Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1156271
16 PCB007 MAGAZINE I AUGUST 2019 the second line utilized only CFX. The com- bined line ran printed boards of different sizes through a real-world manufacturing line us- ing equipment from a variety of manufactur- ers. We also used boards of different sizes, so attendees could see the power of HERMES as equipment was able to communicate upstream to automatically adjust for the new board size. The CFX line ran the same boards through a separate line to demonstrate how it alone could be used for machine-to-machine and machine-to-ERP communication. The CFX line also featured a solder paste dispensing robot and hand soldering tools communicating in CFX. Further, attendees were able to follow both production lines in real time from their mobile devices and laptops. This provided a glimpse into the possibilities of how to utilize the data reporting from CFX and HERMES in IPC is removing barriers that hamper execu- tives' ability to align their companies with In- dustry 4.0 by providing the building blocks for seamless machine-to-machine and machine- to-ERP communications. In April, IPC released IPC-2591, the Con- nected Factory Exchange (CFX), which is a plug-and-play standard for equipment com- munications. Earlier in June, IPC also released the surface-mount equipment communication standard IPC-HERMES-9852, The Global Stan- dard for Machine-to-Machine Communication in SMT Assembly. You may have seen these two standards in action during our live IPC CFX/Hermes factory lines at IPC APEX EXPO 2019. One line combined both digital SMEMA for machine-to-machine communication and CFX for output messages to a cloud server, and CFX and Hermes: The Plug-and-Play IPC Standards Building Momentum for Industry 4.0 One World, One Industry by Dr. John Mitchell, IPC—ASSOCIATION CONNECTING ELECTRONICS INDUSTRIES