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The continued need for size, weight and power reduction is driving electronics manufacturing towards embedding of components of Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs). Embedded components include thin film resistors placed in the build-up layers of PCBs. One challenge of embedding resistors is that applications require tighter resistance specification range as can be achieved by standard processes. Process capability analysis is widely used to assess how parts produced conform to the required specifications. In industrial practice, the normality assumption is often used to compute the traditional process capability indices (PCIs). However, the resistance values analyzed in this book are shown to be mainly characterized by non-normal distributions. Therefore, a new methodology for process capability analysis is proposed to assist industry to define the correct PCIs based on the underlying distribution to investigate whether the process is capable of delivering more stringent specifications. The methodology has wide applicability to any organization´s domain and is especially useful to professionals in Electronics and Quality fields.

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Gabriela Zárate, MS: Studied Industrial and Systems Engineering with concentration in Quality Assurance at the State University of New York at Binghamton. Process Control Leader at Tetra Pak Inc., Querétaro, México.

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