Newsroom
Several Companies Demonstrate New CAMX and
PDX Standards at Productronica Trade Show in Munich
NEMI-Developed Standards Enable Interoperability
on the Shop Floor and Communication within the Supply Chain
See backgrounder
Press Contacts at bottom of page
PRODUCTRONICA (Munich, Germany) · November 7, 2001 · Some of the world’s leading original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), electronics manufacturing services (EMS) providers, equipment vendors, software solution providers and universities are demonstrating two series of IPC standards at the Productronica Trade Show in Munich today. The first set of specifications, which comprise the Computer Aided Manufacturing using XML* (CAMX) standards, enable interoperability among hardware and software components used in electronics manufacturing. The second set, the Product Data eXchange (PDX) specifications, provide standard interfaces for the electronic exchange of manufacturing data among supply chain partners.
The CAMX standards were originally developed by the National Electronics Manufacturing Initiative’s (NEMI’s) Plug & Play Factory Project; and the PDX standards came from NEMI’s Virtual Factory Information Interchange Project (VFIIP). Both sets of standards are pending publication by IPC.
"Separately, the CAMX and PDX standards represent significant advances toward more agile manufacturing," said Jim McElroy, executive director and CEO of NEMI. "Combined, they create a powerful environment in which manufacturers can choose the best equipment, the best software and the best suppliers for the job. And, they can do so with the peace of mind that machines can be quickly and easily integrated, and that product and process data can be captured electronically and passed efficiently among supply chain partners. That means reduced costs, improved quality and faster time to market."
*XML · eXtensible Markup Language, the universal format for structured documents and data on the Web (see www.w3c.org).
CAMX Demonstration
Agilent Technologies Inc., DEK Printing Machines Ltd., Teradyne Inc. (formerly GenRad), Panasonic and Universal Instruments are demonstrating use of the CAMX standards from their Productronica booths throughout the week. Representing various pieces of equipment on an SMT line, each participating machine generates CAMX-compliant messages that report operational status and the tasks being done. In addition to the equipment on the show floor, DEK, Fuji America, Siemens and Universal Instruments have equipment located at Georgia Tech that is also part of the "production line," and simulators running at the Georgia Institute of Technology are emulating additional manufacturing lines.
The IPC-2541, IPC-2546 and IPC-2547 standards define the data content and structure of the messages sent from each machine, in effect, creating a "common language" so that information from all the machines and all the applications running on the shop floor are readable, regardless of each tool’s or application’s "native language."
The proposed CAMX framework standard (IPC-2501), currently being developed by Georgia Tech’s Framework Implementation Project, enables transfer, aggregation and distribution of the messages through an IPC-2501-compliant message broker. The project has also developed a CAMX-compliant portal that provides a means of graphically displaying information from the equipment via a web-based interface so that manufacturers can easily "see" what is happening on the shop floor. The portal allows multiple users to monitor critical information such as cycle time, machine utilization and work-in-progress (WIP) so that rapid decision-making can be accomplished. During the show, users will · from a single interface · be able to monitor the equipment on the show floor, the equipment located at Georgia Tech and the simulated data. See demonstration backgrounder for additional details.
Dave Morris, engineering manager at Nortel Networks, said, "A key benefit of using the IPC CAMX standards with our test framework is that processes are more portable, and can be readily moved between different Nortel Networks facilities, or between a Nortel Networks facility and an electronics manufacturing service provider."
"Teradyne is firmly committed to open industry standards," said Allan Fraser of Teradyne’s Assembly Test Division, who was project leader of NEMI’s Plug & Play Project and is now chairman of IPC’s Shop Floor Equipment Communications Committee. "We believe the product data exchange and shop floor equipment communication standards have the potential to revolutionize the way in which electronics manufacturers work together in the future."
PDX/CAMX Demonstration
Today’s demonstration simulates data exchange among OEMs and EMS providers for the purpose of building printed circuit boards (PCBs). Through numerous interchanges enabled by several of the PDX and CAMX standards the companies are able to:
- Transfer CAD drawings and bill of materials (BOMs) and other product definition data from the OEMs to the EMS providers.
- Generate customer orders from the OEMs’ enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems to each EMS provider’s manufacturing execution system (MES).
- Track status of the machines on the SMT line as products are built and tested.
- Automatically capture a complete board genealogy that indicates, for example, exactly what components from which suppliers were used in each product.
See demonstration backgrounder for additional details.
About the CAMX Standards
Three Computer Aided Manufacturing using XML (CAMX) standards were developed by NEMI’s Plug & Play Factory Project to facilitate interoperability among hardware and software components used in the manufacturing process. Based on XML, these standards provide a common interface among all the hardware components on a PCB manufacturing line. They also leverage GenCAM, the industry standard that defines how product data for PCBs should be described, including information needed for tooling, manufacturing, assembly, inspection and testing requirements. A fourth CAMX standard provides for a framework that will decrease the complexity of communication among equipment and applications on the factory floor. This framework is currently being developed by the Georgia Institute of Technology’s Framework Implementation Project, which is a spin-off of the NEMI Plug & Play Project. Using the combined CAMX standards, a manufacturer can collect data from all machines involved in production · regardless of vendor or geographic location · and display it inside a Web browser.
About the PDX Standards
The NEMI Virtual Factory Project was formed to develop a set of standards that would shorten the time and reduce the cost required to establish and maintain information exchange partnerships across the manufacturing supply web. The PDX standards that the project generated define an XML encoding scheme that enables supply chain partners to exchange product content, changes and subsequent manufacturing information in a common language. This capability allows companies to exchange information through a single port of the exchange software rather than developing a different solution for each trading partner.
To download CAMX and/or PDX standards specifications, visit webstds.ipc.org.
About NEMI
The National Electronics Manufacturing Initiative’s mission is to facilitate leadership of the North American electronics manufacturing supply chain. Based in Herndon, Va., the industry-led consortium is made up of more than 60 electronics equipment manufacturers, suppliers, industry associations and consortia, government agencies and universities.
NEMI roadmaps the needs of the North American electronics industry, identifies gaps in the technology infrastructure, establishes implementation projects to eliminate these gaps (both business and technical), and stimulates standards activities to speed the introduction of new technologies. The consortium also works with government, universities and other funding agencies to set priorities for future industry needs and R&D initiatives. For additional information about NEMI, visit www.nemi.org.
Press contact:
Cynthia Williams
phone: 207-871-1260
cwilliams@nemi.org