Six-Sigma and Taguchi Approaches to the Printed Circuit Board Quality Improvement

Abstract

Problem: The manufacturing of printed circuit board (PCB) has been popularly developed, which demands quality and being effective in increasing customers’ satisfaction, decreasing costs, reducing defects and profitable warranty. However, practical experiences in the process of using statistic quality method – to be particularly significant in the manufacturing of PCB have shown over 60% of all circuit failures relating to the printing process which is the most critical step in PCB manufacturing. Approach: The aims of this research are to apply the Six-Sigma DMAIC to reduce the defects and improve the quality of PCB. At the beginning steps, process capability analysis (PCA) is employed to inspect and analyze the current printing operations. Afterwards, Taguchi method is applied to design experiments, analyze the significant factors and determine the optimum settings.Results: Taguchi is the core statistical tools for Six Sigma improvement and attaining a higher Six Sigma level, so by applying the optimal settings, the printing process can also be improved.