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However much we strive to achieve the perfect process that produces a flawless product, we cannot get there from here. Although perfection remains a laudable goal, the pace of change in the electronics industry is much too fast to attain it. Therefore, we must find ways to live within our limitations, both technical and economic, to meet our customers' expectations, fill their needs, and solve their problems. From a business perspective, any product must also generate sufficient revenue to support the organization and its operation, with enough left over (profit) to please shareholders. Building an Intelligent Manufacturing Line explores these seemingly incompatible goals, addressing the complicated twin tasks of manufacturing and quality assurance, showing their interdependence and outlining strategies for creating the right balance. It explores abandoning time-honored "brute-force" approaches that build products, then subject them to a battery of test steps, each of which attempts to weed out every conceivable fault. It helps manufacturers find new solutions and apply existing techniques in new ways, balancing the production process itself, test and test-like steps, and process monitoring and feedback. Along the way, the work widens the traditional definition of "test." It presents techniques to quantify the effect of product complexity and the challenges of repair and scrap on the overall success of the manufacturing operation.
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