Managing inspection data
Steve Scheiber, Technical Editor -- Test & Measurement World, 6/1/2007
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Inspection provides considerable insight into the production process, answering questions such as how much solder gets deposited on the pads, were the correct components deposited correctly, and will the joints survive long-term service?
The value of the answers depends on what you do with them. Simply collecting data in an archive borders on the useless. You need to massage the data into information that you can apply to improving your process or modifying your product or your design.
"How much inspection data should you save?" explores data storage and analysis. In researching the topic, I discovered that in many respects, inspection systems produce too much data. An in-circuit or functional tester may report that a certain board passed or failed along with the nature of the failure if there is one. But inspection processes can record the dimensions, volume, and position of solder on every pad before putting the parts on the board; the position and shape of every part before the reflow oven; and the actual shape of every solder joint after reflow.
The key for system developers is to determine what to save, what to discard, and what to analyze so only the results are stored. More and more tools are emerging to help with this endeavor. Applying them carefully will make the inspection step far more valuable for managing your overall process.
Contact Steve Scheiber at sscheiber@aol.com.
