Space Coast Event: Maximizing Automation Efficiency: Are You Making the Most of Your Investment?

Space Coast Event: Maximizing Automation Efficiency: Are You Making the Most of Your Investment?

6/13/2024

When:Thursday, June 13, 2024
11:00 AM Eastern

Where:Mack Technologies Florida, Inc.
7505 Technology Drive
Melbourne, Florida  32904
United States

Contact:Michael Hoffman, President
Michael.Hoffman@eis-inc.com
(706) 207-4477

Space Coast Chapter In-Person Technical Meeting:

“Automation: Squeezing Labor Hours Out of Your Total Production Cost - Oh! You Say You Are Automating - There’s a Good Chance You’re Not Doing All You Can!”

Speaker: Tom Borkes, The Jefferson Project

Thursday, June 13, 2024

11:00 am - 1:00 pm Eastern

Mack Technologies Florida, Inc.

Agenda:

11:00 AM Sign In
11:30 AM Lunch
11:45 AM Presentation Starts
1:00 PM Presentation Ends

Cost:

Members $15

Non-Members $20

Students $10

Officers $10

 

Pre-Registration required. Limited seats available!  

Overview:

From printing solder paste to component placement to in-circuit test, automation has been an intrinsic tool in SMT assembly for volume circuit board production. Global competition has exasperated the need to exploit  the available automation, using it as a counterweight to low labor rate competition, effectively squeezing the controllable labor cost element out of the total product assembly cost. Introducing new tools such as artificial intelligence (AI) are also discussed.

This paper makes the case that it’s easy to say “we automate” but, truth be told, few of the companies where we are employed really do. Examples are given to demonstrate this fact and quantitative analyses are provided as proof. Return-on-investment calculations are done to validate the value of the proposed automation or the elimination of non-value added processes - a prime target is in-circuit test.

Finally, the presentation recognizes that, ironically, the higher level of automation your company can attained, the fewer production personnel are required - that’s the point, isn't it. . However, those that are left are required to have much higher engineering skill levels.

Speaker Info:

Tom Borkes has a B.S. in Engineering Science, specializing in Mechanical Engineering, from Hofstra University, and an Associate Degree in Engineering from Nassau Community College. He managed to cram a 4-year engineering degree into 6-years! Tom has had over 35 years of technical, managerial, and teaching experience in electronic product design, assembly, and test. He has worked on technical projects as diverse as the micro-electronic packaging of hybrid circuits to the macro-engineering of a 13-meter diameter parabolic RF antenna.

Tom served as Technical Director on the SMTA Board of Directors for 6 years before many of you were born. In 1994, he established The Jefferson Project, dedicated to developing and maintaining a world-class work force for the domestic electronics industry. The concept is based on principles Tom developed called “Concurrent Education.” Tom is in currently in the process of launching the Jefferson Institute of Technology, a college wrapped around a contract manufacturing business: The Jefferson Electronic Manufacturing Center. The 5-year undergraduate program will lead to a B.S. in Applied Electronic Product Design and Production Sciences.