In response to the increase in outsourcing from our OEM partners, GM Technical Services has developed state-of-the-art methods and measures in the assembly of all printed circuit boards. GM Technical Services' policies, procedures, organizational systems and operations all comply with ISO 9002 standards. We have established a relationship with a recognized registrar that will support us in the assessment and certification process.

The following are steps taken in the assembly of all printed circuit boards at GM Technical Services. Please keep in mind that this is not an in-depth account of our processes but is a good explanation of the advanced measures we follow in order to quickly ship defect-free products to our customers.

 

Using the Computer Aided Design (CAD) data and Bill of Materials (BOM) supplied by our customers, we utilize our Siemens VMPS software to program PCBs for our automated pick-and-place machines.

 

All resistors, capacitors and smaller ICs supplied on tape-and-reel are loaded onto one of our 250 Siemens feeders.

IC and other components which are supplied in tubes are loaded into our vibratory feeders.

Fine pitch components and BGAs, which are usually supplied on waffle trays, are loaded on our waffle pack changers. These waffle pack changers allow us the ability to place 28 different types of fine pitch and BGA components.

 

The stencils needed for the application of paste onto the PCBs are created in our hi-tech stencil printing shop from the gerber files supplied by our customers. Then using Kester water-soluble solder paste, our engineers place PCBs in one of our de Haart screen printers for paste application.

 

After solder paste has been applied to all pads of the PCB, the board is passed through one or more of our Siemens Siplace machines. Our machines have the capability of placing as many as 50,000 components per hour.

 

After all components have been placed on the PCBs, the boards are re-flowed in one of our 12 zone pure convection re-flow ovens. Thermocouples are attached to the first article board to develop an accurate thermal profile for all subsequent boards.

 

All water-soluble flux from the solder paste is washed off the boards using our Batch Cleaner using high-pressure de-ionized water and turbine blowers for proper drying. After washing, the cleanliness of the boards is checked with our Alpha Omega Meter SMD 600.

 

After all components have been re-flowed, they are immediately inspected by our CR Technology RTI 6500 Vision System for things such as wrong polarity, wrong part, shifted part, damaged part and bridging and opens.

 

Using either selective soldering methods and our Technical Devices Nu Era wave solder machine or hand-soldering techniques by one of our skilled work-team ™ members, through-hole components are applied to the PCBs.

 

The board washing procedure is repeated.

 

Next, boards are inspected by one of our work-team ™ engineers under a 30x magnification microscope. The proper documentation and traveler tags are included and the PCBs are ready to ship.

 

Finally, boards are wrapped with antistatic bubbles and shipped with one of GM Technical Services' delivery vehicles or via our FedEx account.

 

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