Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1398328
AUGUST 2021 I SMT007 MAGAZINE 17 Ford: I don't think so. I prefer to think of it as increased automation. If we can stop people from touching data, handling data, changing data, measuring things, manipulating things, it all becomes simpler, with less work, less mis- takes, which people actually like. If you have a model-based design of a component, and you simply load that into, for example, a design tool able to perform DFM, or, you have DFM run- ning in a manufacturing site, or even if you are creating a parts data library for the pick-and- place or inspection machines, then it makes life easier for everyone, because you don't need to be a data "hunter-gatherer" for all the different pieces of information that you need. For the manufacturer, you now create one MBD data record automatically, rather than having to for- mat, publish, and distribute specifications in various different languages and formats. ere is also the element of enhanced privacy. Quite a potential ROI. Matties: Communication makes life easier for everybody, yet we don't do it well. Ford: We don't. I could be speak- ing Japanese to you right now on our Zoom call, which could still be regarded as great communication, because we can see and hear each other per- fectly. But there is the small problem that you wouldn't understand a word I was say- ing. It's the data content definition, the language, that is the important thing for communication. e rest is a means to an end. Manufacturing people speak manufac- turing, design people speak design. You need to have a standard lan- guage that spans design and manufacturing. is is being created as part of the IPC digital twin, so that you can have solutions on either side that understand each other's data. Matties: Well, that goes back to my earlier description of digital twin as the universal translator. Ford: Effectively, yes, that is right; we are defin- ing the common way in which information is represented and interpreted. at's what the standard does. ere is then no need for "mid- dleware" translations. Now it is up to people to be inventive with their solutions. Matties: If digital twin is the solution to solv- ing communication, what are the headwinds? What's keeping us from really making this hap- pen? Ford: It's the momentum within the industry. You see intelligent design formats such as the IPC-2581 standard, and de-facto standards such as ODB++, yet many years later, people are still using Gerber, plus a load of dis- parate files, drawings and lists of various items, which later require reverse engineering. Why? It is simply their prior education and experience, their understand- ing of what works. Solution provid- ers need to be aware of what is available and developing now, and should target their solu- tions to be inclusive of the digital twin standard, but who goes first? You need industry momentum to