Are we talking about this one https://www.indium.com/blog/the-return-of-patty-and-the-professor-uptime-part-2.php & https://www.indium.com/blog/the-continuation-of-the-professor-second-visit-to-acme.php posted on here not that long ago ?
I run a small line doing low volume runs, the "utilisation" is probably close to as low as it can get. But I would struggle to find a way to define it as low as 15% on anything but the most complex builds with high component mix and even then, that is a choice we have made based on the value of the product, the gains we might make by having 2nd/3rd operator do some manual stuffing, having more feeders to prep more of those products in advance etc. We cost this into our quotes, those same assemblies are quoted on by others but we're the ones building them. Utilisation isn't everything, sometimes the people and equipment needed to improve it fail on the ROI front. As long you you know where you can improve when the need arises, whatever works for you and your clients, works.
The key to SMT uptime is always feeders, annoyingly in the last few years for us at least, the average complexity of an assembly has radically increased and sadly the number of unique parts even more dramatically so. That makes having enough feeders harder and more expensive, and the concept of high running parts staying on feeders almost permanently basically impossible because they no longer exist.
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