Automotive Electronics Manufacturer Quadruples Throughput

In traditional board test strategy, manufacturers need to load and unload printed circuit board assemblies (PCBAs) for in-circuit tests (ICT). This process introduces a significant level of potential human error, such as binning tested boards incorrectly, scanning boards in the wrong sequence, and introducing electrostatic discharge that can damage integrated circuit components. This mishandling raises concerns about product quality and the life span of electronic automotive systems. If undetected, potential functional failures, such as a faulty braking system, can create hazards that affect the safety of road users.

A leading electronics manufacturer of automotive PCBAs wanted a more efficient way to test its products and ensure quality and performance. Its circuit boards are commonly used behind the electronic control units of driver monitoring systems in advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), electromobility transmission control units, and other automotive applications.

The Challenge: Increase Efficiency, Reduce Human Error

Sales of automotive electronics systems are expected to see a compound annual growth rate of 6.4% from 2017 through 2021, according to IC Insights ^[1]. This increased business opportunity puts more pressure on the already competitive contract electronics manufacturing environment.

As the automotive electronics manufacturer ramped up production of new products, it needed to increase the efficiency of its production and test processes to ensure excellent operating performance. Its goal was to produce the best-quality product at the lowest cost.

To achieve this objective for its high-mix production, the manufacturer needed to improve operator cost. It also needed to boost test throughput while ensuring the highest product quality.

The company’s investment in operators had increased over the years. Each operator required training and retraining for new product introductions. Their long working hours made them prone to human error. With the stringent requirements and regulations in automotive production, the manufacturer wanted alternatives to eliminate these errors.

The Solution: Inline Handlers

To solve its challenges, the manufacturer wanted to automate production. It compared using robotic arms against inline handlers. The company decided to adopt the Keysight E9986E i3070 in-circuit testers with automated inline handlers because of the solution’s higher throughput capabilities (see Figure 1). With this solution, the manufacturer would no longer need an operator for each system and could reassign operators to other jobs.

To further increase throughput, the manufacturer chose a tester with higher resource density to check the panels of two boards its production lines were assembling. It chose a tester that could split its resources into independent modules to test each board in parallel with the other. Since the tester configuration had four such modules, it could test four boards or two panels in parallel, quadrupling throughput. In this way, it was able to exceed its 3.1-boards-per-minute beat rate goal.

Automated dual-board staging and Throughput Multiplier feature

The automotive manufacturer’s driveline control module PCBA was a board with 580 nodes. It tested the boards on the Keysight E9986E ICT system with its dual-board staging. To boost test efficiency, it used the Throughput Multiplier software feature in the E9986E, which enabled four PCBAs on two panels to be automatically loaded and simultaneously tested in one test cycle (shown as Figure 2).

The manufacturer also made full use of the tester’s four-module architecture, wrapped up with an automation handler to provide fast testing.

The tester’s fully automatic operation allowed the test to take place with no human intervention. The inline ICT system integrated seamlessly with the rest of the automated assembly equipment along the manufacturing line to produce consistently good quality products.

The dual-board staging capability enabled simultaneous loading of two panels of two boards each into the tester (Figure 2). The tests included the full range of unpowered and powered tests on passive components and integrated circuits, including microcontroller programming and high-voltage Zener testing. All tests took place in parallel on each of the four boards loaded into the tester using the Throughput Multiplier feature. For the manufacturer, it was almost like testing the board with four separate testers.

After ICT, the boards went into a routing machine to separate them from the panel before moving on to functional testing and further stations.