Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1345210
52 SMT007 MAGAZINE I MARCH 2021 Feature by Michael Ford AEGIS SOFTWARE By the time that you read this, version 1.3 of the CFX standard should have been published. ere are some very interesting additions in this release, including messages for predic- tive maintenance and smart energy manage- ment. As CFX is an IPC standard, the industry is assured of open content, designed to evolve Industry 4.0 manufactur- ing for everyone. For each release of CFX , a small, dedi- cated "A-team" meets online approximately every two weeks to review proposed content that nor- mally is submitted through the CFX GitHub account. e A-team mem- bers rotate with each release, as the topics of discussion change. With CFX v1.3, some sig- nificant new items of inter- est have been added, a selection of which follows. Predictive Maintenance e most basic maintenance regime, sched- uled, depends purely on the passage of time, such as getting the oil changed in your car every few months. is can be either waste- ful or potentially damaging, as we each use our cars differently, depending on distance trav- elled, as well as more or less "aggression." A bet- ter maintenance philosophy is, therefore, pre- ventative, in which the number of miles driven, and engine revolutions, are counted, bringing the maintenance date forward or backward, ensuring reduced waste of oil and servicing time, as well as the reduced risk of increased engine wear. However, there are other fac- tors that can affect the need for the oil change, which can only be really understood through the knowledge of the actual trend in the condition of the oil. Were this to be possible, predictive maintenance would be used to ensure that maintenance is only performed at the exact time needed, based on the actual condi- tion of the item that needs to be maintained. In the manufactur- ing world, messages to communicate key aspects and measurements related to the condition of production equipment assemblies have been added to the standard. CFX v1.3 has now added definitions of key break- down of machine assemblies, as well as asso- ciated types of measurements, including tem- perature, vibration, and energy consumption patterns, etc. Any authorized party can then utilize this series of CFX messages to apply the most advanced smart maintenance functions. IPC CFX Update v 1.3