Abstract

This article is based on an internal memorandum that summarizes the first 9 months of a successful quality improvement project in which the authors participated. The project occurred in wave solder and touch-up areas in a factory of a major defense contractor. The product was circuit boards used in an advanced conventional (i.e., non-nuclear) missile system. After only 9 months, the following results were observed: productivity in the wave solder and touch-up department increased by 363%; solder yield (wave solder and touch up) improved by 20%; occurrence of defect-free wave-soldered boards increased by 400%; wave solder defect rate (on a per 1000 solder joint basis) reduced by 62%; excessive touch-up reduced by 86%. The authors believe that success was due to top management's active participation, the persistence of "champions" in the quality engineering department, cooperation between many departments, the formation of a team with broad and deep knowledge of the process, and training the team to use simple data collection and analysis tools.