Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1535954
64 SMT007 MAGAZINE I JUNE 2025 Let's say an EMS company is running an assembly line, and all the equipment is tied together end-to-end, when suddenly, one unit starts to show the amber status light, ask- ing for operator attention. Is that where you become involved? at could be the troubleshooting use case. If something goes wrong, you have to perform a certain procedure to troubleshoot. But we would get involved even earlier in the process. From a macro level, we have a big retirement wave coming up in the industr y. Experienced operators will need to be replaced. Also, as machines get more complex, you need opera- tors to get up to the job quickly and efficiently. We are working with the machine manufac- turers, providers, and vendors who have a lot of knowledge. We are adding the knowledge of the experienced operator to a knowledge base.With AI, we can get the new operators up to task much quicker than through the reg- ular paper-based training approach or by hav- ing techs do one-time training on how to use their machiner y. Is this an industry-wide knowledge base? Is this site customizable, and can I put my job aids and work procedures into this knowl- edge base for my crew? Yes. ere will be two parts. One is general knowledge that comes from the manufacturer of the machinery. ey provide their informa- tion to everybody in the same way. en, as the electronics manufacturer using the machin- ery, you can add your private knowledge base. Your operational procedures done in-house are added to the knowledge base. ere can be clear firewalls between them. That sounds pretty straightforward. What makes your approach unique ? Our approach is a light footprint on the machines. We don't require a heavy invest- ment by the machinery producers or vendors. ey add a very small piece of identification, like an NFC chip, for instance, to the machin- ery that can then be used by the electronics manufacturer and the operator together. Tap- ping a smartphone on that piece of identifying information, like the NFC chip, will uniquely identify the machinery, and connect to the rel- evant piece of the knowledge base. Now you can use the sensors, the display and output capabilities of the phone, which would be otherwise very hard to replicate all at once if you want to have that multimodal engage- ment with the equipment. So, as a maintenance person, I just walk up to a machine and access the knowledge base with my phone or tablet? Exactly. e phone or the tablet is the access point to the AI knowledge base in the system. You can use the same device for all the machin- ery, not just for one dedicated device where you have to log in and adjust to the system pro- vided by a specific vendor. At the same time, depending upon what I tap on, it filters and sorts the whole knowledge base to give me just what's appropriate? Correct. at's because it uniquely identifies that particular piece of equipment. This might be a new application in our space, Jurgen Schmerler