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February 2017 • SMT Magazine 53 ic material, identified by an ID with associated traceability data is needed only once and may be referred to from many reference designator positions on many different assemblies, and even across many different products. This helps to reduce the storage requirement for the data by a significant amount by eliminating needless duplicate data. In addition to product specific records, the traceability structure also includes data relating to equipment maintenance, kept separate from the assembly tree structure, because it need not be related to any specific product but is time- based data which may occur while a product is being made or between products. How to Implement IPC-1782 The IPC-1782 standard is designed to be as simple as possible to implement. It's not just a simple linear list of requirements, and under- standing the hierarchical nature of the data, the content of different cells with different levels of detail, is necessary. For getting started, first use the risk assess- ment methodology and IPC classifications to determine the target levels for traceability. Lev- el 1 traceability for either process or materials is the minimum level that would be expected for any manufacturer of good standing. Level 4 would be appropriate only for the highest de- mands in the industry, especially with regard to process data. EMS companies may find that dif- ferent levels of traceability may be required for different lines of products or for different cus- tomers. The next step in the adoption process is to compare the calculated requirement with what is currently in place. This can be represented by ex- isting quality or management control systems or negotiations with customers or product owners. Most of the data required for traceability likely exists within the operation, and a communica- tion method needs to be established so that the data can be brought together in the form out- lined by the IPC-1782 standard. Avoiding manu- al data collection will decrease the cost of trace- ability implementation and also increase the ac- curacy and timeliness of the data collected. Most automated machines in the market that have been around for many years have some sort of data availability, which may re- quire machine-vendor software support. Data may also be collected from transactional systems such as planning, material control, and including verification operations, etc. All of these sources of data can be combined more easily through the adoption of a single format, such as the Open Manufacturing Language (OML) [2] , available today, which already sup- ports IPC-1782 requirements. A single common language ensures a minimum of integration ef- fort into databases, such as cloud systems and smart computerizations related to Industry 4.0 and smart factories. Next, negotiation of contracts and agree- ments between manufacturing and product owners can be done with more simple defini- tions of expectations. Some education about the implementation of the standard, includ- ing how data is collected, may be required in the earliest stages. Traceability, related to mate- rials and process, may initially start at a lower level until the inter-process communication in- frastructure can be established and reliable in practical operation. The levels may then be in- creased over time, as more value from the trace- ability data is sought and related costs of data acquisition diminish. A traceability system continuously contrib- utes to the bottom line in the areas of insur- ance, conformance, and quality performance for the whole PCB assembly operation, and the new IPC-1732 standard, makes dealing with these issues a whole lot less painful. SMT References 1. The IPC-1782 Standard for Manufactur- ing and Supply Chain Traceability of Electron- ic Products can be previewed, purchased, and downloaded by clicking here. 2. The OML Community website is at www. omlcommunity.com. Michael Ford is senior marketing development manager with Mentor Graphics Corporation Valor division. To read past columns, or to contact the author, click here. THE NEW IPC STANDARD FOR TRACEABILITY