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.