Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1483130
NOVEMBER 2022 I SMT007 MAGAZINE 39 Keeping Your SMT Line Fed and Running Having an intelligent kitting and setup con- trol process in place kicks off the start of a production run well but it is not the complete solution to keeping the line running smoothly during material replenishment and change- over. at's where things can get tricky for an electronics manufacturer as too much time can be wasted while replenishing the line. To avoid line downtime during production and to ensure the right materials are ready to go, manufacturers around the globe leverage our flexible integration solution that enables complete machine connectivity and intelli- gent communication between storage tow- ers and placement machines. Included with an automatic low-level alert system, man- ufacturers know their placement machines won't be down for too long waiting on com- ponents. Seamlessly handling multiple lines and var- ious production runs, this system is designed for high-mix, mid- to high-volume require- ments. Since most electronics manufacturers run multiple product types on different lines, and many products share components, it can be tricky for operators to manually balance where materials should be prioritized. Within this system, an urgent assembly can be priori- tized to get materials first by dedicating a spe- cific storage tower to that priority SMT line (whereas other towers might serve multiple lines at the same time). In Figure 3, SMD Tower #1 is assigned exclu- sively to LINE1 (running the urgent product). To make sure that SMD Tower #1 does not serve LINE2 and LINE3, the system blocks this tower from releasing materials to other lines to guarantee the needed parts for the urgent assembly (PRODUCT1) will not be Figure 2: Screenshot of the factory view of setup control for material reservation.