Circuit diagnosis support system for electronics assembly operations

Diagnosis and repair operations are often major bottlenecks in electronics circuit assembly operations. Increasing board density and circuit complexit y have made fault diagnosis difficult. But, with shrinking product life cyc les and increasing competition, quick diagnosis and feedback is critical fo r cost control, process improvement, and timely product introduction. This paper describes a case-based diagnosis support system to improve the effect iveness and efficiency of circuit diagnosis in electronics assembly facilit ies. The system stores individual diagnostic instances rather than general rules and algorithmic procedures, and prioritizes the tests during the sequ ential testing process. Its knowledge base grows as new faults are detected and diagnosed by the analyzers, The system provides distributed access to multiple users, and incorporates on-line updating features that make it qui ck to adapt to changing circumstances. Because it is easy to install and up date, this method is well-suited for real manufacturing applications. We ha ve implemented a prototype version, and tested the approach in an actual el ectronics assembly environment. We describe the system's underlying princip les, discuss methods to improve diagnostic effectiveness through principled test selection and sequencing, and discuss managerial implications for suc cessful implementation. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.