San Diego, CA. ASM Assembly Systems has brought what it calls “the shop floor of the future” to IPC Apex Expo by presenting its full-scale Smart #1 Factory. The company’s booth was set up to represent all the major workflows in an SMT factory.
An interactive, self-guided tour made use of RFID technology and augmented reality loaded onto tablets throughout various stations. The exhibit encompassed an offline workflow area featuring receiving, setup preparation, feeder setup, and NPI and programming stations.
In addition, SMT production lines were set up to showcase the latest ASM printing and placement machines, such as the DEK NeoHorizon platform, ASM ProcessExpert, SIPLACE SX, and SIPLACE TX, flanked by technician’s desks containing tools to help run the lines most efficiently.
Details such as overhead lighting and monitors showing line performance were also included.
The self-guided tour started with offline workflows at the receiving area, where material was given a unique ID and registered in ASM Material Manager. Visitors followed the reel through the factory. One of the highlights of the feeder setup area was the new SIPLACE Material Setup Assistant including the active feeder rack, which provides a way to re-use material on the shop floor for future setups, without the need to tear down parts and re-issue to stock.
From the offline workflow area the tour continued through ASM SMT production lines that feature the latest DEK NeoHorizon Printers, including a new board-clamping system called DEK APC (all-purpose clamping). The placement platforms SIPLACE SX and SIPLACE TX ran in two production lines to show both floor-space performance and high flexibility configurations. ASM also showed how the SIPLACE Material Tower system can automatically re-order SMT reels for production lines about to run short of material. The tour was rounded off by a demonstration of ASM ProcessExpert. The self-learning process control system is designed to eliminate defects in the print process, using the ASM ProcessLens solder paste measurement system, combined with a DEK printer and ASM ProcessEngine software.
