Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1502623
28 SMT007 MAGAZINE I JULY 2023 tion storage space and resources to manage sub-assembly work-in-progress, "thrown over the wall" between islands of processing, is not conducive to agility, optimization, or efficient factory utilization. If you are not convinced, simply look at the value of materials in your typical buffer-stock locations, as well as the costs of how that space and content needs to be managed, complexi- ties of revision control, first-in/first-out man- agement, and how product quality deterio- rates with additional handling and the gather- ing of dust. Also consider the delay in feedback should any prior process or material that has been used end up contributing to defects. is creates performing very significant re-work overhead without notice. Balancing costs of shi work vs. asset utilization has always been approached through the simplification of seg- regation without really thinking through the associated consequences and difficulties. is waste becomes more significant today as we embrace the need for efficiencies in low-vol- ume/high-mix environments where such hid- den losses, once tolerable, are now crippling the business. Supporting the Change is need for change in perspective is being supported by advances in manufacturing tech- nology. We are already familiar with the inte- gration of manual, automated, and semi-auto- mated operations, such as the use of cobots and production stations where data from tools and measurement devices is automatically col- lected. Digital integration across manufactur- ing has become a reality, requiring an end- to-end approach that does not discriminate among people, automation, and AI. ere is a required confidence in deciding how to bring separated manufacturing opera- tions together—those that have been perceived to work with different technologies or simply exist on a different level of an ERP bill of mate- rials (BOM). Today, this is much easier to real- ize. Information in the right digital format fuels changes that go far beyond the simple auto- mation of manual processes. e use of CAD data, digital product models, digital twins—or whatever the buzzword of the day is—now lev- els the playing field in terms of manufacturing operation data preparation, work assignment, operational visibility, control, and coordina- tion across all production stations. is could be people-driven, automated, or somewhere in between. Let's break it down. Prepare the Relevant Production Information e first step in getting a production work- order going is to prepare the relevant prod- uct information. is comes mainly from design and the BOM. Traditionally, engineer- ing makes the key decision as to which produc- tion configuration will be used. en, depend- ing on the chosen configuration capabilities, the product data is divided up among the sep- arate engineering teams. e assignment is then fixed, as each engineering team prepares their data for either machine programming or manual assembly. is process involves a great deal of manual data manipulation and very lit- tle opportunity for flexibility. Data must be combined, separated, and converted into the various formats required for each produc- tion station. is oen requires bespoke data formatting to depend on the machine ven- dor, or documentation tools that create draw- ings and work instructions for operators. Each team independently assesses the most efficient sequence of work. is leads to unbalanced production rates and sub-assembly storage requirements. You then need a very significant amount of work, including depending on spe- cialist knowledge within each team. How a Smart Factory Differs Achieving the same result in a Smart factory is significantly different. All production oper- ations are driven by information that comes from the design digitally, potentially com-