PCB Tech - Changes in the PCB industry in the industry 4.0 era

What exactly does Industry 4.0 look like? Let’s sort it out: Industry 1.0 is the era of machinery manufacturing, Industry 2.0 is the era of electrification and automation, and Industry 3.0 is the era of electronic information. "Industry 4.0" depicts a highly flexible, personalized and digital intelligent manufacturing model through the real-time connection and effective communication of people, equipment and products.

Industry 4.0 is proposed in the context of the Internet of Things, cloud services, and big data. Professor Ma Jianguo of Tianjin University defines it as follows: Internet of Things = Embedded Intelligent System + Network, Industry 4.0 = Internet of Things + Manufacturing.

What is an embedded intelligent system? As far as the PCB industry is concerned, adding some automatic induction, automatic identification and judgment, and automatic adjustment to the intelligent function of the PCB production equipment is the embedded intelligent system. With intelligent PCB production equipment (ie embedded intelligent system), each PCB equipment is connected with a network and "communication" with each other through the ERP system, forming the Internet of Things in the PCB industry. With the Internet of Things and PCB manufacturing, it becomes Industry 4.0 in the PCB industry.

To help everyone better understand the concept of Industry 4.0, we might as well design a factory operation scene in the Industry 4.0 era based on reality.

Scenario 1: In the near future, buying a car may be personalized-open the smart car factory App on your phone, select a model from hundreds of configurations, and then enter in the personalized order such as "in the car Decorate as the “Hulk” requirement. In about a month, a “Hulk version of the car” designed and manufactured for you with the Industry 4.0 assembly line will be delivered to the buyer’s door. The price is not much more expensive than the mass-produced car.

Due to the complexity of PCB design and manufacturing and the single versatility of its functions, the PCB industry will not be personalized to each PCB like cars or other consumer products. However, with the impact of personalized customization, the number of orders will change from large quantities to Small batches. For example, auto board PCB. Because of the personalized customization of the auto industry, the auto industry will achieve zero inventory, but auto manufacturers will regularly classify and summarize the customized car models, and then place PCB orders according to the car model (because of the versatility of PCB functions, the same The PCB used in the model of the car is the same). Send the finished PCB to the car manufacturer just like the scene.

Scenario 2: In a PCB factory, intelligent automation equipment not only has advanced production technology and ultra-high production efficiency, but also can "communicate" with each other or with the ERP system, and the equipment can be contracted according to the ERP system module And the order production information entered in the engineering module automatically adjust the production parameters, and then the machinery and equipment will automatically import the production results (production quantity, time, quantity of good and defective products, etc.) into the ERP system, and the ERP system will also automatically adjust the production parameters and production The results automatically summarize and analyze the best production parameters and production efficiency, accurately determine the production status of the equipment, and even predict equipment failures, prompt preventive maintenance, etc., so as to extend the service life of the equipment.

Extending the analysis from the above two scenarios, it can be speculated that the PCB industry will change in the following aspects:

1. The high-volume production model will gradually disappear, replaced by small-volume Allegro.

2. Traditional PCB equipment will be gradually eliminated, replaced by intelligent automatic production equipment, such as equipment that can automatically adjust production parameters according to production information. And it can automatically scan the barcode on the PCB to identify the production characteristics and quality characteristics of each PCB.

3. The layout of the workshop will be gradually improved from the traditional decentralization to the centralized assembly line. Traditional production workshops are composed of manual or semi-automatic equipment, and product transportation is done manually, so the distribution of various equipment is relatively loose. In the Industry 4.0 era, all equipment is intelligent automation, the upper and lower process equipment can be connected, and the PCB can automatically transition from the upper process to the lower process without manual handling. This requires the layout of various equipment into an assembly line to facilitate logistics and transportation.

4. There are almost no production personnel and data input personnel in the workshop. When all the production equipment is converted to intelligent automation, you only need to enter the order information and production information into the ERP system at one time when placing an order, and the ERP system will generate a unique barcode based on the characteristics of the order, and each device will automatically survive the barcode based on the ERP. Information adjusts production parameters, and each machine and equipment process can communicate with each other through the ERP system. For example, when the board production of the previous process is about to end, it can be communicated to the next process through the ERP system, and the equipment of the next process will be adjusted in advance. Parameters to save production time. In addition, the production time and results of each equipment will be automatically imported into the ERP system, and the data will be summarized and analyzed by the ERP system.

5. As a key part of realizing Industry 4.0, information management will become more and more perfect. For example, Junen ERP plan will make the following improvements in information management:

In the era of Industry 4.0, individualized demand will make PCB production cycles shorter and shorter. Therefore, the primary task of information management is to help factories reduce turnaround waiting time and speed up production cycles. When the customer places an order through the mobile APP or online, the Junen ERP system will automatically calculate and determine all the materials required for this batch of orders based on the order characteristics, and timely determine whether the materials are sufficient through the Junen ERP system. If not, Junen ERP The system will automatically place an order to the material supplier and prepare the material in the fastest time.

The Junen ERP system allows the processes and equipment to be interconnected in a pipeline style. Manual input is only the step of placing an order. Other processes are completed through the dialogue between Junen ERP and the machine. For example, ERP transmits the order production information to the machine and equipment., While the machinery and equipment will convey the production results to Jun En ERP, and because each link is connected in an assembly line, when a problem occurs in a link, PCB production cannot continue. In this way, errors caused by the randomness of human input can be reduced, and it can also avoid problems that cannot be found in time and tracked due to overlapping processes.