The next level in electronics production

ASMPT, the global innovation and market specialist in SMT and semiconductor manufacturing, will demonstrate further advancements in its Integrated Smart Factory concept. In addition to the SMT line hardware, the focus will be on new software concepts for intelligent data analytics and usage, optimised material flows, continuous process optimisation, and effective personnel deployment.

ASMPT will once again be represented at the productronica fair, booth A3.377, with its SMT Solutions and Semiconductor Solutions segments as well as with its software division, MES specialist Critical Manufacturing. ASMPT will present its end-to-end hardware and software innovations for the electronics manufacturing industry that – from the line level, through the shop floor to the enterprise level. ASMPT Semiconductor Solutions will focus on high-end solutions for semiconductor manufacturing in the automotive sector, while ASMPT SMT Solutions, together with Critical Manufacturing, will demonstrate how electronics manufacturing can be successfully taken to the next level of the digital transformation.

Integrated Smart Factory takes the next step

“Automation is an important success factor for SMT manufacturers, but it is by no means the ultimate solution,” explains Waldemar Christen, Vice President CRM at ASMPT SMT Solutions. “That’s why our Open Automation concept with its standard industrial interfaces gives customers the freedom to choose what, when, and to what extent they want to automate. The goal is not to have a ‘lights out factory’ with no people, but to run an integrated and sensibly automated operation as a systemic unit that is specifically geared to ROI-based aspects – a concept that we have already established together with our customers. With our productronica presentations, we are now taking electronics manufacturing to the next level by combining the data gained from the integration of existing hardware and software with ASMPT’s process know-how, which is unique in its breadth and depth, to build future-proof, intelligent solutions for more effective staff deployment, optimised material flows, and data transparency and analytics – always with the goal of achieving zero DPMO.”

Manufacturing as an integrated whole

In line with this new orientation, the trade fair presentation will focus less on individual products and more on electronics manufacturing as an integrated system. Accordingly, ASMPT will demonstrate highly networked production lines consisting of solder paste printers from the DEK TQ platform, the high-end Process Lens HD SPI system, and SIPLACE SX and SIPLACE TX placement machines. There will be two line versions: one for maximum efficiency and performance, and one for maximum flexibility. For the first time, we will also present fully automatic program changeovers that allow for the uninterrupted manufacturing of constantly changing products with family setups. And our hardware and software solutions for optimised material flows will show how the storage and transport of circuit boards, components, tools, and a wide variety of consumables can be automated and perfected across all production facilities.

Focus on software

Software will be a special focus area at the ASMPT booth this year, with the SMT smart shop floor management suite WORKS playing a central role. The new generation of the WORKS applications has been improved and expanded with many intelligent functionalities, such as the WORKS Production Planner and the WORKS Material Flow Optimiser for planning and material flow management and the WORKS Command Centre for the effective deployment of specialists on the shop floor. The WORKS Process Expert quality assurance and process optimisation solution now monitors and optimises the production along the entire line in combination with ASMPT and third-party SPI and AOI systems and reduces errors to a minimum for maximum yields.

Thanks to standardised interfaces such as IPC-2591 CFX, integrative data analyses for in-depth and comprehensive process optimisation are now possible with the SMT Analytics software. And with the Factory Equipment Centre for intelligent asset and maintenance management and the comprehensive Factory Material Manager and Factory Automation applications for the management of automated material storage and transport, ASMPT’s software now addresses the factory level in addition to the shop floor.

Also ubiquitous at the ASMPT booth will be Virtual Assist, the personal AI assistant for technicians that allows them to retrieve information about a machine quickly and easily. Virtual Assist helps scarce skilled workers and especially newcomers to solve problems quickly by letting them speak questions directly into their device.

“In today’s age of Industry 4.0, productivity is primarily information-driven,” says Sven Buchholz, Vice President Product Management at ASMPT SMT Solutions, putting ASMPT’s main focus at this year’s productronica in a nutshell. “Anyone who collects data throughout the entire production chain, analyses it, processes it intelligently, and makes it available to operators, technicians, logistics people, and decision-makers will have a clear economic advantage even in the face of increasingly fierce competition. At the ASMPT booth, productronica visitors can see what this looks like in real life by viewing our exhibits and talking face-to-face with our experts.”