Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1535954
38 SMT007 MAGAZINE I JUNE 2025 planned CFX environment, do your home- work and have discussions with your vendors. Keep in mind: 1. If the vendor you are working with is not on the QPL, ask them to subscribe and qualify to demonstrate their capabilities. 2. If the vendor is on the QPL, check to be sure that the soware version on the equipment to be purchased matches the soware version on the QPL listing. 3. Have your engineers or solution pro- viders read IPC-2591 to understand the Optional capabilities associated with the equipment to be purchased. If any of these Optional capabilities match exist- ing or future needs, request the vendor to demonstrate support of these capabilities in their QPL listing. 4. Because a qualification listing is for one instance of an implementation on a piece of equipment, although it demonstrates the vendor's CFX implementation com- petence, ask them to do a validation test using the QPL system before it is shipped. ere is no added cost for subscribers to do this, and it will alleviate most, if not all, integration problems onsite. In addition, consider your own subscription to the IPC-CFX Validation and Qualification System. It is not only open to vendors and their third-party integrators. As a subscriber, your engineering team will be able to use the sys- tem as a test bed to ensure correct CFX imple- mentation before connecting your factory. ere are other valuable resources available to you as you add CFX to your factory: • e CFX education series provided by IPC EDGE is a highly valuable, modular, self- paced educational tool to take you from lit- tle to no understanding of CFX to integrat- ing the SDK onto equipment. • e CFX Github page has an active com- munity of CFX users for information exchange, best practices, etc. • e Soware Tools and Support area of the CFX website also includes links to other valuable resources for your CFX implementations. What's Next: A Sneak Peek at IPC-CFX 2.1 and Beyond Not a group to rest, the IPC-CFX Standard Task Group is already breaking ground on IPC-CFX, Version 2.1. Initial plans for this ver- sion include adding capabilities and messages for vapor phase soldering and UV curing, and include enhancements for smart board han- dling equipment. e task group is also explor- ing guidance on existing message sets for AI ecosystem integration and seeking input on message sets that may need to be added, con- tinuing the standard's evolution as the back- bone of smart factory interoperability. IPC-CFX is increasingly designed to work in coordination with other IPC standards that define the digital thread across manufacturing. All version updates are developed with this alignment in mind, ensuring interoperability across the growing library of IPC digital fac- tory standards, including the following proj- ects under development: • IPC-1782: Defines detailed traceabil- ity requirements across the supply chain, from materials to process and test. e next revision of this standard, will point requirements from the standard to JSON schemas for real-time data collection and reporting. " IPC-CFX is increasingly designed to work in coordination with other IPC standards that define the digital thread across manufacturing. "