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26 SMT Magazine • May 2016 The overall efficiency of production as a whole managed in this way can improve from around 50% loss to less than 20% loss, increas- ing production capacity by almost a third. On the commercial side, agreement has to be made that any of the line configurations can be used. The machines are not the most major issue, because even though they have different inter- nal technologies and methodologies, the basic input and output condition of the PCBs is the same. More importantly, the machines' setup, op- eration, product flow, handling, and exception management have to be managed to ensure compliance to the customer's specific needs. The simplest solution for this is to connect all of the machines and processes together with an Internet of Manufacturing connection, so that engineering data flow, management con- trol, material logistics, setup including material verification, traceability data collection, and product flow management are all managed in the exact same way on the exact same platform. All of these key management functions applied equally to all production lines, no matter what machine and processes are used, assures cus- tomers that there are no significant issues relat- ed to the move of product. In effect, the whole factory becomes qualified against each product, rather than the individual line. Connecting all the automation with One Language The use of the open manufacturing lan- guage (OML) is a perfect backbone for this, because it includes not only the normaliza- tion of raw machine command processing, but also supports essential management operations such as material verification material and pro- cess traceability, inspection, test, and quality management. The routing of products from the common process lines to the product-specific lines would best be achieved using automation, again man- aged and controlled by OML. Because of the difference in sizes and other physical charac- teristics, PCBs would likely require transport in standard trays, carriers, or magazines so that transportation is not product-specific. The product-dependent lines will always be less flexible in terms of equipment, but they can be arranged in Lean cell formation to make best use of the flexibility of labor. OML also can be used to control the flow of each PCB throughout the inspection, test, and repair environment, ensuring that no mistakes are made, such as PCBs with defects that are al- lowed to progress in the operation or out to the customer. Using OML from end-to-end in the operation enables a single, clear, controllable environment where all information can be used easily by IT systems that control product flow and material logistics, active quality manage- ment, while providing finite planning. The smart application of automation initial- ly in the EMS factory has less to do with process automation and is more related to operational automation. Qualified factory processes that allow the sharing of SMT lines with different speeds across products, with a common infra- structure for data flow, compliance, and con- formance, allows the effective capacity of the factory to increase by as much as 30%. Deciding How Much to Invest in automation This concept can be proven by analyzing the current performance of dedicated lines over a reasonable period of time to see how much absolute productivity is actually being lost, measured by the absolute machine work- ing time over the working calendar. Once the number of hours of loss on each line is known, it can be multiplied by the amount of added value that each line is expected to create per hour. Then, extrapolating over a year can pro- vide the appropriate budget for the investment in automation. A useful first step in being able to assess and measure this correctly is to introduce the In- ternet of Manufacturing (IoM) to the existing operation, such as with OML. IoT solutions are EMS RulES oF autoMation & Roi