Circuit Manufacturer

The Challenge

The manufacturer was experiencing prolific handling defects. Their existing thin panel process required three operators and took 30 seconds to load and unload each thin panel into a rigid frame for processing through wet process.

The Solution

Northfield Automations Systems developed a custom R2R solution that allows one operator to support up to three process lines. The R2R format eliminated the need for loading and unloading individual panels.

The Results

The new R2R format can load and process a 1,000-foot roll in less than one minute (the equivalent of 1,000 individual panels, which previously would have taken 500 hours to load and unload). This has resulted in their yield improving from ~84% to 99% for material handling defect codes. Another custom added feature was a portable sheeter that was used to create sheets for downstream processes. This also allowed for downstream processes to be converted to R2R with the portable sheeter moving down each individual process step until the entire process flow was R2R capable.