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JULY 2023 I SMT007 MAGAZINE 29 flexibility and agility needed for high-mix pro- duction, all the way up to the automation of single pieces. Once information has been prepared for the production station, setup and preparation can start. For both manual and automated stations, verification of materials, tools, and incom- ing product is essential for production to exe- cute correctly. In the traditional factory, this is done by manual confirmation, which ironi- cally introduces the potential for mistakes. In our Smart factory, all the data is prepared such that verification can be automated using, for example, Smart feeders or semi-automatically using bar codes. Setup times can be greatly reduced through this automation, which sig- nificantly reduces the productivity impact of high-mix manufactur- ing. Once the work order is started, automation should rigorously fol- low its programming. Exceptions oen hap- pen, so it's essential to have a real-time con- nection with the station to provide visibility and control of the operation. To understand the root causes of issues, there is traditionally a dependency on manual measurements and data recording. But this is almost impossible for an operator or engineer running a machine at high speed. In the Smart factory, key facts and data points related to run-time progress or issues are analyzed in context with the pre- pared "digital twin" of the verified product and setup. is reveals a wide variety of informa- tion used to further refine productivity, qual- ity, and maintenance. e IPC-CFX standard has become the popular solution of choice, as a "plug and play" IIoT connection for such com- munication purposes. Smart factory AIs col- prised of a PCB layout, a 3D CAD model of the product for discrete assembly, 3D representa- tions of materials used, and BOM data derived from ERP and/or PLM solutions—all in an electronic format. Automation within the modern digital man- ufacturing engineering (DME) tool is a cru- cial part of a modern Smart manufacturing soware solution. e combination of CAD and BOM data allows automated allocation of work, and creation of the specific types of data required for each man- ufacturing station. For machines, specific data formats and sequences are prepared automat- ically with the knowl- edge and know-how of each machine require- ment. For manual assembly and semi- automated stations, a complex set of inter- active electronic work instructions is created through operational steps following pre- composed templates. From the user perspective, this is a simple and almost totally automated process (where suitable source data is available), as there are complex AI algorithms working within the soware that replace critical dependencies on engineering "deep dive" niche skills. e whole engineering process becomes much more flex- ible. Rather than having to fix a product alloca- tion to a target production configuration, such decisions can now happen as a reaction to real production demand using configurations that best fit the end-to-end balance of production capabilities and prior work-order progress. Operations planned adaptively in this way far exceed the efficiency of those planned by tra- ditional methods. e use of DME in a Smart factory reduces lead-time, eliminates mistakes, and provides an unprecedented ability for the Once the work order is started, automation should rigorously follow its programming.