Interview with Luis Bresil of ZF TRW

by SMT Today Editor

February 2016

ZF TRW is a primary developer and producer of active and passive safety systems and serves all major vehicle manufacturers worldwide with an established footprint that includes facilities in more than 20 countries. It maintains 22 technical centers and 13 test tracks in vital markets around the world.

The world of automotive safety is rapidly changing as the convergence of active and passive safety systems become the foundation for automated driving functions. ZF TRW is already providing many driver assist and semi-automated functions today, such as adaptive cruise control, lane keeping assist, blind spot detection, lane change assist, emergency steering assist, and emergency brake assist and collision mitigation systems. In the fiercely competitive automotive electronics manufacturing business, the company is constantly looking for ways to reduce cost and improve quality. The goal is to stay profitable while keeping satisfied customers. To meet that goal, ZF TRW has been using KIC technologies for years, including in its Limeira, Brazil, facility. Here we speak to Luis Bresil, the operations supervisor of ZF TRW’s Brazil facility to find out more about the region’s trends and how KIC has been able to help improve ZF TRW Brazil’s facility and processes.

What are ZF TRW Brazil’s long-term goals (5 years)?

Our long-term goals are very much related to gaining new business and expanding factory capacity with new products and new customers. Because safety electronics is a new segment in Brazil – it has been a national regulation only since 2014 – and our factory here has less than two years of full operation, our main goals are focused on upgrading the factory to help advance us as a high-quality player in the market.

What opportunities is ZF TRW Brazil pursuing for the moment and in the future?

ZF TRW Electronics in Brazil is responsible for supplying air bag control units and anti-lock braking systems (ABS) to the main players of the automotive market in Brazil. Currently, we are pursuing new customers with lower volumes, but higher levels of product features, resulting in more complex assemblies.

Currently, what are ZF TRW Brazil’s biggest manufacturing challenges?

We are working to stabilize test equipment. We work with an average first pass yield of around 98% on most test equipment; however, some systems exhibit an unstable behavior, making them unpredictable. In terms of PCB and final assembly, the factory is very stable.

Please briefly elaborate on ZF TRW Brazil’s competitive landscape.

ZF TRW is the first safety electronics factory in Brazil to produce air bags and slip control units. As previously mentioned, this market is relatively new in Brazil, but most of the automotive manufacturers still import their controllers from overseas suppliers. As the pioneer of this product line in Brazil and supplying to the main players in this market, our challenge is to stay competitive while continuing to bring in new customers.

How is technology changing your manufacturing applications?

The word “stand alone” almost does not exist in our factory. All equipment is connected to a complex system of databases, scanners, cameras and traceability systems, where human beings have low interaction with the quality of the product.

What trends do you see in the demands that your customers place on ZF TRW Brazil?

The most common demand is lower cost. To achieve this, ZF TRW works on continuous improvement and reducing cycle times and product changeover times, among others. Efficiency is a key for our business.

Please describe briefly your production philosophy and the production line features and capabilities.

ZF TRW Brazil works on the following philosophy: Getting it right the first time and continuously improving every process. This is our baseline. All production systems are based on a proprietary traceability system that ensures the operation follows the baseline. All equipment is connected to this system and any operation can proceed after checking that the part on the process (POP) was approved on the previous operation. This is called “prior step check.” If the answer is NOT APPROVED, all equipment after is automatically locked for the POP. Only the quality department can unlock this chain. Everything is connected from the opening of the box of raw material to the pallet of finished goods inside the truck.

Do you utilize an MES System (Manufacturing Execution software)?

We can consider our traceability system to be a type of MES because it is not just for trace, but also for process flow route and control. Any information regarding cycle time, production, quality, test values, etc. can be found on this system.

Why did you invest in these machines and capabilities?

We invested in these machines and capabilities in order to guarantee high-level quality of products, prevent shipment of defective parts to the customer and to support the customer on the chance that a field issue is detected.

What are the main benefits that the current production line and supporting systems have provided for ZF TRW Brazil?

To make a long story short, the main benefit is that we have a very low rate of issues with the customer. Internally, we help guarantee low scrap rate, high first pass yield, and full control of WIP, finished goods and all the manufacturing process.

What future improvements are you looking for? Why?

Some customers are being more critical in terms of assembly quality, especially because this division of ZF TRW is dedicated to safety products, where faults are not acceptable. To be compliant with this trend, the products are moving to exceed IPC class 3 requirements. Part of the factory is fully capable to achieve such a level of assembly, but post-reflow inspection is a bottleneck now, so it is natural that we move from a 2D to a 3D system in the future.

Why have you implemented an automatic profiling system and thermal monitoring system in your reflow oven?

We did this to guarantee process repeatability, which is essential to achieving the high level of quality our customers require. I cannot think of a better way to guarantee product quality without looking to full-time monitoring of the oven profile. This is particularly important for products with very different component sizes, where the thermal mass is different and, consequently the heat transfer. A stable profile, with low PWI and high CPk, is essential to keeping the product on the right track.

What are the problems this system solves?

Minimal difference on the profile or a process trend moving to the limits of the spec is promptly alarmed and the process stops, avoiding the risk of non-conforming products, with traceability of all batches produced within a defined time window. In other words, we avoid creating problems and throwing away both company and customer money.

What additional benefits have you experienced?

Preventive maintenance can be better planned based on the oven’s behavior, and some behavior is only possible to detect when you follow your process 100% of the time.

Have you experienced any quantifiable improvements in quality, cost, production downtime or other as a result of your KIC investment?

Yes, using 24/7 saves significant changeover time because it gives us temperature profiles as quickly as the oven turns on the green light. That is impossible using a manual stand alone profiler. I cannot quantify how much money we have saved using the 24/7 because we started using this system since the beginning of our operation, so my baseline is exactly what I have now.

Can you explain the human role in your automated production line?

Basically, the human operator’s function is to feed the equipment, prepare the shipment, and keep up with machine maintenance. All quality parameters, inspections and process flow controls are automatically controlled.