Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
tion is one that does not have a truly right or wrong answer. The best answer for you will
depend heavily on your own demand forecasts, organizational culture, and facility limita-
tions, plus other considerations. For SparkFun, the decision came down to both the long-
term forecasted demand and the cultural implications of adding a third shift to its produc-
tion operations. Increasing the throughput by upgrading and/or adding new equipment to
the SparkFun lineup was given high priority, with a goal of having new equipment selec-
ted and installed prior to the start of the initial MaKey MaKey production run.
The two greatest areas for improvement in SparkFun's production capacity were in cir-
cuit board assembly speed and the application of solder paste to bare circuit boards. Ini-
tially, the priority was placed on finding a new pick-and-place machine, as it had the most
potential to deliver the greatest return in terms of building more boards more quickly. For-
tunately, SparkFun had been exploring new pick-and-place machines for several months
and knew which machine would do the best at meeting SparkFun's growing demand.
Shortly after the start of the Kickstarter campaign, the decision was made to purchase a
brand-new MYDATA MY100LXe pick-and-place machine (like our other machines, this
one was given a new name—Marvin Starscream). This choice was made after considering
many different manufacturers and models of machines. There seemed to be as many pos-
sibilities to choose from as there are when shopping for a new car.
The right model for the job became obvious after we gave serious consideration to
what SparkFun's typical production process flows looked like. SparkFun's high-mix, low-
to-medium-volume board production meant that many new production run setups
happened every day—far more than are experienced by other PCB assemblers who manu-
factures thousands or millions of one specific design at a time. The right machine had to
be designed in such a way as to make changeovers from one production run to the next as
efficiently as possible, resulting in very little downtime for that machine. If a machine
could be found that performed well in this area while also delivering a greater
compon-
ents placed per hour
(CPH) output, then it would immediately be added to SparkFun's
short list. Ultimately, it was determined that the MYDATA MY100 model provided the
greatest machine downtime capability and CPH rating that could be achieved for the
amount that SparkFun was investing in this equipment.
Setting up the infrastructure for a new piece of equipment is a fairly straightforward
operation. Space for the new machine must be made, and any required services for the
machine must be installed. In many cases, the machine may require compressed air and
nonstandard electrical power (three-phase, 240 V instead of single-phase, 110 V).
Depending on the source of the new machine, the manufacturer may provide basic train-
ing in its use, enough to get you up and running. With time and experience, you will es-
tablish your own best practices to achieve operational efficiencies with that particular ma-
