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Setting Up an Electronics Assembly Factory

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Before you can actually involve your company in the production of electronic assembly, you have to set up your factory space with the right equipment and environment that will work well for what it is intended for. The way you design the factory will depend on what products you plan to produce. The basic premise here would be to assemble the product, test it, inspect it, and then pack it. Here are the steps in order:

• Assembly: The first order of business would be how you will assemble the product. Will you use a conveyor belt or allow a machine to do the work and just use an operator to monitor the output? Is the work going to be divided up among different teams or departments? Will the assembly process be done in stacks or individual components? Will there be one machine to do all the work or will there be one machine dedicated for each part of the process? In other words, will there be an assembly line?
• Material Placement: This is the way material will be delivered to the assembler as he does his work. There are two methods this is done: kitting and line-side stocking.
o Kitting – In this process, material is stored in one central location. This makes it easier to find the parts to take to the assemblers. When an order arrives, a person assigned to do the picking will go to the storage area and take whatever he needs from the list provided. All these items will be placed in a kit so they will stay together. The assembler will work from this kit.
o Line-side stocking – Here parts are stored in large quantities where they are used. Thus an assembler will have stacks of boards ready to be used without anyone bringing them over to him to work with.
• Designing with Capacity in Mind: After everything has been determined and designed according to the specifications required, the next determination is with capacity. How much material will be needed initially? How much to order and when should the parts be ordered? How many people need to be hired to do the job? Are there going to be shifts?
• Placement and People: One consideration that must be dealt with when setting up a factory to make anything dealing with electronics assembly is the placement of equipment and where the people will work. Are they going to be isolated from everyone else or well placed in the factory floor? As manager of the business you have to be very concerned about placement of people, because this can affect the moral of people.

Next Page: Where to Get Equipment and Parts

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