The following is included as a clarification for those unfamiliar with kitting systems, and was recommended for inclusion by the web designer as it helped to further her understanding.

The Partfolio is a device intended for use by companies who assemble circuit boards manually. In order to use this device effectively, they have to do a few things, as follows:

First, somebody, or a company computer program, has to determine what components go into a given circuit board, and where on the board these components are located. See the form called Screen 1 (Assembly Instructions) for an example of this. Screen 1 is the input to our software.

Second, the kitting engineer, or someone at his level, has to decide the best configuration of these components within the kit (in this case, the Partfolio), so that the components can be placed optimally into the various bins in the Partfolio, in order to both maximize the number of boards which can be kitted into the Partfolio, and optimize the ease of assembly for the assembler. One bin is the section between two divider slots on a Partfolio tray. This tends to be a burdensome, time consuming, and error prone operation. It is for this step two that we are attempting to design software. Following the directions from the software, demonstrated in Screens 2 thru 19, the required components are actually retrieved and placed into the Partfolio bins according to the Kittinng Instructions Please see Screen # 13 and Screen #20 for .samples of what the program produces.

Third, and finally, the program produces Screen #21 (final Assembly Instructions in the DEMO, including the bin-tray assienments for the various components), the filled kit (Partfolio) is released to the assembler on the floor, with these assembly instructions available at his/her workstation. The assembler follows these instructions, each mouse click removing the specified part from storage inventory as the board is assembled, and placing it into finished goods inventory.

We were a little surprised to learn how complex and burdensome step two described above really is. The reasons for this are that the components vary a great deal in size - sometimes a long part will need more than one bin, or overall dimensions determine that a specific maximum number of components can be stored in a given segment of nnn bins (requiring several sequences of nnn bins to be used to maximize the total number of boards which can be kitted), or that, for example, the tray size of the smaller Partfolio is too small, and building this board using the small Partfolio is not feasible at all.

On top of all this, the component i.d.'s themselves are long and complex, and the engineer/board designer has to assign 'short codes' once he has determined the actual components he needs to minimize error in actual assembly. Why should the customer go to all this 'pre-kitting' trouble? If he does not, the decision making process for assembling the ordered circuit boards is shifted to the assembly worker, who is often measured by quantity and speed of output, instead of accuracy and who takes parts as needed from open bins all over the assembly floor. The scenario goes something like this: Assembler Joe shouts across the floor to assembler Mary, "Hey, have you got any of x------------x? I need some and my bin is empty". Or Joe has to get his parts from Inventory Storage. These situations often result in errors of assembly (requiring rework), lost components (some of which are very expensive, indeed), lost time on the part of the employee, ineffiicient use of floor space, loose inventory control, unhappy customers, and a more expensive finished product, which adversely affects the bottom line of the board assembly company or contractor.

If, on the other hand, Assembler Joe had a pre-kitted Partfolio delivered to him, with the kitting instructions to make x boards at his work station, all parts needed, and only those parts needed, would be available to him, his productivity would increase, assembly errors would decrease, costs would be lower, he could become more efficient, and the remaining parts in the kit would be returned to storage to await the next order for that specific board (or re-kitted for one like it). However, all these desirable things happen only when step two above is perfected. Thus the software.

The software to be designed is for a multi-user computer environment (many engineer/designers at once, and then many assemblers to indicate that the boards have been assembled, even though only one workstation at a time will be involved, as the kitted Partfolio is relieved of its corresponding parts during board assembly. Access to the company data base which holds all the components is also needed at both ends.

Conventions used are as follows: when text is in CURSIVE or Italic, the text has been input by the operator (engineer, designer, assembler etc., i.e., a person) When the text is not italic or cursive, it has been computer produced Grey Shaded cells means the data shaded can be changed by the operator Black shaded cells indicate specified deletions of assembly steps Scrolled rows are replaced as the DEMO progresses on the computer.