Industry 4.0 is not a project, but a process. With the step-by-step implementation of obvious individual solutions, rapid added value can be achieved and the basis for the Smart Electronic Factory created.
The Smart Factory solution presented at SMTconnect 2019 (Image: FUJI EUROPE CORPORATION GmbH)
The efficient path to industry 4.0 leads from the automation of small processes to digitization such as M2M and IoT, to autonomization and prediction. The latter has the goal of production in light-off and is very complex. If you start small, you can successively automate in order to later produce self-optimized and autonomous. The rule is: relieve all buttons that no longer have to be pressed on the line. For recurring tasks - in merchandise management, material supply and by visualizing and qualifying data - Industry 4.0 can already be implemented on a small scale with great effect. This does not require a comprehensive IT department, but there are tools and interfaces that make simple implementation possible.
In practice, this means that those responsible should proceed successively and initially reach for the "low hanging fruits". The key question is which processes can be automated relatively easily and thus achieve a good result quickly. There is great potential here, for example, in the automation of program changes and in the maintenance of placement machines. The goal of Fuji's systems here is automation: zero placement errors, zero machine stops and more efficient and independent work. After all, in electronics manufacturing, solutions for saving labor in production preparation and maintenance processes as well as for automating manual assembly processes have become indispensable. Therefore one develops different work-saving units, which support with the equipment and maintenance, for years. These are already important control levers on the way to industry 4.0, where recurring processes can be automated at the push of a button with just a few resources. With ever faster and more autonomous machines and set-up changes or in the area of predictive maintenance, it is essential to make effective use of existing data. The necessary transparency is achieved with tools, e.g. for the visualization of data and processes (in the areas of traceability, performance, maintenance, etc.). This allows conclusions to be drawn and optimizations and automatic actions to be derived. Fuji relies on various standards for networking SMT machines. One example is the standard suite "SEMI SMT-ELS", which makes assembly lines more intelligent.
A successful implementation of the industry 4.0 approach requires an understanding of small steps in electronics manufacturing. At the beginning there are the "Low Hanging Fruits"
