Increasing Singulation Machine UPH through Characterization and Standardization of Saw and Handler Parameters through DMAIC Methodology

Abstract

This study aims to address the problem of machine saturation and low capacity at package singulation, caused by increasing product loading and new devices that requires frequent machine setups and conversions. With this evaluation, the process and equipment engineering group collaborated to improve the machine unit per hour (UPH) of package singulation machines at the manufacturing assembly.  Target improvements were divided into three phases, so that the team could focus more on each phase and was able to define robust parameters without compromising the product quality.  DMAIC methodology was used to improve the productivity of package singulation machines. With the help of our methodology, we identified the root cause and contributing factors to the problem. UPH improvements per machine were validated and assessed in terms of machine efficiency and product quality, because of characterization and standardization of every parameter in each phase of the project. The achieved total improvement was of 17.64%.