In recent years, the proliferation of high-speed communications infrastructure and the reduction of communications and storage costs have been advancing rapidly. Against this backdrop, the trend of the fourth industrial revolution, typified by Industrie 4.0, has spread explosively, and the momentum of investments in related technologies has been building globally.
Yamaha Motor has taken this trend in a timely manner, and developed “Intelligent Factory,” an Internet of Things (IoT)/machine-to-machine (M2M) integration system using the latest technologies. For the introduction of Intelligent Factory, Yamaha Motor is proposing a practical four-step process. The company focuses on and actively proposes the automation and labor saving of the surface-mount technology (SMT) line based on the M2M connectivity.
In this process, Yamaha has made possible mutual cooperation, not only among Yamaha’s SMT machines, but also with other companies’ machines. In fact the company already has a track record of installing that kind of numerous production lines.
As a practical problem involving M2M linkages among machines of different manufacturers with various development concepts and business scales, there is a significant amount of proprietary information that cannot be mutually disclosed. Therefore, information sharing is virtually limited to standard basic information, such as board IDs and bad marks. In addition, it is considerably difficult for manufacturers with different resources and situations to simultaneously develop software for mutual cooperation. Hence, naturally, there is a limit to the synergetic effects that can be attained through cooperation.
Yamaha Motor already has a full lineup of main machines on a mounting line: surface mount device (SMD) storage systems, printers, dispensers, screen printing inspection (SPI) machines, mounters, and automated optical inspection (AOI) systems. Connecting each machine on a mounting line comprising of these Yamaha products through advanced M2M connectivity without a black box in an “Intelligent Factory” maximizes the effects of mutual cooperation of machines and software. Thus, it becomes possible to achieve a highly efficient mounting line through true total management.
Yamaha Surface Mount Technology
http://www.yamaha-motor-im.eu
