With a plethora of electronic devices in the 21st century, manufacturers need to reach an ever growing consumer base, while maintaining standards and assuring fast turnover.
Automation, robotics and machine learning are reshaping contract electronics manufacturing and increasing production efficiency, helping to attain goals and solve complex issues in a cost-effective way.
Prevalent in PCB assembly services including soldering, testing and packaging; machine learning plays a key role in CEM processes, optimising production lines, predicting equipment failures and ensuring consistent quality. This can help to resolve supply chain issues, labour shortages and safety concerns.
What can automation in manufacturing industry do?
Improving the quality of products is a major benefit, with automated systems detecting faults that are hard for the human eye to see, ensuring consistent standards are met. The system can also operate 24/7 at the same level, increasing production capacity and maintaining quality, while reducing labour costs.
Modern smart factories, which use Internet of Things devices, can ensure efficient operations and help to manage supply chains, mitigating the risks of issues arising. Reduced labour costs, faster production cycles, improved quality control and greater scalability combine to offer an improved service.
Aside from the advantages of streamlining operations, collaborative industrial robots, known as Cobots can assist with tasks involving repetitive motions and heavy lifting that might cause human operatives injuries or burnout.
Some examples of automation in the CEM industry include automated assembly lines, robotic soldering and automatic tests to complement visual inspection procedures. This helps electronics manufacturers to increase the complexity of their products and ultimately provide a better service and more choices to customers.
Challenges of automation in CEM
Several barriers are preventing the widespread adoption of the new technology – most notably the high upfront costs. Understandably, companies are looking for optimum automation processes to maximise return on their investment, but this can cost anything from several thousand pounds for a basic system to a multi-million pound assembly line with robotics – sadly, for many, the costs put it out of their reach.
The successful implementation of new technology also depends on how well key aspects of the project can be integrated: the chosen automation solution; how it can be built; whether it’s compatible with existing IT systems; and how successfully the firm manages its personnel and changes to their duties – this in itself can create some complex challenges for managers.
Cybersecurity risks also present significant hurdles in the electronics industry, with hackers using increasingly sophisticated ransomware to control systems, or entire networks, disrupting business operations and holding organisations to ransom. If an automated system is hacked and goes down, it can take days to resolve, leading to downtime and supply chain issues. Regular risk assessments are recommended to help manufacturers identify and address any potential vulnerabilities in their systems.
Emerging technologies
New technologies are being developed all the time that have the potential to further revolutionise CEM automation such as autonomous robots, advanced AI for real-time problem solving and 3D printing for rapid prototyping.
It’s a given that contract electronics manufacturers need to harness the power of automation to enable faster production and lower costs, producing more affordable, higher quality electronics for consumers. To ensure the maximum ROI, balancing the positives with overcoming challenges is something to seriously consider when planning an investment in new technology.