Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1216587
36 SMT007 MAGAZINE I MARCH 2020 Feinberg: The whole trend right now towards smart factories is a challenge for you, but it's also an opportunity. Chatterjee: Correct. We have been working on smart factories for the last 20 years. About 15 years ago, when I worked at Motorola, we con- nected all their factories with Cimetrix soft- ware. There were almost 20,000 machines and over 20 factories, which is what people are doing today. Now, the cost is an order of mag- nitude less. We used to pay a lot more. There's a lot of open-source software that you can use. The only difference is that it's cheaper and can be done quicker. Feinberg: We're hearing a lot about smart facto- ries now, and the industry is paying a lot more attention—especially when we have multiple facilities in numerous countries. Chatterjee: Every board of directors has given their CEO a mandate to digitize their enter- prise. That's why data has become valuable. They say data is the next natural resource after oil or more than oil. That's why every- body wants it, and that's why we are all about it. Feinberg: What do you think your biggest chal- lenge is over the next year or so? Chatterjee: The biggest challenge is that the market is very fragmented in the PCB assembly industry. In the semiconductor industry, they have standards and use them. They have auto- mation, and they need it. Everything is pro- gressing as it should, whereas in our industry, it is converging, but people are using simi- lar standards—not a single agreed-upon stan- dard. Then, the software companies have a lot of products—not one that meets everybody's needs. That causes a lot of problems for peo- ple trying to make decisions. Usually, the soft- ware costs too much to deploy. The integration cost is so high that it is impossible to imple- ment at scale. If an EMS firm has 90 factories, and integration takes a few months for one fac- tory, then you're talking about more than 180 months to get things done. Feinberg: Cost and time are big factors. Chatterjee: Yes. If you have to digitize an enter- prise and the plan requires a four-year rollout, very few people will accept it. Feinberg: That's true. Have current economic conditions been a factor? Chatterjee: The industry has been growing kind of healthy. It doesn't seem like there are any issues that are structurally there. The IoT, Smart Connectivity for the Smart Factory Smart Connectivity for the Smart Factory