at concept, design and later stages.

We also have an NPI Development Workspace which allows emerging designs to be assembled outside of the normal production environment. This is ideal for processes to be trialled and working models to be constructed, even if it is a start-stop nature. Customer engineering teams are welcome to come along and test alternative options, as they evolve.

All NPI activities are underpinned by our formalised and sophisticated NPI Gate Review Process. This provides flexibility to respond to design fluidity and change, as well as structure and discipline to ensure projects are kept on track and on budget- critical for eventual deliverability.

We’re with you from early engagement in design to creating a design package and getting the NPI ready for manufacture. We’re also available to offer rapid prototyping, testing and lifecycle support.

When you frontload the manufacturing process with us, we’ll help you greatly reduce the risks.