Sep. 23, 2024
Mechanical Parts & Fabrication Services
What is an SMT Pick and Place Machine?
An SMT pick and place machine is a type of automated equipment used in the electronics assembly industry for the assembly of surface mount technology (SMT) components. It is designed to pick up small electrical components&#;such as capacitors, resistors, and integrated circuits&#;from a component reel or tray, place them accurately onto a printed circuit board (PCB) or substrate.
The SMT pick and place machine is a highly precise piece of equipment that can rapidly pick components from reels or trays, inspect them on the fly and place them accurately on the bare PCB. This makes it an efficient tool for businesses that need to manufacture large quantities of electronics components quickly and accurately.
Types of SMT Pick and Place Machines
SMT pick and place machines are available in both batch and in-line automated versions, allowing businesses to choose the one that best meets their needs. The cost of these machines can vary widely depending on size and features, making them accessible to all budgets. In addition, they offer a high degree of accuracy and consistency for surface mount technology components, making them ideal for assembly line production. With the right machine, businesses can produce highly reliable PCB assemblies in house.
Batch pick and place equipment is best for low volume SMT requirements when high speed is not necessary. These types of machines require an operator to load the bare PCB into the machine but the workplace and components are all organized for some level of process control. More common are fully automated in-line pick and place machines where the components required for the particular PCB are loaded on the machine and the component pick up and placement is done automatically by a robotic vacuum head. The machine is programmed to optimize the pick and placement for each PCB, knowing what components are required for that PCB, where the components are located on the placement machine and where the bare PCB is located in the working area.
Why Should I Use Pick and Place?
Pick and place equipment can provide manufacturers with the ability to control manufacturing and deliveries of final product better than when PCB assembly is outsourced. By automating the pick and place process, manufacturers are able to reduce overall labor costs as well as improve productivity. Automated pick and place systems can also help to control inventory and order fulfillment due to its ability to quickly respond to changing demand for final product. Manufacturers that use pick and place automation are often able to reduce their production costs while improving efficiency and accuracy. The reduced overhead and improved productivity lead to increased profits for manufacturers, allowing them to better compete in their respective markets.
In summary, having the ability to build PCB&#;s in house with pick and place equipment provides manufacturers with several significant cost-saving benefits that enable them to remain competitive in their respective industries.
What Are The Main Components of a Pick and Place Machine?
All automated pick and place machines have some basic elements. There is the ability to hold the bare PCB in place so the robotic head can accurately place the components, the machine also needs to hold a wide range of components on tape and reel or in trays. And then there is the pick and place head, some machines have only 1 pick up nozzle and some have 15 or more. The more pick up nozzles the faster the machine can assemble components on the PCB.
Higher speed machines will automatically transport the bare PCB into position in the machine and ready the board for placement by accurately locating the board using a top-down camera for alignment. Typical machines will hold a minimum of 100 individual components feeders and some room for components that come on trays and not on reels. Some machines can hold up to 200+ different component types when they come on reels.
The main factor of all pick and place machines is the head, the head generally has a quantity of individually controlled vacuum pick up nozzles that are mounted on an X-Y gantry. The entire head assembly moves over to the feeder locations to pick up the required components, then once those components are on the head they travel over to the bare board location and they are individually placed onto the correct location of the PCB. This happens very fast with slow machines placing between 1,000 and 5,000 components per hour and fast machines placing upwards of 90,000 components per hour
It is important to remember that each PCB must have its own program or instructions as to which components are to be placed in which locations on the bare PCB. This instruction set will let the operator know what components should be placed in each feeder location on the machine. It will also enable the engineer to know how long it will take to build or assemble the components on each PCB. In this way they can know how many PCB&#;s can be assembled in each shift or day.
Once the in line pick and place machine is set up, it can build PCB&#;s in a &#;hands-free&#; mode with bare PCB&#;s transported into the machine automatically and once all components are placed they fully assembled PCB transports out into the next stage of assembly, this is either automated visual inspection or directly into a reflow oven where all components are soldered into place.
How Do I Select SMT Pick and Place Equipment?
When selecting SMT pick and place equipment, consider the following factors:
Speed: The speed of the machine is an important factor as it will determine how quickly you can assemble PCB&#;s as well as the ability to change from one PCB to another. Make sure you choose a machine that has a high enough cycle rate to meet your production needs.
Flexibility: This is another key factor when selecting a type of pick and place machine. Some machines are &#;built for speed&#; and others are designed for maximum flexibility. You need to understand the requirements of your own companies production requirements. Machines can sometimes be considered designed for High - Mix, Low volume (maximum flexibility) or for high-volume and low mix (generally very high speed and not designed for switching to different products multiple times / day.
Accuracy: Accuracy is a critical factor when selecting SMT pick and place equipment. Almost all pick and place machines are highly accurate but if the build is for semiconductor and die placement a very high degree of accuracy may be required. Most pick and place machines are accurate to 1 or 2 thousands but die placement machines need to be accurate to 10 - 15 microns. Choose a machine that meets your accuracy requirements.
Support: Adding pick and place equipment without having the required level of support could make the investment in equipment ineffective. The best machines in the world are useless if they are idle and not producing PCB&#;s. Companies must make the necessary investment in trained personnel and in proper support from all departments in the company. You will need full support from a variety of departments in your own company including engineering for accurate and updated data about each PCB to be built and the revision level, purchasing so that you have all the components in stock that are required for each build, material handling and management so that the right components are delivered to the machine when it is time to build PCB&#;s and manufacturing so that they are trained on how to use the pick and place machine effectively.
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Features: Each SMT pick and place machine offers different features. Some machines offer additional capabilities like solder paste or glue dispensing, electrical testing of chip components on the fly, some offer placement inspection cameras. Consider what features are important for your application and select a machine that offers them.
By considering these factors, you will be able to find an SMT pick and place machine that meets your needs. It is important to understand your companies needs and select equipment that meets the majority of those requirements. With the right equipment in place, you can ensure your production line runs efficiently and effectively.
How Much Does a Pick and Place Machine Cost?
The cost of a SMT pick and place machine can vary significantly depending on its size, features, and capabilities. While cost should not be the only factor in deciding on an SMT pick and place machine, it is an important one to consider. In general pick and place machines start at approx $150,000 and can go up to $400,000. This is without the additional investment in component feeders which can add up to 50% to the cost.
The total cost of ownership (including maintenance and consumables) should also be taken into consideration when selecting a pick and place machine. By choosing the right size, feature set, and capabilities for the specific application, it is possible to get the best value for your money and ensure that you purchase the right pick and place machine for the job.
Conclusion
By investing in automated pick and place equipment, manufacturers are able to reap the benefits of increased efficiency, improved deliveries, reduced inventory and improved quality control. All of these factors lead to improved cost structure and both tangible and intangible benefits of in-house production. The improvements in automation, the lack of qualified manual assemblers for PCB&#;s and the reshoring of PCB assembly from overseas to the US makes this a great time to evaluate bring SMT and PCB assembly back in house.
The pick-and-place machine is the most important piece of manufacturing equipment on an SMT line. Typically, surface mount pick and place equipment, including a full complement of feeders, constitute about 50% of the total capital investment required for a medium-volume surface mount manufacturing line. Also, the throughput of a manufacturing line is primarily determined by the pick-and-place machine. Since no one type of placement equipment is best for all applications, the effort required in selecting equipment with an appropriate feeder system should constitute a correspondingly major part of the effort spent in selecting capital equipment for an SMT line.
Selecting the appropriate automated placement machine is dictated by many factors, such as device complexity, the applicable packaging and equipment standards, the type and number of parts to be placed, and current and future needs for volume and flexibility. Thus, one must establish some guidelines for machine selection. A matrix detailing the desired features versus features of the available equipment will help reduce the number of choices for a given application. Here, recommendations by existing users can be the most important selection criteria.
The first task of the SMT team responsible for equipment selection should be to develop a detailed questionnaire pertaining to all of the equipment in the line. The questionnaire should be used to narrow the list from a vast array of equipment on the market to meet your specific need.
One can get pretty quantitative in evaluating equipment by assigning points for important features [1]. Here are some examples of major features that deserve the most points.
Maximum Substrate Size Handling Capacity
When selecting placement equipment, the maximum size of the substrate or panel that the machine can handle is the place to start. This requirement alone may eliminate many machines. For example, I had to select a machine for a client with a 1 46" board size. The best I could do at the time was to find one machine that could meet that requirement. For that situation, it did not really matter how many machines were on the market. If fixtures are to be used for handling, their maximum size should be used instead of substrate size as the selection criterion for a pick and place machine.
Maximum Feeder Input and Slot Capacity
The maximum number of feeder input positions is another measure of placement equipment capacity. A standard measure of feeder input capacity is the 8-mm tape feeder. The more 8-mm slots a machine can accommodate, the higher its input capacity. However, only a limited number of parts come on 8-mm tape. Some components on tape-and-reel may require two to three 8-mm slots. Components supplied in bulk or in waffle packs affect input slot requirements differently. While conducting the in house study on slot requirements, side benefits may arise. For example, some part numbers can be eliminated totally by consolidating various part numbers. Using a minimum number of part types not only conserves input slots - and reduces the number of feeders that must be purchased - but also can reduce inventory costs and provide increased leverage with vendors due to higher volumes.
Placement Rate
In selecting a placement machine or set of machines to meet production requirements, one must determine the product mix, the number and types of components per board, and the production volume. Knowing the current requirement is not sufficient. Factor in future needs and manufacturing plans as well. Placement rate is significant.
Actual throughput will depend not only on the placement rate of the machine but also on the component mix and the types of feeders used. Placement rate also is affected by board size and by component and feeder types used. Most importantly, a machine that is often down or in need of repair, even though it runs very quickly when working, will have an adverse impact on throughput. As a general guide, the rated placement speed quoted by the vendor should be de-rated by 40-50% to arrive at a conservative number.
Other Selection Considerations
As components with larger sizes and finer pitches come into common use, the need for accurate placement stands out even more. In addition, repeatability instead of accuracy is a more useful guideline, i.e., the consistent ability of the placement head to place a part at the specified target within a specified limit. Rotational accuracy is not the same as X/Y accuracy. The same degree of rotational deviation will produce a larger offset in some pads for bigger devices than it will for smaller devices. Of course, the acceptable tolerance will be much tighter for finer-pitch components (< 20 mil) and for any components if the inter-package spacing is very tight. The integrated vision system's quality plays an important role in accurate and repeatable placement.
For lower-volume applications, it may be useful if the pick-and-place machine also can dispense adhesive. This feature is not available in all machines.
The software features of the pick and place machine determine the ease of programming for board placement. Different machines have different programming features. Some are easier and more user-friendly than others.
Service, Support, and Training
The technical features discussed so far are important. However, it is also important to keep in mind who you are doing business with and their service and support record. The placement industry is highly competitive, with many new suppliers coming on the market and many that no longer exist. One criterion to keep in mind is the installed base of the equipment you are considering. Will you be able to get the needed support for parts and service in time when the equipment is down? Being able to get the machine up and running quickly will be critical when trying to meet a delivery schedule. If a company has an installed base of the type of equipment you are considering, you can get user references that should be weighed heavily in the selection process.
The time and quality of training on the equipment are very important. All companies provide some training. It is important that some level of training be provided at the supplier site before equipment shipment and at the user site after installation. The length of training should be adequate so that the operator is fairly comfortable with operating the machine. There are some companies that not only provide training on the particular equipment, but also on other aspects of SMT process and design. Such training may be of real help in reducing defects, especially if you are new to this technology or if such training is not available internally.
Reference1. Prasad, Ray, Surface Mount Technology: Principles and Practice,Chapter, 2nd edition, 11, Table 11.2
APPEARANCES:
Ray Prasad will be teaches in-depth SMT and BGA Design and Manufacturing and Lead-free Implementation courses in Portland, Oregon. He also teaches on-site classes for companies.
Ray Prasad is an SMT Editorial Advisory Board member, author of the textbook, Surface Mount Technology: Principles and Practice, and founder of the Ray Prasad Consultancy Group. Contact him at SW Glen Oak Place Beaverton, OR ; (503) 628-; Fax: (503) 628-; ; www.rayprasad.com.
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