Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1199133
56 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I JANUARY 2020 roadmaps from the industry so that EMS and OEM companies can see CFX plans for their equipment and software suppliers. IPC pub- lishes these roadmaps to the CFX website. In addition to that, IPC also published a joint standard with a Hermes initiative, IPC- HERMES-9852, which is the SMEMA standard replacement. This joint standard is a positive and exciting step in the work IPC and The Hermes Standard Initiative are doing together to support industry. We have been working together on the live factory lines and tak- ing steps to ensure the two standards work together seemed like a very natural next step. Feinberg: As I understand it, the main thing with Hermes is that it tracks the transfer of each circuit board from machine to machine when you're using CFX. Is that correct? Jorgensen: Yes. Hermes can work on its own, but it also can work with CFX. If you look at what we demonstrated at IPC APEX EXPO ear- lier this year, the Hermes part of it was with the line control and the multiple board sizes that we used. We're able to do a transfer between board sizes without human interaction and without having to stop equipment. It tells the machine when a different board size is coming through. Feinberg: One thing you commented on was that this is software that has been updated a couple of times. That's normal because soft- ware is going to be updated much more often than a standard of metal thickness or all the other IPC standards that we have had for decades. Jorgensen: Right, and we have the software development kit (SDK) that goes with CFX and is available on GitHub as a free download. We also have a way for industry profession- als to submit messages that need to be added or comments on existing messages on GitHub. Those comments and suggestions that come in through GitHub form the basis of looking at how the subcommittee wants to make any changes to the standard. Again, some of the changes might be to a message or an update in the SDK that doesn't have any change in the standard, but sometimes it will reflect changes in the standard. Feinberg: Can they see your comments through GitHub, and then other people that are using the CFX can see them and comment back? Jorgensen: There is a way to view the com- ments because they're within the GitHub com- munity. Additionally, any changes that need to be reflected in the standard are tracked through comments submitted through the IPC standards process as well as tracking changes in the standard. Feinberg: How often do you see the software and these standards being updated? Jorgensen: The SDK can be updated regularly free of the version updates to the standard, but the subcommittee has indicated that it will publish version upgrades to the standard twice per year. This keeps the flow of messages to the SDK moving and also provides the industry with a regularly updated consensus standard to match the relevant SDK changes. Feinberg: Looking at the new standard that has been out since last year, what do you think the next major changes will be? Jorgensen: For version 1.1 that should be pub- lished after January 1, the changes are primar-