Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1022231
26 SMT007 MAGAZINE I SEPTEMBER 2018 can't scale it.' And so, the go-to people in that scenario are the machine vendors because the machine vendors are being pushed to create more and more from their machines. All in a different format, because for them it's the opposite problem. They've got 30 customers, and they've got 30 different format requests. And so, they're pulling their hair out now and saying, 'Look, we cannot sustain this. We want the customer's business. We want to do our best for the customer, but this is absolutely unsustainable.' Within the hour of our IPC CFX meetings, and this is what really blew me away in the first meeting, we have all these competi- tors sat around in a room, and normally they'd be kicking and screaming and fighting, and we'd probably have to call security, but no. They were sitting calmly together, each of them agreeing with the next. So yes, we all share the same problem. We share the same aim. We'd like to exchange data in a common format, where everything is plug and play, and we're not going to be competing anymore on these silly interfaces. We're going to be competing on our hardware and the software that goes around our hardware and how we make an excellent placement or inspection or whatever. That's how we go forward, because this is just ridiculous trying to keep everybody happy in terms of providing data. So, this is an amaz- ing result of CFX that we see with these people now." Changing the Status Quo Nowadays, companies need to think about changing the way that they are manufacturing, because for so many years now, for instance, 30 years of SMT lines, we've all been doing things in a similar way, and the practices we've got are ingrained. And then come technologies and trends like the IoT or Industry 4.0—and people immediately assume that they're going to be making what they're doing a little bit better. "And this is not true," says Ford. "We are not going to make what they're doing better. We're going to change what they're doing, because the way of doing things when you have a digi- tal factory environment is completely differ- ent from the way of doing things when you're in the old analog environment. For example, with new product introduction, if it takes you eight working days to process a CAD and BOM for use in the production line, you get one shot. You decide what equipment it's going to go onto, and that's it, job done. With the digital factory, it takes you seconds to make that decision and to process that data. And so, you can say, 'Okay, I've got that configu- ration that produces 1,000 a day. I've also got another configuration that produces 800 a day. Now, I can meet my custom demand. I can make 1,000, or I can make 800 or whatever quantity that I want. And now I can ensure that my lines are working at 100% efficiency making that quantity.' And that's something that's never happened before. The old practice is engineers decide or they choose a configura- tion. It runs on that configuration for greater or worse, running at probably 20% or 40% effi- ciency for the life of the product. Now, you're able to move things around, choose the best line for the job, and you just doubled your productivity. So, we're able to change the way that engineering works. Instead of engineering defining the target, planning defines the target, and the planning is working in real time to optimize things. "It's not just making NPI quicker. We're doing that as well, but having made NPI quicker, let's see how that changes the roles in the factory and how we respond to the customer when they come with their new requests. That's just at one example. There are many, many different examples of how people will be doing things differently in the digi - tal factory, and people must wake up to that. They can't just assume that this PC is going to replace this person, but it does basically the same job. We're going to see a complete change, and so what I've been trying to write about in my articles and columns is to make an understanding of how these changes, if people can understand them and go ahead with them, are going to make that step change of an improvement." SMT007