"You've got mail!" the voice from some computers announces.

We do indeed. Worldwide we received nearly 16 billion e-mails each day in 2001. By 2005, forecasts IDC, a market research firm, 36 billion will arrive daily.

Teradyne executives take these numbers quite seriously. That's because the Nashua, N.H.-based company estimates that 80% of all e-mails – some 13 billion a day now – travel over Teradyne products that go into Internet routers, servers and e-mail storage devices.

Building high levels of performance, quality and reliability into these products is critical to Teradyne. And applying smart materials handling while minimizing handling where possible are central to the company's manufacturing efficiencies.

Products made by the Teradyne Connection Systems (TCS) division include something called backplanes. These interconnect products are large printed circuit board assemblies that become electronic backbones for high-performance communication and storage equipment.

Backplane assembly is a low-volume, high-mix process. But at its newest U.S. facility, the TCS plant in Hudson, N.H., Teradyne has automated certain manufacturing steps for maximum cost and materials handling effectiveness.

The Hudson plant is carefully laid out to optimize production, says Mark Galvin, site manager. In-house-engineered materials handling systems, moreover, have eliminated many manual activities, adds Wayne Morrison, TCS assembly business manager. Ergonomics is strongly emphasized, he adds.

Backplanes made in Hudson tend to be large and heavy. Some measure three feet high by five feet long and can weigh up to 70 pounds. Focusing on safe ways for people to build products results in better, more efficient processes, he explains. Yields improve, too.

A simple, rail transport system integrates multiple workstations. It expedites moving backplanes through assembly. And it enables operators to avoid manual lifting in many cases, explains Don Girard, manufacturing advancement group manager.

The backplanes are held, top and bottom, between two horizontal rails, which are adjustable for different sizes of backplanes. Operators manually slide the backplanes from workstation to workstation (see photo).

During assembly, operators must hand populate each backplane, placing on it a variety of connectors and other devices, such as power modules. A computerized, light-directed assembly system helps maintain product quality and operator productivity at very high levels.

Incorporating this system into a continuous flow line process is unique to this industry. Teradyne engineers developed the system as they sought to reduce the opportunity for errors generated in a high-mix environment. Currently, only Teradyne's Hudson, N.H. and Cavan, Ireland plants have the system.

The system simplifies parts placements on a backplane. It makes this activity virtually error free and more precise, enhancing product quality. And it's a big factor in the plant's ability to triple productivity.

"To some extent," says Mark Schappler, work center manager at the Hudson plant, "we are a large-scale job shop."

"We handle lot sizes as small as one, two, or three backplanes, on up to 500 or more on an order," explains Girard,

A continuous-flow approach now replaces what elsewhere is still a very batch-oriented process for custom products, notes Girard. Flexibility also is a key feature of this process, adds Schappler. Very quick changeovers from one lot to the next can be achieved.

Here's how this system works: For each part placement step, a computer-driven, overhead spotlight shines down. It illuminates precisely one small, rectangular area on the backplane, for example – and lights only that one area – where a specific part goes. Meanwhile, a computer monitor displays key data. Included are part details and graphic instructions for a specific placement operation such as part number, orientation and part location on the backplane.

There's now less tedium and fatigue for employees compared to batch process procedures. In the past, operators had to read electronic wiring diagrams, then manually populate backplane surfaces with connectors and other parts. Typically, they did so working on a single backplane for an hour or more.

With continuous flow, individual operators work on only sections of a particular backplane. Over an hour's time, each individual might finish sections on as many as five or six of these boards. Work-in-process boards move quickly on to the next workstations. Under this approach, Girard says, operators have a greater sense of accomplishment. Work performance also is less likely to be affected by any exhaustion factor.

Operators no longer need to read wiring diagrams on paper. Instead, the light-directed part placement system, together with its monitor display of vital data, tells them all they need to know about a step or job. They pull parts out of kits held on an ergonomically adjustable tray at a workstation, and place them. This system simplifies operator training. And there's more control over the backplane population process, Girard says.

The Hudson plant now has capacity to assemble 200,000 backplanes a year.

Productivity gains at Hudson have been impressive, as Girard also notes. He details one, apples-to-apples comparison: Operators built the same very large, thick, and heavy backplane product by batch and by continuous flow. They made 400 backplanes in seven days over three shifts by a batch process, Girard says. Later, they assembled 600 backplanes in five days on just two shifts with the new continuous flow approach.

Do the math: Operators were three times as productive by continuous flow, averaging 60 backplanes made on each shift compared to less than 20 each shift by the batch method.

Productivity gains like that are what help Teradyne interconnect technology keep up with the unrelenting demand for more bandwidth in order to handle the rising volumes of billions of e-mails sent each day.

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