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The generic design environment for a flexible printed‐circuit board assemblies (PCBA) remanufacturing cell contains four interrelated complex design domains. Mechanical design domains are really complex and the use of well‐proven mechanical product design methodologies does not help the designer. Hence, this paper aims to develop a generic systematic design methodology for a flexible PCBA remanufacturing cell.

The study investigates the use of conventional mechanical product design techniques for the design of a flexible PCBA rework (remanufacturing) cell. It indicates problems and the weaknesses when conventional product design techniques are used for the development of flexible manufacturing systems (FMS). It then provides a new systematic mechanical design methodology for designing a flexible PCBA rework (remanufacturing) cell. The design methodology is intended to be generic in order to apply successfully to any FMS design.

Conventional product design methodology cannot be used directly for the design of a flexible PCBA remanufacturing cell. Hence, two design methodologies were developed: the generic FMS mechanical design methodology and a specific FMS design methodology for a PCBA rework cell. The first one was developed based on the tasks of the conventional product design process integrated with new design tools. The generic design methodology was then extended to obtain the second methodology for a PCBA rework cell design. Both of the methodologies were applied to a flexible PCBA rework cell design problem. Both design methodologies eliminated unusable design solutions at the early design stages of the conceptual design process and made the design process easier.

The generic and specific design methodologies provide a better design environment, even for less specialized FMS designers.

The design methodologies may help for the commercialization of a flexible PCBA remanufacturing cell that may be used for SM rework and assembly.

The purpose of this paper is to apply the developed systematic mechanical design methodologies, that are obtained in part I, to investigate their success in designing mechanics of a flexible printed circuit board assembly (PCBA) rework cell.

The decision of soldering and desoldering tool, which is the most critical function of a PCBA rework or remanufacturing cell, significantly influences overall design concept. Therefore, the paper starts by applying the design methodology to the soldering and desoldering function. The same study is repeated for the rest of the sub‐functions but only the results are provided.

An application of rework machine design methodology for the design of a PCBA rework cell has been made available. In addition to this, the embedded knowledge, such as the requirements list, the function structure, the function/means tree, the weighted objective tree and evaluation chart for the soldering and desoldering function are provided.

The paper is the first work providing both embedded knowledge and the application of the systematic design methodology for the design of a fully automated flexible PCBA rework cell. The methodology leads rework machine designers in a well‐controlled and structured design environment.

The design methodology can be applied to all functions or targeted on key weighted areas to ensure that the designed rework machine meets the key areas of concerns. Furthermore, the methodology is generic and may be used to develop other complex manufacturing sytems.

To design a flexible integrated robotic assembly and rework (remanufacturing) cell for assembly, selective assembly and rework of advanced surface mount components (SMCs) using the generic methodology developed in this paper.

Manual rework procedures are investigated for all advanced SMCs. General and specific component‐related rework considerations are obtained and necessary tooling candidates for automation are determined. This is followed by determination of the specific automated rework procedure and selection of suitable tooling for automated robotic rework and generation and evaluation of design concepts.

The developed methodology, which considers the reflow tool at the centre of the development process, has worked well in designing a flexible integrated robotic assembly and rework cell.

This study identified the rework requirements for advanced SMCs, the essential features for rework reflow tools, criteria for comparing reflow tools, and a generic procedure for design and concept selection.

It provides valuable knowledge for designers of flexible integrated robotic assembly and rework cells for assembly, selective assembly and rework of advanced SMCs.

The purpose of the present study was to review the thermo-mechanical challenges of reflowed lead-free solder joints in surface mount components (SMCs). The topics of the review include challenges in modelling of the reflow soldering process, optimization and the future challenges in the reflow soldering process. Besides, the numerical approach of lead-free solder reliability is also discussed.

Lead-free reflow soldering is one of the most significant processes in the development of surface mount technology, especially toward the miniaturization of the advanced SMCs package. The challenges lead to more complex thermal responses when the PCB assembly passes through the reflow oven. The virtual modelling tools facilitate the modelling and simulation of the lead-free reflow process, which provide more data and clear visualization on the particular process.

With the growing trend of computer power and software capability, the multidisciplinary simulation, such as the temperature and thermal stress of lead-free SMCs, under the influenced of a specific process atmosphere can be provided. A simulation modelling technique for the thermal response and flow field prediction of a reflow process is cost-effective and has greatly helped the engineer to eliminate guesswork. Besides, simulated-based optimization methods of the reflow process have gained popularity because of them being economical and have reduced time-consumption, and these provide more information compared to the experimental hardware. The advantages and disadvantages of the simulation modelling in the reflow soldering process are also briefly discussed.

This literature review provides the engineers and researchers with a profound understanding of the thermo-mechanical challenges of reflowed lead-free solder joints in SMCs and the challenges of simulation modelling in the reflow process.

The unique challenges in solder joint reliability, and direction of future research in reflow process were identified to clarify the solutions to solve lead-free reliability issues in the electronics manufacturing industry.