DAT475 Project One

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Southern New Hampshire University *

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475

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Mechanical Engineering

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Feb 20, 2024

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Southern New Hampshire University DAT 475 Applied Data Analysis Project One Case Study January 28, 2024

Preliminary Analysis Report Problem Statement A manufacturing company in Tijuana, Mexico produces electronic boards that go through a welding process in the Manual Finish area of the production line. Within this process the electronic boards have Thru-Holes components placed on the boards. The assembly of the electronic boards and Thru-Holes components is then welded in a wave soldering machine. The welded assembly is then quality checked by an employee who checks that the assembly does not have any welding defects. After quality check, the assembly is sent to other areas of the production for additional components to be installed. Recently there has been an increase in demand for products produced by the company. There has also been an uptick in the defects in the welding process of the electronic boards and Thru-Holes components. These defects include the solder bridge, missing components, damaged components, lifted components, insufficient solder, and excessive solder. This increase in defects has led to a rise in the number of assembly and electronic test problems after the electronic boards have gone through their final assembly stage (SNHU, 2023). The company is now going to comply with the requirements established by the IPC-A- 610E standard for electronic components and the products will need to be fixed before their final release. However, an assessment concluded that fixing the defects after they have gone through final assembly is cost prohibitive, time consuming, and requires staffing with specific skills. The standard IPC-A-610E criteria is not focused on processes to perform assembly operations or allow the change, modification, or repair of the final product.

In reviewing these elements, the company has requested a project to improve manufacturing defects with two outcomes. First, they would like a 20% reduction in defects generated during the welding process in three double production lines (SNHU, 2023). Second, a 20% increase in the capacity of the three double production lines where the boards are processed, while not increasing the percentage of defects (SNHU, 2023). By decreasing the manufacturing defects and expanding the capacity of the production line the company will reduce costs and improve quality of their products. This will allow the company to meet the greater demand for their products. Cause(s) of the Identified Organizational Problem The company provided defect data sets for three of their models as well as the entire facility. The data will be analyzed utilizing Pareto charts that I have created. I will use the 80/20 rule. This will allow us to determine what areas are causing the most defects. The company can then focus on the concerns where the defects fall below the 80% defect percentage. The Pareto charts help to determine what the most significant defects are. The most significant causes of defects are shown in Figures 1 thru 4 below. Model 595407-XXX-00 The Model 595407-XXX-00 issues that had 80% of defects were solder bridge, missing component, lifted component, damaged component, excessive solder, reversed component, and solder void. Component broken, pin hole, and long terminals all had zero defects. All results are shown in Figure 1 below.

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Figure 1-Defects for Model 595407-XXX-00 Model 595481-00X-00 The Model 595481-00X-00 issues that had 80% of defects were solder bridge, lifted component, wrong component, pin damaged, missing component, excessive solder, and reversed component. Component misalignment, pin holes, and long terminals all had zero defects. All results are shown in Figure 2 below.

Figure 2-Defects for Model 595481-00X-00 Model 595310-001-00 The Model 595310-001-00 issues that had 80% of defects were excessive solder, solder bridge, damaged component, and pin damaged. The issues with zero defects were billboarding, trace open, component broken, and long terminals. All results are seen in Figure 3 below.

Figure 3-Defects for Model 595310-001-00 Entire Facility Defects that were 80% for the entire facility are solder bridge, excessive solder, missing component, lifted component, damaged component, pin damaged, and wrong component. Long terminals had zero defects. Results are seen in Figure 4 below.

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Figure 4-Defects for Entire Facility Root Cause Analysis Using the data from the Pareto charts for the three models and entire facility will allow us to gather further insights into the defect problems in the manufacturing company. These insights will then allow us to know what areas of manufacturing process need adjustments based on the types of defects the Pareto charts have identified. Utilizing the 80/20 rule, we can focus on the top 20% of defects provided by the charts. For Model 595407-XXX-00 the highest areas of concern were solder bridge, missing component, lifted component, damaged component, excessive solder, reversed component, and solder void. For Model 595481-00X-00, the areas of concern were solder bridge, lifted component, wrong component, pin damaged, missing component, excessive solder, and reversed component. For Model 595310-001-00, the areas of concern were excessive solder, solder bridge, damaged component, and pin damaged.

Finally, for the entire facility, the highest areas of concern were solder bridge, excessive solder, missing component, lifted component, damaged component, pin damaged, and wrong component. By identifying the vital few, we know that those areas require the most attention and enhancements (nsw.gov.au). The issues identified in the charts for the models and entire facility that fall under the 80% cutoff line should be the issues that are focused on as they are the most problematic. By focusing on the vital few, we can decrease 20% of the defects in the welding process, in turn leading to a 20% increase in productivity in the three double production lines where the electronic boards are being produced.

Figure 5-Root Cause Analysis Fishbone Diagram After reviewing the data, the reasons for defects were grouped into four categories as seen in Figure 5 above. These categories are Training, Process, Employees, and Equipment. The company should examine these categories and causes to determine the root cause to why there has been an increase in defects in their product. The first category is Process. This has been broken down into four subcategories. These subcategories are confirming the correct placement of the Thru-Holes Components on the Electronic Boards, verification of the placement and solder of components, correct welding of the components, and a quality inspection for welding defects. The company needs to ensure that the welding process of the Thru-Holes Component to the electronic boards was done accurately and to standards. This entails confirming the accurate placement of the Thru-Holes Components to the electronic boards, verifying the correct placement of the assembly on the wave soldering machine, verifying that all components are present, placed, and welded as they should be, and that a quality inspection of the assembly has been completed on all welding components to verify no defects exist. When all employees follow the appropriate process and procedures, this should decrease the number of defects. This, along with the updated training of employees and the training of the usage of tools, should also decrease the number of defects. The second category is Training which has three subcategories. The subcategories are detailed training is unavailable, current training is unclear, and employees are not receiving training on specific tools that they are using. All employees should have proper training

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conducted in order for them to do their job efficiently, effectively, and correctly. This is not the case. A more detailed training could be created to break down the process into smaller sections so that the employees understand the process they are doing, the types of machines they are using, and the importance of why following the steps outlined are important to the outcome of the product. Employees working with a specific tool should be well trained on how to use that tool. Training that shows how to use each tool, what to look for to ensure accuracy and what defects to look for are imperative for these employees to know as they work with these tools. There could also be a lead employee that is responsible for the training of staff on these specific tools and areas along with a signoff that training as been completed. Also, a refresher training once a year at minimum is suggested. The third category is Employees and has four subcategories. The four subcategories are overworked employees, short-staffed, inadequate training, and lack of understand of the welding process. Due to the rise in demand for the company’s products, the current employees may be overworked and that is part of the reason defects are being missed. The company is short staffed as the rise in demand has not coincided with the increase in hiring of new employees. The employees that are working did not receive adequate training and lack the understanding of the welding process, which will also cause them to miss the defects that could be present. Employees should be trained not only on what the correct assembly of welding looks like, but also what an incorrect assembly and welding process looks like. This will help employees identify the defects more accurately. The company would need to increase their staff to fulfill their increase in orders as well as their capacity to handle to the workload. Having more employees will allow current staff to not feel overwhelmed and overworked. They can do their

job more efficiently by moving at a slower pace and not feel rushed, which causes defects to be missed as well. The last category is Equipment, and it has three subcategories. The three subcategories are maintenance of equipment and/or machines, proper utilization of the equipment, and configuration and calibration of the equipment. Equipment is the largest factor in a manufacturing process. The proper utilization of equipment that is needed for each step of the manufacturing process is imperative. The equipment needs to be configured for each specific task, calibrated for its specific function, and maintained as required. The failure and breakdown of these machines could have a significant impact on the production of the electronic boards and could cause a number of defects. Like any problem, there will be factors that are dependent on others. One the causal factor in this organizational problem is that the current training is inadequate. This is seen in both the Employee and Training factors and could also fall under Process factor. If the employees are not trained properly, they will not fully understand the process and procedure, or know what to look for in a properly constructed product versus a product with defects. This is a crucial factor that needs to be addressed. Delving deeper into these four categories and their causal factors will allow the manufacturing company to determine ways to improve their performance and decrease their defects.

References NSW Government (n.d.). Pareto Charts & 80/20 Rule. Pareto Charts & 80-20 Rule - Clinical Excellence Commission (nsw.gov.au) SNHU (2023). DAT-475 Project Case Study. SNHU. DAT 475 Project Case Study.pdf (snhu.edu)

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