Author Topic: Inside the Humminbird Plant  (Read 9168 times)

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Offline Humminbird_Greg

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Inside the Humminbird Plant
« on: March 25, 2010, 02:20:12 PM »
Chuck and Robert;
Do the photos shown here bring back any memories?

Must have been taken on a Saturday as the Customer Service folks weren't at their building and not enough cars shown in the parking lot.















« Last Edit: March 25, 2010, 02:43:46 PM by RGecy »
Greg Walters at Humminbird
gwalters@johnsonoutdoors.com


Offline sonar2000

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Re: Inside the Humminbird Plant
« Reply #1 on: March 25, 2010, 03:09:21 PM »
Yes the pictures are good reminders of the plant tour.  How you get so much done in a single building is amazing. The good side of that is no outside impact to the mfg process.  Sure looks different without all the cars.  Or the truck with the funny cartoon character on the side.   ;D  chuck

Offline RGecy

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Re: Inside the Humminbird Plant
« Reply #2 on: March 25, 2010, 03:14:04 PM »
Greg,

I wish everyone could tour the facility like Chuck and I did!  It really shows how dedicated HB, Johnson Outdoors and its employees are to building a quality product.  Being able to see what goes in to manufacturing these products and all the little steps taken to ensure quality is absolutely amazing and has certainly solidified my belief in the product, company and its employees. (Not that I had any doubts!)

I know you could tell that I was just in Heaven with all the cool electronic gadgets!  It was hard keeping my hands to myself. 

Didn't security end up having to do a strip search on Chuck!   ;D

Robert


Comments by Chuck.   I was the diversion.  It is Robert that should have been searched.   :P ;D :o
« Last Edit: March 25, 2010, 04:46:06 PM by sonar2000 »
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Offline DougV

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Re: Inside the Humminbird Plant
« Reply #3 on: March 25, 2010, 04:54:11 PM »
Did you know Humminbird is the only US Manufacturer of Marine Electonics left in the United States? Pretty amazing they even build their own circuit boards on-site.

I would highly recommend a plant tour if you ever get in the Eufaula, Alabama area. World Class Facilities and People working there in Eufaula.


Offline Humminbird_Greg

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Re: Inside the Humminbird Plant
« Reply #4 on: March 25, 2010, 05:03:05 PM »
“Didn't security end up having to do a strip search on Chuck!   

Robert


Comments by Chuck.   I was the diversion.  It is Robert that should have been searched.       ”
Wish I had known that before they strip-searched Chuck as I’ll never get that image out of my head now!   :o  ;D
Comment by chuck:   I dont know who you were looking at.  I did not get searched.  unless you were down dressing me.   ;D ;D

Doug, how is it I’ve never gotten to meet you face to face when you’ve been down here?  Maybe I was actually working that day!  ::)



« Last Edit: March 25, 2010, 05:16:48 PM by sonar2000 »
Greg Walters at Humminbird
gwalters@johnsonoutdoors.com

Offline Jolly Roger

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Re: Inside the Humminbird Plant
« Reply #5 on: March 25, 2010, 05:53:58 PM »
Blast!!

Next time I'm in the states, I'll be in Eufala!

This isn't a threat but a promise  ;D.

Harry
YES,......
WE SCAN!

Offline bearpeter1

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Re: Inside the Humminbird Plant
« Reply #6 on: March 26, 2010, 08:56:43 AM »
with all the technology these days ,there is someone manually soldering part of the circuit  board.
interesting.
P. :o

Offline sonar2000

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Re: Inside the Humminbird Plant
« Reply #7 on: March 26, 2010, 01:06:15 PM »
This is where the outstanding quality of HB shines.  Components are machine installed and soldered.  However, as with any machine process there can be room for error.  HB sets fairly high standards for soldering and each board is inspected and tested in the assembly process.  If quality control observes a questionable solder they may elect to have a person rectify the joint or may reject the board.  the second picture is ione of the many machines that solder the components.  What is even more interesting is how the machine installs the components before soldering.  If you ever get a chance,  arrange a tour of the plant.  It will make your head spin.    chuck

Offline Humminbird_Greg

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Re: Inside the Humminbird Plant
« Reply #8 on: March 26, 2010, 02:26:52 PM »
Chuck is right.  That’s an SMT (surface mount technology) 48 pin QFP (Quad Flat Pack) that is being hand soldered.  My guess is that this is a staged picture due to the size of the wire core solder being used.  Typically we pick and place than solder the SMT components all by machine – even the ones on the bottom side of the PCBs.  We still have to hand place some through-hole components by hand by they go through a solder wave.  The only time we hand solder is when we have to rework a solder connection and this is all according to the IPC-A-610-D specification.  That picture of the placement and soldering equipment should be familiar to those of you who read industry specific publications as we’ve been featured in a few as well as being in one manufacturer’s adds that we buy equipment from.

PCBs are visually and electrically tested by machine.  We use live feedback on our yields from different stages in the operation as can be seen in some of the pictures (see the bar graphs on the projection screens hanging from the ceiling) which are from a custom in-house program that will also send a text (via cell phone) to the Manufacturing Engineers if he yield rate drops below whatever the goal for the product is.  If we do have to rework a solder connection we have monitors that will show the rework person where the faulty solder connection is.  All PCBs are serialized so that we can track down to the individual PCB level if needed.  Even with all this (and more) going on we are not satisfied and have plans on making additional changes to help further improve things here which will help us build the units faster yet more accurately.  As it is now we have a lot more going on than can be covered on a one hour tour!

Greg Walters at Humminbird
gwalters@johnsonoutdoors.com

Offline mendota

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Re: Inside the Humminbird Plant
« Reply #9 on: March 26, 2010, 04:17:39 PM »
I have to tell you, I was pretty surprised to see that HB assembled their own PCB's.

I had thought their core expertise was sonar systems, not PCB assembly.

Do you have any excess capacity?  Can I get some PCBA's quoted?

This may explain some of the quirky design choices, like the connectors. ::)

Offline Humminbird_Greg

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Re: Inside the Humminbird Plant
« Reply #10 on: March 26, 2010, 04:54:54 PM »
Quirky?  What do you mean?
No extra capacity here especially this yime of the year.

Greg Walters at Humminbird
gwalters@johnsonoutdoors.com

Offline blharr4400

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Re: Inside the Humminbird Plant
« Reply #11 on: March 26, 2010, 11:19:36 PM »
Greg,

That is pretty cool stuff...  I am a mechanical engineer and spend a  lot of time designing check fixtures/testers for PCB boards on the automotive side.  Everyone talks about Humminbird's quality control and I do believe it is there but I do have a couple of quick questions if it is something that can be share with the public.  I know on the automotive side most PCB are barcode labeled at the beginning and then as board componets are removed from the reels and places on the boards they rolls they come off of are also scanned and documentation is made as to which compents and there specs are on which boards.  Also as boards are insetred into the finished product ( in your case the completed unit) they are often run through 200% test in the begining of the production run, then 100% after a given time based on customer specs and then they will go back to 200% testing if there becomes common defects/failures in the field.  I would be curious to know Humminbird's quality standards but also know this is sometimes proprietary information and understand if you can't share it.  If you have any interest in communicating privately feel free to contact me by email at ben@pelotoninc.com

Thanks,
Ben
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Offline sonar2000

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Re: Inside the Humminbird Plant
« Reply #12 on: March 27, 2010, 10:51:27 AM »
Yes the first step in board assembly is to barcode (serial number) the circuit board. It is laser etched.    Pretty neat and makes tracking the board thru mfg process a breese.   Chuck

Offline Humminbird_Greg

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Re: Inside the Humminbird Plant
« Reply #13 on: March 27, 2010, 12:24:58 PM »
Ben,
Not sure how much I can or should say here.  I'll say that after the components are placed the PCBs go through a 100% visual test (by machine), than 100% electronic test, get assembled and 100% electronic test again, go through a burn-in period (for infantlie electronic part death), get 100% tested again before being boxed up and sent to the truck for shipping.  Lots of testing so units that will fail do so for us and not the Customer.  There may be lots of similarities between us and automotive because one of the top guys here (my Boss) worked for an automotive electronics supplier for 20+ years before coming here - he was a great find for us!
Greg Walters at Humminbird
gwalters@johnsonoutdoors.com


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