Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1275152
AUGUST 2020 I SMT007 MAGAZINE 39 gency factor. How many parts do you lose on average when you strip back the cover tape to load a feeder when the reel is new? It could be 7–10. It will add those three together and sub- tract it from a former total, then update the total of the inventory as the part comes back into stock. It's practical. The newest thing that's hot in the market is these X-ray component counters. We've already integrated software-wise with the four biggest manufacturers, where if it's a free- standing unit—any reel or tray that's counted in the counter—we can query when the part comes back into the tower. We can ask the counting unit, "How many does this reel have?" and update the inventory that way. We just showed it at productronica. We integrated one of the units physically to the machine so that we can deliver parts still in the case, into the counter, have them counted, and pull them back into the tower. This gives you the ability to do automated cycle counting. While the tower isn't in use at night, you can say, "Please count these 300 parts tonight." When you come back in the morning, you'll have the result. Johnson: All of this technology gets close to providing some sort of incoming inventory counterfeit detection. Is that on the roadmap? Astle: We're looking at it internally. The imag- ing group is a $10 billion problem, and 10% of the reels have fake components in them. I was shocked when I found that out. It can be done with optical character recognition when they unsolder the boards and don't know what the date and lock code are, so they mark the top with a logo that's not original and/or some date and lock code that doesn't match up with the actual vendor's part. You can catch it that way or through X-ray. It's a huge problem. Johnson: I heard an example not so long ago about a reel that came through with counter- feit parts in which the first 100 on the reel were legitimate, and then after that, every seventh one was counterfeit. Astle: Right. That's what they do. Black: They're sneaky. Matties: It's big business. Astle: It's unbelievable, especially with the ICs. We are looking at expanding the capability of the storage tower, and we installed one in Hong Kong that stores diamonds. Each individual pocket in the tray has its own barcode. We're looking at maybe collaborating with a large company, like an auto parts store. Toyota has a big storage solution, as well. Now that JUKI invested 49%, it's looking at other industries for the towers. It is a good fit for anything that's small and valuable, especially with the trays. Black: We did a special software for a large defense OEM. They had components that cost $27,000 each. They didn't want these to be just generally accessed. We'd have software that required three supervisors to enter their codes before that part can be withdrawn from the tower. ISM500 Intelligent Storage System.