ASMPT Streamlines Material Flow in Intelligent Factory

Providing the right material at the right time, place, and quantity while avoiding unnecessary material travel is the strength of ASMPT’s WORKS Logistics application. Particularly, the tool controls and optimizes the flow of materials in intelligent manufacturing. Thus, preventing precautionary stocks next to the line as well as excess movements to and from storage.

“That SMT manufacturers want to avoid machine downtimes at all cost makes a lot of sense,” says Alexander Nitzsche, Senior Product Manager of Automation Solutions at ASMPT.

WORKS Logistics continuously calculates the material demand on the line during freely definable time slices and ensures resupplies in cooperation with the Factory Material Manager software. Image source: ASMPT

Nitzsche said this often leads to far more material than necessary being stored next to the line ‘as a precaution’. So that valuable space on the shop floor gets blocked and material is no longer available to other lines.

In addition, Nitzsche said, “It is also not uncommon for a reel of material that has just been taken off the machine and returned to storage to be transported back to the setup preparation area after only a few minutes because it is needed again. With WORKS Logistics, things can be done much more easily and efficiently through automatic material requests and selective interim storage.”

The Material Demand Calculation function automatically calculates the material requirements and thus realizes a just-in-time supply for the production line. Image source: ASMPT

Time slice-based material flow

Moreover, WORKS Logistics continuously calculates the material demand based on freely definable time slices and interacts with Factory Material Manager software. This ensures that the right material is available in the right quantity at the right time in the right place.

The material flow application calculates and updates the demand along the line continuously and dynamically. Thus, the resulting data forms the basis for the automatic control and optimization of material flows. Moreover, it also demands messages to central and intermediate storage locations, and time-driven transport jobs.

The Re-use function organizes and optimizes the interim storage of materials in an Active Feeder Rack located in the setup preparation area. Image source: ASMPT

Material gets re-used across upcoming orders

WORKS Logistics also organizes and optimizes the interim storage of material in the setup preparation area. For that reason, it avoids unnecessary material travel between the warehouse and the shop floor. When reels move from the machine after a production run has been completed, the application checks automatically. Particularly, whether the material is necessary for additional orders in the coming days. If this is the case, it instructs the staff to move the reel in question to the Active Feeder Rack in the setup preparation area. If additional material is necessary, WORKS Logistics automatically sends a request to the warehouse via the Factory Material Manager.

With AMRs seamlessly integrated into the existing software and hardware landscape, the delivery of substrates to the lines is executed reliably and without operator intervention. Image source: ASMPT

Supply security and resource relief

“WORKS Logistics marks another important step on the road to the intelligent and integrative use of data for process optimization,” explains Nitzsche. Moreover, Nitzsche said, “As an innovation and market leader in hardware and software for electronics manufacturing, we were able to pour our entire process know-how and many years of experience into the development of WORKS Logistics. Our customers get a practice-oriented application for their intelligent factory that gives them supply security and provides noticeable relief for their operators as well as for their transport and storage infrastructure.”