Application of Cleaner Technology and experimental design for the reduction of chemical substance consumption in the hard disk drive arm coil assembly process

Abstract

The objective of this research is to apply the Cleaner Technology (CT) and Design of Experiment (DOE) concepts in the hard disk drive arm coil assembly process, in order to reduce chemical substance (i.e. epoxy and Isopropyl Alcohol (IPA)) consumption. In the production process, epoxy is used to fix the arms and coils, whereas IPA is used to clean the arms before they are delivered to the production process. These chemicals are toxic and cause irritation to workers if they are not careful. Furthermore, the ineffective use of these chemicals adversely affects production costs. The research methodology was divided into two main parts. The first part employed the CT concept to analyze the loss during production, as well as the causes of loss. Opportunities to reduce those losses could then be recommended. The next step was to further analyze and evaluate a particular CT opportunity using DOE. In this second part of the research, DOE was used to reduce the chemicals used in the process by finding the optimum amount of chemicals used which does not affect the quality of the product. Full factorial experiment 2 k , with two replicates was used for screening the four factors, these being: IPA, work-piece curing, epoxy usage and air pressure. The response variable was the arm coil bonding force. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted. The results of the study show that the optimal operating conditions are: 1) to clean the arms without using IPA, 2) to cure the work-pieces, 3) the filling of 65 mg of epoxy between the arm and the coil, and that 4) there is no significant impact of the air pressure on the arm coil bonding force. The results of the confirmation test show that the arm coil bonding force is in accordance with customer specifications. The results of the experiment have subsequently been put into practice. Thus, reducing the amount of epoxy wasted in the production process helps save approximately 70,208 Baht per annum, while cleaning without using IPA can save 2,154,240 Baht per annum. In conclusion, applying CT and DOE can help to make overall cost savings of 2,224,448 Baht per annum.

The implementation of cleaner production practices from Malaysian manufacturers' perspectives

“…This has been influenced by manufacturers' awareness that the adoption of CP technologies in manufacturing operations has wide benefits for companies, workers and the environment (Hicks and Dietmar, 2007;Nosrat et al, 2009;Moolla and Chompu-inwai, 2010;Zeng et al, 2010). From economic and social perspectives, CP practices have been shown to have a significant impact on ecological management and sustainability in economic development (Getzner, 2002).…”

The Sustainability Challenges in the Adoption of Cleaner Production System: A Review

“…Economic performance, perceived to have an important role in the adaptation of the CP system [7,26,34]. Although high investment is required at the beginning stage, CP has been proved successful in providing the economic benefits of long term operation [5,13,18].…”

“…Moreover, it is also can provide the opportunity in increasing the ability to detect the preliminary causes of the environmental problem from various aspects at an earlier stage. This will subsequently provide the advantages to the manufacturer in obtaining good economic benefits [6,16,34]. However, low awareness in implementing the innovation process and less of acceptance with CP technology also was the challenges that need to overcome in practising the CP system [9,21].…”

Spiral Defect Reduction of Hard Disk Drive Media

“…There are various applications of cost reduction through quality improvement in electronics as shown by failure analysis of ultrasonic pitting and carbon voids on magnetic recording disks [1] aimed to reduce carbon voids and ultrasonic power for improve disks quality, defect reduction of patterned media templates and disks [2] with respect to inspection methodology of hard disk pattern using jet and flash imprint lithography and characteristic and reduction of a new particle defect mode in sub-0.25 µm semiconductor process flow [3]. Six Sigma has been wildly and increasingly accepted in electronics and computer industries as a tool for the cost reduction through process improvement [4,5,6,7] due to its systematic procedures based on the statistical analysis [8].…”