PCB manufacturers are facing an ever-increasing competition in terms of cost, delivery and quality. Moreover, since PCBs are produced on order-adaptive bases, it is essential for a PCB maker to have flexibility to cope with the wide variations in volume and product mix. As a result, PCB manufacturers are relying on process-outsourcing suppliers as a means to enhance flexibility while reducing costs and lead-times. Thus, strategic use of outsourcing capacities is a critical factor in achieving competitiveness. However, existing manufacturing execution systems (MES) do not support outsourcing-related decisions properly.
In this study, functional requirements of the outsourcing execution module of MES for PCB manufacturing are identified based on an in-depth analysis of outsourcing processes in PCB industry, and then a simulation-based MES supporting outsourcing planning and execution has been developed. Using this outsourcing simulation system, a systematic procedure for effective outsourcing planning is presented to cope with the dynamically changing environments of PCB industry. Finally, the outsourcing simulation system has been applied to an actual outsourcing planning in a leading PCB maker in Korea. In this case application, dynamic relationships between outsourcing decision variables and key performance indexes (KPI) are analyzed and some useful attributes related to outsourcing decision-making are identified.
