Telecommunication company gets a boost with automated assembly

Telecommunications  

A manufacturer of electronics for a global telecommunications company faced challenges scaling production due to the labor-intensive process involved with the assembly of radio frequency filters. The company selected Bright Machines’ smart automation solution to boost productivity and scale production. 

The Problem  

A manufacturing line in Europe that produces electronics for a leading global telecommunication company was facing productivity issues in the assembly and inspection of the company’s radio frequency filters. The assembly process, including tuning, screwing, soldering and dispensing, was manual and labor-intensive, relying on up to 28 human operators per day to produce a filter. Additionally, many of the tasks were difficult for human hands to complete accurately and quickly.  

In this mode, scaling production was challenging. The company needed a way to improve the productivity line rate and take more control over their manufacturing processes.  

The Solution  

The company implemented a Bright Machines Microfactory with Bright Robotic Cells to automate and manage tedious assembly processes, including screwing, labeling, glue dispensing and more.  

Depending on the filter design, assembly operations can typically be done only once and if done improperly, the entire unit must be scrapped. Leveraging computer vision, the Bright Machines solution ensured accuracy of placement and dispensing as well as visual verification after each operation, therefore preventing costly scrap.  

The Results  

By automating the assembly and inspection process, the company was able to increase yield and lower defect rates. Results included:  

• 80% reduction to assembly line headcount 
• 20% increase of units per hour (UPH) output 

Through data collection, increased process control repeatability, ensuring radio frequency filters assembled correctly for higher yield. By introducing automation to these heavily manual processes, the company removed the need for human operators and implemented a more viable and effective solution to boost the production of electronics products.  

For more information, check out:  

• Product Page: Bright Machines Microfactories 
• Video: Microfactories: Explained   
• Video: Software-Defined Microfactory for Electronic Assembly 
• Video library: More Bright Machines Videos 

• Webinar: EMS 2.0: How To Remain Competitive in Electronics Manufacturing 
• Blog: Factory increases process control repeatability 
• Blog: EMS 2.0: What’s Next for Electronics Manufacturing

To learn more about our capabilities in building the backbone of AI, visit Bright Machines.