ASM presents its innovative automation concept

Optimal degree of automation The result of any transformation should be a factory that’s more cost-effective, efficient, and flexible while turning out higher-quality products. Looking at the degree of automation under the maxim of achieving the best possible return on investment, the “Pareto Principle” claims that 20 percent of the resources deployed will deliver 80 percent of the results. Any additional percentage point of improvement requires disproportionate expenditures and should therefore be considered with great care. From an ROI-centered perspective, a fully automated shop floor rarely delivers optimal results. With the modular Open Automation concept, electronics manufacturers can find the optimal degree of automation themselves while implementing it at the pace that best suits their specific requirements. Existing lines and elements can be integrated into Open Automation regardless of their source, and processes can be automated step by step in order to achieve sustainable investment protection. In addition, the concept makes it possible to integrate future technologies such as autonomous process control and AI systems into your workflows with relatively little effort. The line which ASM presents at the Productronica to illustrate the practical application of Open Automation consists of the latest DEK printer, the ASM ProcessLens 5D inline SPI system, SIPLACE placement machines, an AOI system from Viscom, handling systems from Nutek, and software solutions from ASM and its sister company Critical Manufacturing. ASM will demonstrate various modular automation applications at its booth, including complete setup changeovers by replacing feeder tables with centrally controlled AIVs. The robots can switch out tables with no manual assists and return tables that are no longer needed to the setup area. Mapping of automated material flow processes Material flow processes will also be presented at the booth, including the automatic loading and unloading of boards and finished products with AIVs. For example, the SIPLACE placement machines may signal refill requirements to the ASM Material Manager, which then instructs an AIV to pick up components from the automated ASM Material Manager storage system that has already arranged the reels in a setup-optimized sequence. The mobile robot meets an operator at the line who has been notified of the pending refill process by ASM Command Center, the company’s smart operator management software. The special feature of this approach is that it is not limited to component reels but works equally well for things like board magazines, stencils, or solder paste. Even tasks like the disposal of waste can be automated with AIVs. Likewise, the transport between the main warehouse and other storage systems can be handled with autonomous transport robots to ensure the continuous supply of the production lines. The printing process on the line is controlled by the self-learning ASM ProcessExpert system with optional autonomous optimization. The system continuously monitors and processes the data generated during the placement process in order to run trend analyses that make it possible to optimize the component pickup rates. In addition, AOI data from any third-party system can be integrated into the ASM ProcessExpert via IPC-CFX. This enables the fast and detailed data correlation of all process steps along the entire line, broken down to a single pad, for comprehensive root cause analyses in the rare case that faults occur.