MES SOLUTION FOR AN AUTOMATED SMT ASSEMBLY LINE

Project Description

The customer operates an automatic surface-mount (SMT) assembly line. In most cases, assembly equipment of this class is used at only 25–30% capacity, yet its service life is often 10–15% shorter than estimated. Equipment failure or shutdown has a direct impact on production output, and without a complete picture of processes and problem root causes, operators and engineers react to consequences instead of causes.

Iotellect delivered the manufacturing execution layer of the customer’s Digital Factory concept, built on Iotellect SCADA and Iotellect Integration Manager deployed on the automatic surface-mount line. The system covers the core MES functions of the line — production process dispatching, quality and defect analysis, and equipment performance data collection. It collects, analyzes, and processes production data in real time, with immediate notifications of deviations and support for engineers during all production stages.

Production dispatching. The technological process dispatch system supervises the assembly process across the line in real time and notifies personnel when parameters deviate from the norm, so operators act on causes instead of consequences.

Quality and defect analysis. An expert system, data collection programs, and an application linking the analytical systems together form the production defect analysis system deployed at the surface-mount line, tracing defects back to process root causes.

Equipment performance. Continuous capture of equipment operation, failure, and maintenance data across the line — the data foundation for analyzing availability, utilization, and repair time.

Data infrastructure. Notifications, data display, and role-based access to analytically processed production data for operators, engineers, and management.

Hardware and Environment

The platform collects data from the line’s assembly equipment: the automatic stencil printing machine, the placement machine, and the automated optical inspection (AOI) system. Iotellect Integration Manager ties the equipment, the analytical modules, and the data infrastructure into a single integrated system.

Benefits

• Increased production efficiency, product quality, and repeatability;
• Extended equipment service life, minimized equipment failure, and reduced maintenance and repair time;
• Management sees production statistics as a whole, with real-time data and analytics on the production environment instead of after-the-fact reports;
• Defect detection backed by root-cause visibility rather than final inspection alone.