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50 SMT007 MAGAZINE I APRIL 2020 Prioritized Research, Development, and Implementation Needs The topic of collaboration is often mentioned in industry-led initiatives as a key element to realize the benefits attributed to smart manu- facturing. There is a strong drive by members of the electronics manufacturing industry to engage in activities that foster collaboration. Participants in these activities recognize that solutions must be consensus-based and ad- opted by many vendors. Equipment suppliers appreciate that deep domain knowledge com- bined with data analysis contributes to only a fraction of the potential value that can be cap- tured. The optimal value will be realized when data is shared across manufacturing lines in fa- cilities, with vertical segment industry supply chain members and across vertical segments. Example prioritized research, development, and implementation needs topics are as fol- lows: • Define data flow standard interfaces and data formats for all equipment and tools • Investigate if data flow continuity between vertical segments should be mandatory or optional • Determine optimal operation window for the latency of data versus process flow and quantify permissible latency for data flow when used to determine process go/ no-go • Investigate data security and encryption requirements when sharing common process tools versus isolating process equipment between vertical segments • Develop open and common cross-vertical- segments communication standards and protocols for equipment Gaps and Showstoppers There is universal agreement that digitiza- tion will drive huge growth in data volumes. Many predict that cloud and hybrid cloud solu- tions are critical to enable the storage and sub- sequent manipulation of data by AI algorithms to derive value. However, industry members must adopt consensus-based standards and guidelines for connectivity protocols and data structures (Figure 4). Smart manufacturing is a journey, and a robust and scalable connectiv- ity architecture must be established on which to deploy digital building blocks (e.g., AI, ML to extract the optimal value from the data). Figure 4: Cross-segments standard for equipment connectivity enabling smart manufacturing.