Well done! You’ve built a state-the-art PCB and assembly production line with an array of advanced machines. How do you know whether you are getting optimum performance from the systems?

In this post, we focus on production execution – and how to monitor, analyze, and optimize it.

Why is this a challenge? Why is it so complex to get timely, relevant data from the shop floor? The identification, analysis, and improvement of production issues requires a holistic view of the entire manufacturing process, based on comprehensive, in-depth, and real-time data acquisition from the factory floor.

But in reality, it’s not so simple. Each machine has its own data acquisition interface, some using vendor-proprietary interfaces, while other use industry-standard interfaces, such as GEM, CAMX, or CFX.

To simplify the complexity of data acquisition from a heterogeneous production line, it is necessary to define a common communication layer for the entire factory floor. Once each machine is connected via a common communications layer, all messages entering the layer must be normalized according to a commonly understood and trusted definition. Once normalized, the data can be used in inter-machine decision-making processes and by high-level business systems.

Nevertheless, the data sent over the communications layer may still be incomplete, requiring enhancement with input from multiple machines before it becomes usable.

In the ninth session of our series of 12 mini-webinars on Implementing “Digital Twin” Best Practices From Design Through Manufacturing , we review the need for efficient communications between machines on the line and with business-layer systems, and show how to implement systems that overcome the obstacles presented by incompatible interfaces and data.

Takeaways from the webinar session:

• The importance of normalization in the monitoring and control of the entire electronics manufacturing operation.
• How Opcenter Execution Electronics IoT provides plug-and-play data acquisition support for most automated and manual shop-floor systems.
• A look at the ODB++ Manufacturing protocol and its bi-directional data flows that support shop-floor data and process control.