Siemens Rastatt increases first pass yield by 42 percent with AOI false call reduction software
Siemens Rastatt leverages Opcenter Intelligence to achieve ROI in just eight months
Siemens Rastatt, a division of Siemens AG situated in Rastatt, Germany, specializes in the design, production, and promotion of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) technology products and systems. The facility features four production lines, each equipped with an automated optical inspection (AOI) machine to verify the printed circuit board assemblies (PCBA) on its products.
“Whenever the AOI detects a potential error, an operator must check the board manually,” says Tobias Morlock, head of process and technology (manufacturing) at Siemens Rastatt. “It requires time but it also leads to what is known in the industry as ‘alarm fatigue’ and eventually the operator will unintentionally make more mistakes and tend to be more likely to approve a faulty board, which will be discovered only later in the production process. This led to greater overhead and losses.”
Fast implementation, increased First Pass Yield
By incorporating Opcenter™ Intelligence AOI False Call Reduction (FCR) software, Siemens Rastatt was able to improve their initial First Pass Yield (FPY) by 42 percent with no added input from their AOI specialists.
Opcenter Intelligence AOI FCR offers a major benefit as a Software as a Service (SaaS) solution, as it considerably decreases the workload on manufacturers’ part. It is fully prepared for integration into AOI machines, and the process from initial talks at Rastatt to commissioning took under 12 weeks. Twelve weeks later they started the operation phase successfully.
With Opcenter Intelligence AOI FCR, Siemens Rastatt anticipates the ability to delve deeper and customize the AOI parameters to directly influence the FPY at its origin. Additionally, they plan to utilize AI to analyze the routing of good boards in sequence. The software is also being evaluated for possible use as part of shop floor automation and component analysis.
