Automating electronics manufacturing

The automation of electronics manufacturing is crucial to its competitiveness and technological evolution. Advanced electronics products require advanced manufacturing technologies to produce them. Both the physical manufacturing process and the data handling process must be automated to make the manufacture of such products practical. Computer-automated manufacturing is the key to the future of electronics. This paper presents an overview of automation in electronics manufacturing to illustrate where it is today and where it is going in the future. The role of computer-automated manufacturing in electronics and the key technologies involved are discussed. Trends in these technologies as well as examples of automated electronics factories are presented.