Optimization of Solder Paste Requirement Calculation in the SMT Printing Process

Abstract

Surface Mount Technology SMT manufacturing requires accurate planning of the availability of solder paste, which directly influences the material consumption, production efficiency and manufacturing costs. In this paper, we analyze three calculation approaches for solder paste requirements, including Theoretical Stencil Volume Calculation, Solder Paste Inspection SPI Measurement and Actual Weighing, to find a feasible strategy in SMT manufacturing environment. A comparison was carried out with ten production datasets of Printed Circuit Board PCB sizes. The accuracy of each approach was tested by comparing the calculated amount of solder paste with the actual material consumption. The results indicated that the SPI Measurement method had the lowest average variation of 4.8% and the average deviation of the Theoretical Stencil Volume Calculation approach was 7.9%. In addition, the average waste of solder paste was reduced by 23.49% with stencil volume-based planning. SPI Measurement had a greater precision but the implementation was limited by the machine performance and the inspection file limitations.