EN
An SMT workshop with a fast-paced and stable production environment has the characteristics of balanced lines, reduced work-in-progress, and on-time delivery. It cannot be achieved without an effective PCB material handling system to realize consistent PCB flow. The SMT PCB magazine rack is one of the important pieces of equipment to establish and maintain the consistency of the SMT production line. Shanghai Leenol is committed to providing "Total Solution" to achieve ESD requirements for factories and labs, its products cover Leerack Handling Storage ESD Equipment, Leepak Packing Material, Leebench Factory and Lab Furniture, LeePPE Personal Protection, Leepur Cleanroom Products, and LeeStat Testing Equipment and Tools. The SMT PCB magazine rack can ensure consistent PCB flow by being organized and efficient, batch processing without congestion, reducing flow interruptions of ESD and physical damage, and integrated into automation and real-time tracking. Four benefits are introduced as below:
How Meeting the Demands of Modern SMT Production Facilities Drives Preference
A modern SMT production floor cannot afford to wait-their speeds and accuracy are beyond anything imaginable ten years ago. Current placement machines place over 50,000 pieces per hour, and tiny components have been reduced to 0201 (0.6mm x 0.3mm) and even 01005 (0.4mm x 0.2mm). A stoppage in PCB flow translates to considerable time and money lost. Because these needs are so stringent, a storage solution must be: standardized, automation compatible and reliable. The SMT PCB Magazine Rack provides for all of these needs. It maintains strict tolerances, (per SEMI and/or EIA-481 standard), for direct interface with automatic loaders, unloaders and conveyor systems. It is built tough to stand up to consistent use. Its static safe, ESD compliant, materials safely store sensitive components. Common storage equipment cannot meet such requirements. Leenol Shanghai is built to be the preferred SMT magazine rack and Leenol SMT storage solutions are designed for today's production floor. The LeeIntelligent SMT storage system makes the magazine rack process fully automated through automated buffering, pick-up and delivery. Today, in a modern manufacturing facility running 24-hour, non-stop, SMT production, the PCB magazine rack is less about choice-and more about necessity.
Superior ESD Protection Compared to Generic Storage
It can make full use of the potential of SMT machines to produce more by standardizing production in batch. If SMT machines can only produce one PCB or random amount each time, then machines would be either underutilized or experience rapid and disruptive changeovers. Magazine rack ensures PCB batch process: each magazine rack typically contains a certain quantity of boards based on size and thickness of PCBs, i.e. 25, 50 or 100 boards, for instance. When the machines are set to use SMT PCB magazine rack full of boards, they can run efficiently and minimize waiting and queuing. It prevents machine starvation and production bottlenecks. An automatic loader takes a magazine rack from a tower and sends it directly into a machine and then waits for another magazine rack. When manual production is applied, operators can use one magazine rack to fulfill the demands of production at a bench and then prepare the next magazine rack. The LeeIntelligent SMT Storage System from Leenol can manage the automatic buffering, transferring and unloading of racks for batch processing to create balance for the SMT line with multiple machines.
Space Efficiency and Standardized Workflow
Damaged PCBs often break PCB flow continuity. Damaged parts must be removed for rework and can even cause a whole machine or even line to shut down if damage occurs before automated inspection. What is worse, undetected defects can damage machines downstream, which results in additional waste and rework. SMT PCB Magazine Racks ensure that PCB flow is unbroken and seamless due to robust physical protection. Their ESD-safe (conductive or dissipative) materials prevent electrostatic discharge, which can damage components at the molecular level, leading to hidden failures or malfunction over time. Each compartment of the rack protects the sides of the PCB, preventing scratches, cracks, and component dislodgement. The magazine racks also provide support for entire PCB, and prevent soldering points from cracking during transport as they minimize vibration effects. In addition to LeeRack ESD magazine racks, Leenol offers comprehensive ESD-protected ecosystem of LeePak packing material, LeePPE personal protection, Leepur cleanroom products, and LeeStat testing equipment, all are vital for ESD sensitive components production and SMT processes. As an agent, we also deal with ESD ionizing equipment, testers, and inspections. Thus, all ESD sensitive components are well protected from internal and external ESD threats and thus to guarantee smooth PCB flow.
Physical Protection and Lower Defect Rates
Modern SMT workshops often use automation, and manual control systems such as spreadsheets or memories are difficult to achieve accurate and real-time feedback and thus to control and manage PCB flow precisely. Standard external dimensions of SMT PCB magazine racks, for example, 355mmx320mm, allow automatic loading machines, automatic unloading machines, conveying systems and storage towers to communicate with magazine racks directly. Many magazine racks are designed with barcodes or RFID ports. The position of magazine rack is constantly monitored as it moves throughout the workshop through automatic scanner equipment. This information is captured in real-time and communicated to the MES (Manufacturing Execution System). MES display current amount of WIP, predicting delivery time to each station, automatically managing to replenish racks on time. In this way, uncertainty of the PCB flow is completely eliminated and bottlenecks in the line are visibly found. The LeeIntelligent SMT Storage System provided by Leenol integrates with MES and ERP for real-time rack buffer, retrieving and discharging. For workshops committed to the Industry 4.0, the SMT PCB magazine rack becomes an indispensable tool for controlling PCB flow precisely.
Summary
SMT PCB magazine rack has become one of the key equipment for SMT production lines in the effort to create and maintain a well-organized production environment, enabling standard batch processing to achieve efficient throughput without bottlenecks, reducing loss due to ESD and physical damages, and realizing real-time control of PCB flow when integrated into automation and information systems. This helps SMT workshops achieve seamless, high-throughput production workflow. Leenol is a professional "Total Solution" supplier, and is able to provide a series of Leerack handling storage products and LeeIntelligent SMT Storage Systems as well as LeeBench factory and lab furniture (ESD workbenches, ESD chairs), Leepak packing material, LeePPE personal protection, Leepur cleanroom products, LeeStat testing equipment etc., which work together to secure a comprehensive solution for SMT workshops. Please contact Leenol to learn more.
