Universal Instruments to Distribute Mentor Graphics Production Plan Tool for Fuzion SMT Platforms

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Mentor Graphics Corp. has announced that Universal Instruments will offer the Valor Production Plan tool to users of Universal Instruments' Fuzion surface mount technology (SMT) placement platform. The Valor Production Plan product will help Universal Fuzion customers optimize their manufacturing planning parameters and take advantage of the machine's increased capacity and overlapping component range between placement heads, resulting in higher machine utilization.

The Valor Production Plan product enables users to optimize SMT manufacturing setup by grouping products using unique, proprietary technology that takes into account the detailed requirements of the complete production flow. Finite planning is available for thousands of work orders across multiple assembly lines, addressing constraints such as machine capacity, feeder availability, shift capacity, and available machine time. The Valor Production Plan tool acts as a decision-supporting tool for production planners, allowing them to assess different scenarios ("what-if" analysis) and choose the optimal setup for maximum productivity.

"Our Fuzion platform provides an ideal solution for customers dealing with high-mix assembly and short delivery schedules, and the Valor Production Plan software further increases their ability to meet these challenges," stated Glenn Farris, Universal Instruments Vice President of Marketing. "The combination of this best-in-class planning software with our market-leading SMT platform creates a highly productive flow, suitable for both OEM and EMS manufacturing environments."

Key features and benefits of the Valor Production Plan software for the Universal Fuzion platform include:

• Ability to import Universal .ci2 SMT program files, part libraries, and to export multi-track parts, optimized static setting and optimized groups in Universal DPO format;
• Extremely fast optimization engine allowing on-the-fly simulation of different manufacturing scenarios;
• Comprehensive modeling of available assembly lines, feeders, trays, trolleys, processing times, feeder change policy, and operator availability, ensuring feasible and correct planning.

"Our vision has always been to provide the industry's best design-to-manufacturing flow, and teaming up with Universal Instruments provides us with an excellent opportunity to offer this flow to our joint customers," stated Dan Hoz, general manager of Mentor Graphics Valor Division. "Today, as intelligent production planning becomes a key facilitator of Industry 4.0 implementation, this integrated solution can easily help manufacturers accelerate the adoption of these optimized capabilities."

Product Availability

The Valor Production Plan solution for Universal’s Fuzion product is available today. For more information, click here. For additional information on Universal Instruments’ manufacturing software, click here. To learn more about the Fuzion product, click here.

About Mentor Graphics

Mentor Graphics Corp. is a world leader in electronic hardware and software design solutions, providing products, consulting services and award-winning support for the world’s most successful electronic, semiconductor and systems companies. Established in 1981, the company reported revenues in the last fiscal year of approximately $1.18 billion. Corporate headquarters are located at 8005 S.W. Boeckman Road, Wilsonville, Oregon 97070-7777. For more information, click here.