EMS for High Mix/Low Volume
Successful from Start to Finish
Fortsetzung des Artikels von Teil 1
No smart factory without MES
Furthermore, most EMS companies, from small to large, now work with a Manufacturing Execution System (MES). The use of an MES is partly driven by customer requirements for traceability, and partly also by internal motivation. This is because; in the meantime traceability is no longer an option, but an obligation for an electronics manufacturer, not least for insurance reasons. Fault frequencies in production can be identified and evaluated on the basis of traceability data, likewise product information from suppliers and lifecycle data of the products to be processed. In addition, the MES also offers advantages in materials management and logistics.
Making sensible use of data
The topic of big data is nothing new for an electronics service provider who uses an MES. More importantly, the question is: how data can be intelligently filtered out of the abundance of data, to enable conclusions to be drawn? “The EMS is a sort of compulsive hoarder of data; you have to be very careful what data you provide,” observes Gerd Ohl, Managing Director of Limtronik and founding member of the Smart Electronic Factory e.V. (SEF). The SEF and the Labs Network Industrie 4.0 e.V. have, for example, implemented a big data analytics scenario in Limtronik’s electronics production that aims to automatically analyze the cause of the tombstone effect. It will later serve as a standard application for the manufacturing industry. By means of big data analytics, an event dependency is determined from the data available in the MES used. These are successively enriched by further sensor data to specify the error dependency. For testing extreme conditions, a digital twin is used, on which the production conditions can be simulated. The findings from such exemplary scenarios can also be used in preventive maintenance, for example, when replacing consumables or feeders.
Made in Germany – a label with a future
The high mix/low volume electronics service providers based in Germany also help to continue to fill the “Made in Germany” label in the electronics industries with life: Several hundred small, medium and large electronics manufacturers throughout Germany produce sophisticated assemblies and devices for automotive, automation, industrial electronics, medical technology, railway technology and also IT/Telecommunications.
In the latter sector, competition from Asia is particularly strong. Nonetheless, some manufacturers very deliberately focus on “Made in Germany”. Network specialist Lancom, for example, has its virtual private network (VPN) business routers produced here in Germany, among other things, by BMK, a contract manufacturer based in Augsburg. Besides the actual PCB assembly, BMK also handles the complete assembly – from electronic components on the PCB to assembly of the components in the product housing and subsequent functional test. The VPN routers then go directly to the logistics service provider, where distribution to the individual sales channels takes place. Lancom not only relies on the living supply chain of its electronics service provider, security aspects also play a role here and this is why an increasing number of products from the information and communication technology (ICT) sector are manufactured in Germany.
- Successful from Start to Finish
- No smart factory without MES
