The IPC-CFX Train Is Approaching Your Station

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

I hear that train a comin’
It’s rollin’ ‘round the bend
And it’s making limited stops on its way to taking electronics manufacturers to Industry 4.0.

That last line may not have made it into Johnny Cash’s final lyrics for “Folsom Prison Blues,” but it fits a lot better into a technical piece vs. the guy in Reno who did make it into the original lyrics.

There is an IPC-CFX train building momentum. It seems like every time we turn around, we hear about more progress being made—some we can report and some we can’t—and it shows that if your company hasn’t started its own IPC-CFX journey, it’s time to book your ticket and hop on board.

We see increasing signs that show expanded utilization of the plug-and-play, machine-to-machine communication standard, as well as future-looking ways in which IPC-CFX can help EMS and OEM companies meet their long-term factory automation and data analytics objectives.

Conversations with solution providers, such as developers of manufacturing execution software (MES), reveal that many are encouraging their customers to adopt IPC-CFX because they can focus their time on getting full value from equipment data rather than spending time on translating proprietary languages and protocols between equipment on the line.

Equipment vendors continue to demonstrate through the IPC-CFX Qualified Products List (QPL) that their equipment’s IPC-CFX capabilities will meet their customers’ needs. Through the IPC-CFX-QPL, EMS and OEM customers can also get clear visibility into vendors’ equipment capabilities, including where equipment is missing optional IPC-CFX capabilities.

EMS and OEM companies see the value of having a plug-and-play system that will support faster integrations of future capital equipment purchases and light up their factory automation and data analytics strategies through the data-rich IPC-CFX messaging.

We also see increased calls for IPC-CFX to expand beyond SMT to include PCB manufacturing, back-end-of-line, and even non-electronics manufacturing. There is even word that IPC-CFX is being used right now for the manufacture of car doors. Not the electronics assemblies for car doors, but actual car doors. If there is a manufacturing need for plug-and-play, it seems there are companies out there finding a way to plug IPC-CFX into it.

There are also concerted efforts within industry for IPC-CFX integrations; one example is the exciting new developments out of Taiwan.

Taiwan Says ‘Ni Hao’ to IPC-CFX

In September 2022, under the guidance of the Industrial Development Bureau, Ministry of Economic Affairs, Taiwan (IDB), the Taiwan Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers’ Association (TEEMA) and the Institute for Information Industry (III) held the EMS Industry Supply Chain Resilience and Digital Transformation Technology Forum. The objective was to advocate for digitalization for Taiwan EMS companies.

To read this entire article, which appeared in the July 2023 issue of SMT007 Magazine, click here.