-
- News
- Books
Featured Books
- smt007 Magazine
Latest Issues
Current IssueComing to Terms With AI
In this issue, we examine the profound effect artificial intelligence and machine learning are having on manufacturing and business processes. We follow technology, innovation, and money as automation becomes the new key indicator of growth in our industry.
Box Build
One trend is to add box build and final assembly to your product offering. In this issue, we explore the opportunities and risks of adding system assembly to your service portfolio.
IPC APEX EXPO 2024 Pre-show
This month’s issue devotes its pages to a comprehensive preview of the IPC APEX EXPO 2024 event. Whether your role is technical or business, if you're new-to-the-industry or seasoned veteran, you'll find value throughout this program.
- Articles
- Columns
Search Console
- Links
- Events
||| MENU - smt007 Magazine
ASM Visualizes the Smart Factory with Augmented Reality, CFX Demo, Workflow Solutions
March 9, 2018 | ASM Assembly SystemsEstimated reading time: 4 minutes
At the recent IPC APEX EXPO 2018 in San Diego, California, SMT solutions provider ASM Assembly Systems shed a special spotlight on its capabilities for smart factory implementation. The Hermes Standard and the new IPC CFX Standard were buzzy topics at the ASM booth, underlining the increasing need for standardization in electronics manufacturing to achieve a more integrated, transparent production floor.
Visitors to the ASM booth were able to see the capabilities of CFX with ASM machines via a link provided by the IPC: they were able to access live data on the machine status. An Augmented Reality tour at the ASM booth guided visitors through vital workflows in an electronics production and visualized data and information flow as facilitated by ASM solutions, giving show delegates a view into the efficiencies that can be gained through workflow optimization. After the tour, guests were invited to the ASM café, where top electronics companies and members of the SMT Smart Network share their stories in a series of videos about successful implementation of ASM workflow solutions.
"In order to fully support electronics manufacturers on their move towards a more integrated, automated and smarter production, equipment manufacturers need to look beyond what is happening at their machines only," explains Mark Ogden, ASM Senior Manager, Regional Marketing for the Americas. "Developing standards, smart software solutions and working closely together with customers and partners to understand their processes: at ASM, we are actively driving all of these topics. ASM's technologies provide a comprehensive approach to workflow management for the entire factory operation to raise efficiency, increase quality and provide extreme flexibility."
Figure 1: The ASM booth was set up to reflect a typical SMT production floor and included stations for four line workflows (Planning, Virtual Production, Preparation, Production) and four factory workflows (Factory Monitoring, Process Optimization, Material Management, Factory Integration).
At the ASM exhibit, the SMT solutions provider highlighted its various efforts in fully realizing Smart Factory concepts in electronics manufacturing: its active participation in the development and implementation of new open standards, close collaboration with the members of the SMT Smart Network and broad portfolio of solutions for each major workflow in electronics production were prominent topics at the ASM booth.
Hermes Standard and CFX for Open Communication on the Shop Floor
The increasing need for open standards was a prominent topic at IPC APEX EXPO 2018. ASM highlighted its participation in The Hermes Standard initiative. The Hermes Standard, which debuted in 2017, is an open, modern and much more powerful alternative to the obsolete SMEMA standard. The TCP/IP- and XML-based protocol of The Hermes Standard makes it possible to transport circuit boards through all stations of the line with full traceability and no loss of data while minimizing the need for reading devices such as barcode scanners. By employing well established technologies like XML and TCP/IP, The Hermes Standard works with easily available and affordable cables and connectors – something that used to be a major challenge with SMEMA during service calls and especially when lines had to be reconfigured. In addition, the standard's protocol-based instead of signal-based specification makes for easy implementation and advancement.
Also featured at the ASM booth was a live demo of the IPC's new open standard CFX, which is designed to facilitate data exchange between production equipment and superimposed systems to support electronics manufacturers in accessing and accumulating machine information, and analyzing it to drive production efficiency. CFX therefore presents a logical counterpart to The Hermes Standard, with the latter supporting horizontal integration along the line and the former aiding vertical communication between the production lines and superordinate systems. For the live demo at APEX, two virtual ASM machines were sending various status data throughout the week to the CFX-powered cloud and gave real-time information to the visitors' smart phones, e.g. on how many boards had been processed and whether the machine was currently running or had stopped.
Solutions for Eight Central Workflows
An Augmented Reality tour guided visitors through the exhibits at the ASM booth, which was set up to reflect a typical SMT production floor and included stations for four line (Planning, Virtual Production, Preparation, Production) and four factory workflows (Factory Monitoring, Process Optimization, Material Management, Factory Integration).
Highlighted solutions included demonstrations of SiCluster Professional and ASM Line Planner software, DEK printer programming for offline creation of printer programs, SIPLACE Material Set Up Assistant for operator guidance for material logistics, DEK NeoHorizon and DEK Horizon 8 printers as well as SIPLACE SX and SIPLACE TX placement platforms. SIPLACE Line Monitor alerts of pending component replenishment requirements and now also includes oversight of printer consumable levels. ASM ProcessExpert uses stencil Gerber data and its broad knowledge base to make print process input (stencil type, solder paste, squeegee length, PCB support tooling and clamping) and parameter (print speed, print pressure, separation speed and cleaning rate) recommendations.
Real-Use Cases from the SMT Smart Network
Putting these workflow technologies into practice, the SMT Smart Network reference customer videos illustrated how an ASM partnership is paying dividends. The SMT Smart Network is a lose association of electronics manufacturers from all over the globe, designed to help them share experiences and best practices for Smart Factory concept implantation together with ASM.
Across applications as diverse as automotive, LED lighting, industrial and power storage, and integrating different workflow systems like preparation, virtual production and material management, the customer videos detailed in concrete, bottom-line terms what workflow optimization can deliver in resource savings, reduced downtime and yield improvement.
"With the combination of the augmented reality tour and actual experiences of our customers, visitors to the ASM booth got the rare opportunity to see the conceptual through to the practical all in one go," says Ogden.
Suggested Items
Connect the Dots: Designing for Reality—The Pre-Manufacturing Process
05/08/2024 | Matt Stevenson -- Column: Connect the DotsI have been working with Nolan Johnson on a podcast series about designing PCBs for the reality of manufacturing. By sharing lessons learned over a long career in the PCB industry, we hope to shorten learning curves and help designers produce better boards with less hassle and rework. Episode 2 deals with the electronic pre-manufacturing process. Moving from CAD (computer-aided design) to CAM (computer-aided manufacturing) is a key step in PCB manufacturing. CAM turns digital designs into instructions that machines can use to actually build the PCB.
AIM Solder Signs Shinil Fl Ltd. as New Distributor for Korea
05/08/2024 | AIM SolderAIM Solder, a leading global manufacturer of solder assembly materials for the electronics industry, is pleased to announce a new distribution partnership with Shinil Fl Ltd., a prominent supplier of technological solutions in the SMT and semiconductor sectors.
Indium Corporation to Showcase HIA Materials at ECTC
05/07/2024 | Indium CorporationAs an industry leader in innovative materials solutions for semiconductor packaging and assembly, Indium Corporation® will feature its advanced products designed to meet the evolving challenges of heterogeneous integration and assembly (HIA) and fine-pitch system-in-package (SiP) applications at the 74th Electronic Components and Technology Conference (ECTC), May 28‒31, in Denver, Colorado.
Indium Corporation Expert to Present on Pb-Free Solder for Die-Attach in Discrete Power Applications
04/30/2024 | Indium CorporationIndium Corporation Product Manager – Semiconductor Dean Payne will present at the Advanced Packaging for Power Electronics conference, hosted by IMAPS, held May 8-9 in Woburn, Massachusetts, USA.
Taiyo Circuit Automation Installs New DP3500 into Fuba Printed Circuits, Tunisia
04/25/2024 | Taiyo Circuit AutomationTaiyo Circuit Automation is proud to be partnered with Fuba Printed Circuits, Tunisia part of the OneTech Group of companies, a leading printed circuit board manufacturer based out of Bizerte, Tunisia, on their first installation of Taiyo Circuit Automation DP3500 coater.