Columns

Assembly in Action: Assembly in Action: Dispensing System Boosts Throughput 50 Percent

Philips North American Center for Industrial Technology (Sunnyvale, CA) feels that good products should be available to everyone. It is a place of scientific knowledge and technological know-how. The center supports Philips’ business units—primarily the consumer electronics, components and consumer communication divisions—on product-oriented manufacturability issues. It does so by developing state-of-the-art manufacturing techniques to meet future product demands in their product creation process. The center is also known as the “Greenhouse” for its nurturing of new products from concept through transfer to mass production.

The center’s services concentrate on four areas:

Enabling technologies and expertise.
Design and supply of special production equipment.
Improvement methods and tools for the product creation process.
Expertise in overall process optimization.

However, its real advantage lies in the ability to develop new concepts and new technological solutions. After all, the center feels that a good product should have the opportunity to grow.

When it was time to look for a new dispensing system, the center turned to Asymtek (Carlsbad, CA) and purchased its M-2000 high-speed dispensing system with noncontact jet technology. Only a short time after installing the new dispensing equipment, the center immediately experienced more than a 50 percent increase in unit throughput on their surface mount assembly line for one of the products manufactured at the facility.

The M-2000 dispensing system delivers high speed and accuracy. For surface mount adhesive dispensing, the system is suitable for high-volume, production-critical applications that must operate continuously with minimal operator intervention.

In addition to the improved unit through-put and yield, the center’s engineering team discovered other benefits. The system’s DispenseJet head reduces the time previously required for programming mechanical standoff positions. The noncontact dispense head eliminates Z-axis motion during dispensing, virtually eliminating the need for height sensing. Maintenance is no longer an issue.

“After 2 or 3 days of operation,” states Mike Tong, manufacturing engineer, “we remove the nozzle, clean the needle, purge a slight amount, and we’re off and running again.”

Fluidmove for Windows NT software provides quick and accurate programming control. It can be quickly and effectively programmed for maximum dispensing yield. CADImport software, used in conjunc-tion with Asymtek’s Fluidmove, quickly allows Philips to create a Fluidmove program using existing CAD data. Once a component library has been set up, process engineering can write a typical dispensing program off-line in a matter of minutes. Following the M-2000 installation, the adhesive dispensing process is no longer a bottleneck. In fact, it now paces the rest of the line.

For more information on fluid dispensing systems, call Asymtek at 760-431-1919, visit www.asymtek.com or Reply 1.

Looking for quick answers on assembly and manufacturing topics? Try Ask ASM, our new smart AI search tool. Ask ASM