NEWS
PC Partner invests in Cogiscan Track, Trace, Control system
19 November 2010
System reduces costs and increases quality and customer satisfaction.

PC Partner, a leading Hong Kong EMS company has deployed a complete Track, Trace and Control (TTC) system from Cogiscan in their factories located in Dongguan, China.

PC Partner made this strategic investment in order to gain a competitive edge in the EMS business. The Cogiscan TTC system reduces manufacturing costs by increasing overall productivity. The machine and line downtime are minimized, while quality and yields are optimized. PC Partner can now demonstrate to their customers that all critical aspects of the process are controlled by a closed-loop system which eliminates the risk of human errors.

This represents a large scale deployment of the Cogiscan TTC system over 33 SMT lines and 95 pick and place machines of various brands and models. The system includes TTC software and RFID Smart Feeder hardware.

The Cogiscan TTC system tracks every single reel of components throughout the assembly process and provides real-time visibility on and off the assembly line. The system interfaces with production equipment to track the remaining quantity of components in real-time and to provide warnings and alarms before running out of parts. The TTC system is also integrated with the ERP system in order to automatically back flush remaining components after a production job is completed.

Using a combination of barcode, RFID and OEM intelligent feeders, all machine setups are validated offline which greatly reduces the time required during changeovers and replenishments. For machine models using mobile feeder banks the setup time is virtually eliminated.

Alan Poon, Operation Manager of the factory, commented: “This system works with any machine brand and model, making them all look alike in the software. With this solution in place, all of our machines are now intelligent and we have real-time data to make sure our lines never stop.” He went on to say: “With such a large project scope and the specific challenges of integrating the RFID with different model of machines, Cogiscan did a good job in delivering the system on time and on budget with minimal disruption to our ongoing 24 x 7 SMT operation.”

Future plans are in place to expand the scope of the system to include solutions such as traceability, MSD Control and eventually Factory-wide Track, Trace & Control of all materials and products, from receiving to shipping.

Cogiscan’s Co-President, Vincent Dubois explains; “We are honored to partner with this leading EMS Company in China. This project clearly shows the value of the Cogiscan TTC system for all categories of electronics manufacturers. This technology used to be required for high reliability products such as defense, aerospace, automotive and medical and now it is moving into mainstream manufacturing for computer and consumer electronics.”
About PC Partner
Established in Hong Kong in 1997, PC Partner is one of the world’s pioneering manufacturers of electronic manufacturing services (EMS), motherboards, graphics display cards and consumer electronics. With factories in Dongguan, China, the company specializes in offering state-of-the-art technology and quality manufacturing services to leading system integrators, distributors and OEM/ODM customers around the world.