Hai Robotics & Xinning Logistics Build Efficient SMT Electronics Supply Warehouse
Hai Robotics together with Xinning Logistics built the first HaiPick SMT electronics supply warehouse project, aiming to solve SMT supply management issues the company had and realize an efficient and accurate feeding process to help Xinning Logistics achieve efficient production.
Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) support many different types of electronic products. From consumer electronics such as smartphones, smartwatches, and televisions to equipment applications in aerospace and military fields, PCB is an indispensable primary component of electronic information products.
The PCB industry has the most significant output value in the global electronics component industry. According to statistical data, the global PCB industry output value in 2019 was USD 61.3 billion, of which the value of China’s PCB industry represents USD 32.9 billion, accounting for about 53.7%.
Surface Mount Technology (SMT) is a method in which electrical components are directly mounted on the surface of a printed circuit board (PBC). Using the correct accessories and assembly methods have a great impact on the quality of the end products, putting forward high requirements for SMT feeding accuracy.
Xinning Modern Logistics Co., Ltd. is mainly engaged in bonded storage service of electronic components, providing comprehensive third-party logistics (3PL) services for raw material supply, procurement, and production in the supply chain of the electronic information industry.
In July 2020, Hai Robotics, together with Xinning Logistics, built the first HaiPick SMT electronics supply warehouse in Wuhan, China. The project aimed to solve SMT supply management issues the company had and realize an efficient and accurate feeding process to help Xinning Logistics achieve efficient production.
Efficient Operation to Achieve 24h Material Feeding
Xinning adopts the operation mode of "preparation at night, production during the day." The warehouse needs to prepare materials in 3 hours that will be used for 24 hours of production. This requires high delivery efficiency and high peak shipment volume. Although the demand can be met by relying on many employees, manual paper-based order picking creates a large margin for error, resulting in more time spent reviewing the picking orders. Xinning Logistics and Hai Robotics jointly implemented the HaiPick smart warehouse solutions to reduce costs further and increase efficiency.
For the 3.3m high warehouse, HAI ROBOTICS customized 3.2m tall HaiPick picking robots to realize intelligent picking and storage and solve the time-consuming and low-efficiency problems of manual picking. Outbound efficiency reaches 440pcs/h, four times manual efficiency. It can efficiently complete material preparation within 3 hours for the 24 hours order tasks to meet the SMT feeding demand.
SMT Board Management Achieves 1.6 Times Storage Density
SMT boards are small and have different types, and this creates a large number of SKUs. Therefore, improving the storage capacity of the warehouse is the key. On the one hand, the warehouse is equipped with 3.1m high shelves to replace the 2m high artificial shelves, which improves the utilization of vertical space and increases the storage area. Additionally, the warehouse automation storage scheme adopts the dividable grid totes management method to improve the storage capacity utilization rate and achieve 1.6 times higher storage density to meet the SMT board storage requirements.
Accurate Material Information Management
SMT board management involves registering material number, batch number, board number, minimum packaging, and final board number. With the manual paper-based order-picking method used in traditional management, it isn't easy to manage material information. In addition, the SMT final board number is difficult to manage, leading to errors and significantly affecting warehouse inventory management and operation efficiency.
Xinning Logistics adopts LScode management and L/N, D/C management, and control method, combined with the HaiQ software system of Hai Robotics, to achieve accurate and digital SMT material information management. Even if it is challenging to manage the final board number, it can be easily located, and the HaiPick robot can pick up the goods intelligently. As a result, material management is more comprehensive and accurate, and the inventory situation is clear at a glance.
Simplified IQC Process Improves Employee Efficiency
Incoming Quality Control (IQC) helps control the quality of products and reduces the quality cost in the SMT feeding process. However, the manual IQC process needs to extract part of SMT products for targeted picking and quality inspection, which takes a long time.
HaiPick's automatic warehousing solution simplifies the IQC process by inventory checking process. The operator only needs to select the corresponding SMT product number. The IQC order will be automatically generated by the HaiQ system, which will be intelligently picked up by the HaiPick robot and transported to the sampling platform for quality inspection by operators, improving IQC efficiency.
Safe Anti-static Warehouse
The electronic industry of SMT boards has higher requirements for the storage environment. The solution customizes all aspects of anti-static facilities, including robots, totes, shelves, etc., to create a secure and automated warehouse.
In the future, Hai Robotics, together with Xinning Logistics, will continue to deepen the application scenarios and customer needs of the electronic industry and create more flexible, efficient, and intelligent warehouse automation solutions to solve customer warehousing pain points, to help electronic enterprises realize automation upgrading.
