Page 202 - Six Sigma for electronics design and manufacturing

Chapter
6
Six Sigma Quality and
Manufacturing Costs of
Electronics Products

In this chapter, the need for accurate estimates of cost and quality
will be shown, especially for mature technology products. In addition,
expected cost and quality levels can be used as design guidelines for
product functional partition, design quality assessment, and material
and process selection in manufacturing. Developing an accurate qual-
ity and cost model for new electronic products, specifically for printed
circuit boards (PCBs) is important, since PCBs represent the major
part of cost, especially for assembly and test requirements. The model
should be used as early as possible during the design stage, and is
based on the design and manufacture of the PCB assembly operations
as well as the manufacturing line equipment selection and layout.
The following aspects of the relationship between quality and cost will
be explored:

1. The overall electronic product life cycle cost model. In Section 6.1,
the generalized product life cycle is reviewed, outlining the differ-
ent phases that products and technologies go through, and the re-
lationship of cost and quality to each phase. The elements that
make up each electronic product cost are outlined, and techniques
for monitoring and controlling costs are shown. These techniques
include developing cost models especially for the primary cost fac-
tors, which are the PCBs.

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