7 Rigid-Flex pcb manufacturing Quality Checklist Points

Ensuring the quality of welding is essential for Rigid-Flex pcb manufacturing not to give problems later. There are several ways to do this, but quality depends on three factors:

• Material quality
• Definition of processes
• Welder skill or equipment efficiency

What is welding procedure specification in Rigid-Flex pcb manufacturing?

It is a process with standards must implement on the assembly line to prevent failures. This document called the Welding Procedure Specification (EPS) contains process variable values ​​to be adopted by operators and programmers on the machines.

Furthermore, it contributes to a more systematic, uniform and traceable production. To find out what else needs to be done to ensure Rigid-Flex pcb manufacturing welding quality.

What are the welding quality control steps for Rigid-Flex pcb manufacturing?

Welding quality control encompasses all procedural standards that are part of the quality assurance system. There is a standard set of rules that must always good to follow and others executed according to the complexity of each project. But there are some considered essential.

1. Pre-welding control

Every electronic product starts with a good project, so it is necessary to verify that there are no flaws that could hinder its manufacture.  Choosing a good supplier makes a difference at this stage. A well done weld depends on good equipment and quality inputs.

Other prior care concerns the quality of the production line of Rigid-Flex pcb manufacturing. Your procedures need to qualify and the welding tools must adjust and maintained up to date. The development of an adequate thermal profile and an oven suitable for welding the components stand out.

2. Control during welding

At this stage, it is time to control the materials common, that is, check if they are in accordance with what we planned. After this task, prepare the material according to the previous planning and proceed with the assembly and welding itself.

For the quality to be even more precise, it is possible to check, in real time, if the application is proceeding as expected. The SPI equipment — Solder Paste Inspection — makes the automatic inspection of the solder paste and reduces, between 50% and 70%, the chances of defect.

3. Post welding control

This step is mainly carried out through inspections in the process fo Rigid-Flex pcb manufacturing. The AOI — Automatic Optical Inspection — is a machine capable of identifying defects come by failures in previous steps.

The identification comes by inspection and comparison algorithms of two images:

1. one of the newly welded plates
2. and another of the standard plate, configured as a model

When nonconformity appear, it is possible to correct it before forwarding the board to the next stage of the production line.

What are the main errors in this inspection?

There are two most common errors in this type of inspection during Rigid-Flex pcb manufacturing:

Insufficient or excess solder: the application of solder paste is an essential step for the success of an assembly line. Despite being a relatively simple process, when there are imperfections comes by expired or poorly handled products, the chances of success in welding quality are almost nil.

Short circuit: these occur due to errors in the position of the weld. The most common causes are: stencil with solder paste residue, excess solder paste in the stencil opening, slump of the paste, and incorrect print parameters.

What are the quality parameters and qualified personnel?

In all control steps, it is important to follow the quality parameters for the Rigid-Flex pcb manufacturing. These are the standards defined by the IPC — Association Connecting Electronics Industries — from the design of the PCB to its assembly.

Companies that adopt the IPC standards see their products are famous internationally, have less chance of errors, optimize internal communication and reduce costs. But for all this to work well, it is necessary to invest in qualified personnel. This is a challenge for many electronics industries. Therefore, many of them choose to outsource their production to guarantee quality.

What do you know about lead free methodology?

The Lead Free methodology advocates the use of lead-free alloys.  And it gradually adopts by companies concerned about the environment and the impacts due to production processes of Rigid-Flex pcb manufacturing. This is famous among partners and consumers who are aware of environmental issues.

Therefore, if you are looking for modernity, welding quality and excellence in your production line, following the control steps and aligning them with lead free is a strategy to achieve success in this market.

How to ensure quality with a limited budget?

In a situation of crisis, standing out in a highly competitive market is challenging. With the reduction of investments, the task becomes even more arduous, as it is necessary to adopt correct strategies to optimize all processes. Such strategies were important even before the crisis, but two of them became urgent at that time: technological innovation and quality management.

This is because the demand Rigid-Flex pcb manufacturing from customers is increasing, and offering excellent service is a prerequisite and no longer a differential. Understand, below, the role of innovation and quality management for companies to succeed in times of reduced budget.

How to maintain quality management?

Quality management is not just about the performance of a product, but also the value perceived by the customer. It is an operational and strategic requirement to meet your buyer’s needs. But for this management to be viable, adopting information technologies is a basic condition.

The technology must be applied in the most diverse production processes of Rigid-Flex pcb manufacturing so that it is possible to understand the entire production and create additional commercial value. In quality management, descriptive, diagnostic, predictive and prescriptive analyzes are good to provide.

What are stages of quality management?

The quality management in the electronics industry is divided into four stages:

• Product inspection
• Similarly, process control
• Moreover, quality assurance systems
• Total quality management

In all of them, the objective is to verify that the product is in accordance with the customer’s wishes. Similarly, it reduces the chances of errors, prevent them from mixing to the rest of the batch and prevent the delivery of Rigid-Flex pcb manufacturing with problems.

What are the advantages of quality management?

The advantages of this are:

• Reduced production costs
• Decrease with after-sales costs
• Brand strengthening
• Increased competitiveness