On the Smart Move: Industry 4.0 in Electronics Production

Estimated reading time: 12 minutes

Part 2: Role Integration and Augmented Operation

Networked machines and lines in the smart factory of the future will generate huge amounts of data. We must keep in mind, however, that having lots of data is not the same as having transparency. You can manage the data generated by a smart factory only if it is processed in a way that makes people’s jobs easier in their respective roles. Someone in the kitting area, for example, needs different information about upcoming jobs at a different time than someone in the warehouse, in production scheduling, or in controlling. New, more flexible technologies for developing software interfaces harbor lots of opportunities, but here, too, it is important to remember that providing the best possible support for application- and customer-specific processes with interfaces and data structures is only possible if you are intimately familiar with these processes.

The factory of the future will also have to make do with fewer people on the shop floor. As a result, workers must be more flexible and be able to handle a variety of functions from machine operation to maintenance. All these activities require information, but to be able to work effectively, people cannot be forced to constantly run to fixed monitors and terminals and click through menus. Accordingly, tablets and augmented reality will play an important role. Employees will wear smart glasses that present the information they need depending on what they are looking at as in response to voice commands. A look at the SMT line will show live data about the order status, a look at the feeder will show when it can be torn down, and a look inside the machine will display images that guide the user step-by-step through the maintenance sequence.

Intelligent systems will guide employees through processes, assist them when necessary, and help them avoid errors. In short, they will make the processes more reliable. This principle of guided task assistance is not just wishful thinking. We already have LEDs on component feeders that let the operator on the machine or in the kitting area know when the feeder can be torn down or in which sequence it must be installed.

While equipment manufacturers and producers have focused on the development of ever more powerful software in recent years, this software and the related interfaces will have to be increasingly adapted to the individual user and his or her situational and procedural requirements.

Part 3: Virtual Production

While classic mass production allowed you to ramp up processes over time, small lots and lot sizes of 1 will make this impossible. Even the first unit of a new product must leave the SMT line free of faults.

The smart SMT factory makes this possible with simulations and virtual production. New products are initially run in a virtual but highly detailed image of the actual line. With today’s software, we are already able to execute placement programs on the computer and populate a circuit board virtually while taking the machine’s configuration fully into account. This allows us to uncover programming errors before they create costs as a result of discards and faulty placements.

In the future, we will be able to simulate complex manufacturing processes from component ordering to packaging—the more you automate, the more accurate the simulation. This allows you to uncover errors or conflicts with other job, synchronize and optimize production steps, and compute accurate throughput times and costs—long before the first product actually enters the line.

Linking the virtual production with the real one makes the simulation even more accurate. Any performance variations, maintenance intervals, vacation times, machine failures, new machines, and other historical and current data from the production floor are automatically taken into account in the simulation to minimize any deviations between plan and reality. The benefit for the electronics manufacturer: accurate planning provides more informative data and helps all the players in the value chain to optimally synchronize their processes and make them more efficient and agile.

Part 4: Process Control and Expert Systems

Process control and closed-loop systems are well-known methods and tools in automation technology, but the smart factory raises them to an entirely new level.

For example, the combination of sensor technology and software will reduce downtime even further. Many of today’s placement machines already have so-called self-healing features that enable them to fix minor errors automatically and without human interaction. Predictive maintenance functionalities will enable machines to indicate the need for maintenance and schedule it automatically in cooperation with manufacturing execution systems. They will even be able to request any parts they need.

Self-learning expert systems, however, will change process control in its entirety. These systems no longer measure and control on the basis of manually set threshold values, but determine the best possible process parameters by simulating and analyzing historical data. As their database, they can use not only the sensor data from the SPI, vision and AOI systems of a single line, but of all lines, all locations, or even all users. The resulting productivity and quality benefits will be huge.

Let’s look at an example: A manufacturer must introduce a new product. Instead of asking his experienced staff to run in the product and perform the necessary tests and parameter optimizations, he simply imports the PCB, component specifications, etc. into his expert system. The system looks for comparable products, PCB segments and component for which it already has historical data and optimized process parameters. Within a few minutes and without having run a single board, the expert systems adjust relevant process parameters on the line for the new product. The analysis of the first units then provides additional data, which the system uses instantly to make instant parameter improvements. The system does all this much more quickly and reliably than even the most experienced employee would be able to.

And if the product has to be run again months later, possibly in a slightly modified version? No problem. The expert system recognizes the product and makes all necessary modifications automatically. If the manufacturer moves the production to a different location, the new line can run it with maximum quality from the start.

The more often a modern manufacturer has to make product and setup changes, the more important the role of these new process control technologies will become.

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