Automotive electronics · Subsidiary of a Fortune China 500 group
Traceability moves from batch level down to reel level
The customer base is mainly OEMs and tier-one suppliers, and supplier audits follow IATF 16949. What the auditor wants is not a feature list but which reels went into a given SN, which stations it passed and who operated them.
An audit used to need a full SN history stitched from three systems; now it exports in one go.
Background
Three process stages on one site, frequent audits
SMT, DIP and assembly share one site. The product is mainly automotive control modules: not many models, but frequent batch changes. Every shipment needs traceability documents to the customer's format, with a system audit at mid-year and year-end.
The project started from a customer audit findings list. The auditor required complete material, process and test records by SN, while the plant could only produce batch-level ledgers, with reel numbers and station times compared by hand.
Problems
Four problems that stalled the audit
These are not feature gaps but record-keeping gaps: at what moment, and by what action, the data is captured.
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01
The warehouse records batches, the line uses reels, and the two do not match
Receiving is registered by batch and issuing by quantity. When a quality problem appears, finding which boards a reel went onto means circling a whole batch and comparing issue slips by hand.
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02
DIP and post-soldering run on paper travellers
Station times and operators at insertion, post-soldering and touch-up are written on the traveller that moves with the board and is filed at the end of the shift. Finding when a board passed the wave solder means going through that day's sheets.
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03
Rework part changes leave no trace
At the repair station a part is swapped and the board goes straight back to the line, with no record of what was changed or which reel it came from. When the same defect repeats in a batch, it cannot be told whether rework introduced it.
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04
One SN's history is spread across three systems
Loading records are in MES, test data on the fixture PC and repair records in a shared spreadsheet. Producing a full history for an audit means exporting from three places and stitching them together.
Scope
Three process stages, four module groups
Starting with the traceability chain the audit asks about most, then process records and test parameters, with attachments and reports connected last.
Process stage
Modules in use
Approach
Fix the scan that has to happen
Error-proofing works through the process rather than training: if a step cannot be passed without the scan, operators do not skip it.
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01
Receive by reel
Incoming material is received by scanning the reel label, and batch number and reel number are bound at registration. Every later issue carries the reel number; the batch is just an attribute of the reel.
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02
Loading scans the reel against the feeder
Loading requires scanning both the reel label and the feeder code, so the system records when that reel went onto which machine and which feeder. Splice loading is scanned too, which makes the hand-over time between reels traceable.
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03
Scan at every DIP station
Insertion, wave soldering and touch-up each get a scan point with a tablet at the station. The next station cannot be entered without a scan, and pass times and operators are recorded by the system rather than on the traveller.
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04
Rework opens its own repair order
Repair requires an order, and a part change requires scanning the new reel. Repair records hang under the original SN, and multiple repairs of one SN are ordered by time so the change introduced by each can be seen.
Results
Questions that can be answered in the audit room
No percentage improvements, only what can be looked up after go-live. Each item was checked one by one at acceptance.
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Full history by SN
Material reel numbers, station pass times, operators, test parameters and repair records sit on one timeline and export in one go.
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Impact range by reel
Entering a reel number lists every SN that used it, with no need to circle a whole batch.
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Audit documents produced on the spot
The SN and batch the auditor names are queried and printed in the room, with no trip back to the office to prepare them.
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Rework-induced defects can be separated
Within one batch of defects, original process defects can be distinguished from those introduced during repair.
More cases
Similar projects
Scope varies — match it against the process stages in your own plant.
Similar projects
Automotive electronics audits are stricter
If customer audits also require a full history by SN, bring the current traceability sheet and it can be compared against.
- Phone
- 134 1205 3770
- chengzhi780@bczktech.cn
- Address
- Building 8, Room 303, Yilisheng Industrial Park, 602 Fengtang Avenue, Tangwei Community, Fuhai Street, Bao'an District, Shenzhen
Shenzhen Baichuan Zhike Technology Co., Ltd. · Since 2015 , serving electronics manufacturers across handsets, tablets, automotive electronics, FPC, WiFi modules, energy storage and more.