Aperfeiçoamento de uma giga de testes automatizada utilizando comunicação serial

Abstract

This work led to a 57% increase in the capacity of an assembly line in a Brazilian automotive electronics company. In order to achieve this result, the assembly line was analyzed and a bottleneck was identified in the product test procedure performed by electronic automated test equipment. A change in the validation process was implemented so it would be possible to perform tests simultaneously by means of an improved test equipment using a serial communication bus and a protocol converter. After the implementation of this improvement, the test time was reduced by 57%, eliminating the bottleneck in the line validation process. However, such a change transferred the bottleneck to the process performed prior to the test, which was solved by the addition of a new collaborator. The improvement has been made in the pre-existing equipment of the assembly line. It was not necessary to buy new equipment or to invest in major adaptations. The idea of using the serial communication was based on the need to establish a communication link between various products and a single test equipment, that might not lose important information sent in real time during the testing process. We have developed a protocol converter, enabling communication between the test equipment and the products under test without affecting its internal operation. The improvement in the assembly line allowed us to reach the main objective, which was to increase the capacity of the line, and thus the company's competitiveness.