A Focus on Productivity and Profitability: Several Case Studies

Abstract: When the National Electronics Manufacturing Initiative (NEMI) emerged in 1996, and for the next few years, the Board Assembly section of NEMI’s Roadmap spent considerable time discussing productivity metrics. At the time, the most widely accepted metric for assessing productivity and profitability was non-material assembly cost per I/O assembled (NMAC/I/O.) This metric measures the cost to assemble a given number of I/O connections and divides by the number of connections assembled. NMAC/I/O was widely used by OEMs through the late 1990s. In the PWB assembly section of recent iNEMI Roadmaps, productivity does not get as much attention as in the past and NMAC/I/O is not even mentioned.

One could hope that the decline in interest in PWB assembly productivity is based on the fact that productivity improvement is not needed today. Sadly, the author does not believe that this is the case.

This paper will review several productivity and profitability case studies and discuss the opportunities for improvement in each one, emphasizing lean concepts. In addition to reintroducing NMAC/I/O, "Profitability Potential" will be discussed as a new metric to replace "Cost of Ownership" when considering the purchasing of electronic assembly equipment and materials.

The paper will finish with a survey that will help to assess the state of an assembly line’s productivity and profitability.