Automating electronic production with electrical pressure-sensitive adhesive tape

The electronics manufacturer who wishes to achieve or maintain leadership in his field cannot afford to overlook methods of automating the dispensing and application of pressure-sensitive electrical tapes used in his production.The purpose of this paper is to discuss the evolution of tape automation from simple hand operations to completely automatic tape applying machines. Examples of manual, semi-automatic, and fully automatic machines are described and illustrated. The importance of uniform physical properties of pressure-sensitive adhesive electrical tapes with respect to automatic application is emphasized. In addition, specific tape handling techniques will be discussed.