Outsourcing demands partnership

E-mail

The relationship between OEMs and contractors often proves bumpy. A few years ago, while involved in a project with several contract manufacturers (CMs), I frequently heard the lament that OEMs don't adequately communicate how a product is supposed to work, and they don't cooperate with their contractors on the best way to manufacture and test. As a result, the quality of outsourced products sometimes does not match the quality that could emerge from a more controlled environment.

Contractors must still address these issues. Bob Tortolano, test engineering manager at Florida-based MC Assembly, put it this way: “OEMs would meet their performance and quality goals better if they truly partnered with their contractors. Even in the best of situations, every day we face the challenge of getting complete information in a timely manner to troubleshoot production or returns effectively.”

An AOI system performs pre-reflow inspection on an SMT assembly line. Courtesy of MC Assembly.

“At MC Assembly, we have assembled a new-product introduction team whose sole purpose is to receive new product designs, then create the infrastructure, logistics, process, test, and documentation to support them. Products that are hard to diagnose or don't lend themselves to efficient build and test will always make it more difficult for us to meet our commitments to our customers. Too many times, customers don't allow sufficient ICT access, for example, or they design with obsolete parts.”

The ultimate goal of every CM is to deliver high-quality products to customers in sufficient quantities and on time. Manufacturers have long touted the benefits of process feedback, but achieving it requires complete communication among all participating parties. One tool to help in the effort is good manufacturing and test data.

Tortolano explained, “We have adopted a real-time test-data collection system to help us find and correct process and product problems while they are happening.” He summed it up this way: “An open and collaborative relationship affords OEMs and their manufacturing partners the best opportunity to optimize the end product.”