True Capacity on Demand
Veldhoven (the Netherlands), May 20, 2009
Assembléon's True Capacity on Demand program solves today's dynamics in electronics manufacturing
Royal Philips Electronics subsidiary Assembléon is launching the industry’s first True Capacity on Demand production initiative. Minimizing the cost per placement of electronics assembly, True Capacity on Demand is the answer to today’s dynamic electronic assembly market with its fluctuations in production periods. Electronics equipment manufacturers can now just buy the Assembléon Pick & Place equipment they need for day-to-day production, and hire in extra robot heads to increase capacity in peak periods. Truly modular, calibration-free robots give the market’s fastest adaptation to existing machines on the line. Without the need for drastic modifications, the machine configuration itself remains unchanged, floor spaces do not increase and the production line itself is left undisturbed.
Assembléon’s True Capacity on Demand helps bring adaptive manufacturing to dynamic production environments. The method is simple: in close co-operation with customers, Assembléon helps determine the most cost-effective baseline production capacity and specifies its equipment to meet this level. Then, when peak production periods are expected, Assembléon rents out extra robot heads to temporarily increase output. These are delivered within a week, and bring an extra level of flexibility to production lines - manufacturers no longer need to invest in large system capacity to meet production peaks such as for seasonal demand that is underused for much of the rest of the year.
With Assembléon’s True Capacity on Demand, electronic equipment manufacturers can minimize cost per placement by hiring in extra robot heads during peak periods (in green) to increase capacity. That avoids overcapacity during off-peak seasons.
True Capacity on Demand therefore prepares equipment makers for the global economic upturn. Customers pay only for extra capacity when it is actually being used, so making best use of their financial resources by reducing initial investments. Extra (temporary) rented capacity is easily affordable from the extra income that full production brings, with the extra modules being returned to Assembléon after the peak period is over.
True modularity allows flexible configuration
Assembléon’s True Capacity on Demand program is exclusive to the company, and is possible because of the uniquely modular design of its flagship A-Series Pick & Place machines. The company has been preparing for the initiative intensively for several months. It will thus help customers to minimize the cost and speed of ramp up. That will ensure true flexibility in easy incremental steps – impossible with (for example) gantry based systems, which are much more complex and much less versatile. Other manufacturers can only increase capacity by adding machines to a line or by changing vulnerable internal hardware. That raises costs and risks, usually requires more floor space, and disrupts the production line.
Assembléon’s A-Series already sets the industry benchmark for lowest (single-digit) defects per million placements. It uses true parallel placement that optimizes every placed component for the industry’s highest First Pass Yield. With from 6 to 20 individual robots, each placing 6,000 components an hour, Assembléon can configure any output between 36 kcomponents/hour and 121 kcph (to IPC 9850). This truly modular approach allows customers to configure their exact capacity requirements, and also gives them the flexibility to increase or decrease capacity to match fluctuating demands.
Assembléon’s A-Series can easily be adapted from basic to peak configuration by a simple exchange of calibration-free robot heads for a temporary increase of output. That comes without increasing floor space or causing disturbance in manufacturing.
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