Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1216587
50 SMT007 MAGAZINE I MARCH 2020 Feature by Happy Holden I-CONNECT007 Editor's Note: This protocol overview was pre- viously published as a section in "The Smart Factory: All the Bits and Bobs" by Happy Holden in the February 2020 issue of PCB007 Magazine. Click here to see the full article. The smart factory concept is built upon data interchange as the foundation. There has been much development in the area of industrial and manufacturing data protocols over the years, stretching back into the 1960s. This arti- cle surveys what are considered the most com- mon protocols in use in the electronics man- ufacturing industry today, including IPC-CFX/ Hermes, OML, SECS/GEM, and MAPS. Protocols for the Electronics Smart Factory One way to shorten the development time of any smart factory automation protocol is to leverage what is already out there. Three pro- tocols have already been established in elec- tronics manufacturing: 1. IPC-2591 Connected Factory Exchange (CFX) with the IPC-9852 HERMES standard. 2. Mentor/Siemens Open Manufacturing Language (OML). 3. SEMI's SECS/GEM-SEMI Equipment Communication Standard/Generic Equipment Model. Modeling any PCB fabrication smart factory protocol after one or more of these existing standards will shorten their development time. IPC-CFX/Hermes An open network standard introduced by the IPC is IPC-2591 [1] introduced in 2018 (Figure 1). It establishes three critical elements for "plug and play" industrial IoT: Happy's Smart Factory Protocol Primer Figure 1: IPC-CFX is an open, free, M2M electronic assembly protocol standard. (Source: IPC)