Providing Production Operations Facilitation

With 20+ years of experience in computer, automotive and optoelectronics electronic packaging and discrete assembly industries.

Applied Technology and Science, Inc. is now providing a 37 point no-cost assessment of the Opportunities for Improvement in your production operations. This assessment focuses on making you competitive in your industry. To schedule this free assessment or to understand how we can help you troubleshoot production problems, contact us directly at 610-850-2769 or Click Here To Send an Email.

Lagging productivity, slow order to shipment cycle times, high work-in-process inventory, these are all efficiency problems that the application of the Lean Manufacturing methods have significantly improved. Order to shipment cycle time reductions of 50% or more can be achieved when the lean methods are applied an entire value stream. In similar manner, work-in-process inventory levels have also been reduced by 50% or more. Worker productivity increases are seen though the use of the U-workcell design, reduced travel time and reduced waiting time.

Applied Technology and Science, Inc. has the knowledge and experience in the application of lean methods and workcell design that we are ready to put to use to improve the efficiency of your manufacturing operations.

Also look at the training section to see what how we can assist you in preparing for and conducting a Kaizen Event to apply the Lean Principles to a focused area of your shop.

(To learn what Lean Manufacturing is about see our paper in the White Papers section of this website.)

Your first pass yield is 60% and rework and scrap costs are impacting your bottom line as well as your ability to meet delivery schedules. You know that other companies in your business are doing better than you. How can you get your processes operating at acceptable, if not world class, yield and scrap levels?

Applied Technology and Science, Inc. will use our extensive experience with discrete assembly industries and the Six Sigma methodology, the DMAIC process, to work with you to determine what processes are critical to the success of the business, baseline their current performance, analyze the causes of yield and scrap loss, make the process and/or equipment changes to have a robust process and then implement the controls to maintain the gains that have been achieved.

Applied Technology and Science, Inc. can also train your people on the application of the Six Sigma methodology and tools such as Statistical DOE, Failure Mode Effect Analysis, Pareto Analysis and Fishbone Analysis so that they can continue to make improvements to yield and scrap to improve the bottom line.

(To learn what Six Sigma is about see our paper in the White Papers section of this website.)

Concerned about worn out equipment, outdated processes, what are the best practices in your industry, what processes and equipment to use in manufacturing a new product. It takes time to identify suitable equipment vendors, alternative processes, industry standards and best practices. This research may be important to your business, but your staff may not have the time to undertake it because of the more urgent demands of handling today's problems.

Applied Technology and Science, Inc. will understand your needs and criteria. We will then perform the research you need using the Internet, Technical Libraries, Standards organizations and direct vendor contacts to prepare a written report with recommendations as to the best alternatives so that you can make a decision for your company.

Your manufacturing documents are outdated, redlined or don't reflect what is currently done on the floor. You are preparing for an ISO or customer audit and your people are already busy making production. Maybe your Bills-of-Materials no longer reflect that materials and components used and you are preparing to implement MRP system changes. Or maybe you are about to release a new product to production and need to put in place the operator work instructions, maintenance procedures and process controls need to make this product. How do you get these corrections or changes to your manufacturing documents made in time?

Applied Technology and Science, Inc. will gather the required information from the knowledgeable people in your company and the available documentation and then revise or prepare the necessary documents in a form that will be ready for use by your systems or operating personnel.

You are concerned that you have exposures to product liability, operator safety or even excessive levels of rework and scrap that you want to have identified and corrected.

Applied Technology and Science, Inc. will facilitate you team in the preparation of a Failure Mode Effect Analysis (FMEA) to identify areas of significant risk to your customer, your people or your costs. Then working with your people, plans will be put in place to eliminate these risks or reduce them to an acceptable level.

(To learn what Failure Mode Effect Analysis is about see our paper on what a FMEA is in the White Papers section of this website.)

You are planning a new production area or revamping and existing production line and would like to develop layouts to be used in the discussions with your team, but do not have a free draftsperson to take on this task. Or there are new fixtures needed for a new product or to improve a process for an existing product and again you do not have a free draftsperson to do this work.

Applied Technology and Science, Inc. does 2D drafting using AutoCAD. We can accept your existing layout drawings in DWG or DXF format to make the desired revisions, or we can prepare new production area drawings in either of these file formats working with your team. We can also work with your people to design, draft, procure, evaluate and debug new or improved fixtures for use on your production equipment.

You are looking at releasing to production a new product and need to put in place a process that will be robust and capable of providing the required production capacity within your cost window.

We have completed process development projects in the past in the following areas. These projects have included material vendor development, equipment specification, procurement, installation and commissioning. These projects also included the determination of robust operating parameters and preparation of operator and maintenance work instruction materials. We can assist you to develop new joining and assembly processes for existing products or new products.

• Adhesive Dispense and Cure Projects – structural epoxy, conductive epoxy and ceramic adhesive material and process selection, optimization and production implementation.

• Wire bonding, Welding and Soldering Projects– heavy aluminum wirebonding, and solder bonded miniature twisted pair, plasma welding and laser welding, PWB and MCM IR reflow process optimization and production implementation.