Cloud-Based SMART Manufacturing in China

Abstract

Prior to the days of Industrial Revolutions 4.0, the conventional production work processes were heavily relied on human capability. Production workstations were not interconnected to facilitate machine-to-machine communication as the present day of Industrial Internet Of Things (IIOT) implementation. Many machines and production systems were kept siloed as stand-alone work operation in the last decade. At the time, data collection in production chains was difficult and nonviable due to massive data being generated exponentially in a fraction of second from the production processes unused. Data from production system is scattered, unevenly distributed, non-continuity and inconsistency. Data obtained from the field is typically raw data and needs to be segregated and analyzed before it can be used and translated into information to the floor manager and senior management for decision-making. In recent years, labor shortage and high labor cost are threatening the fundamental cost advantage in China manufacturing sector, comparing to the Asian countries. To retain the position as "The World's Factory" in China, there is a need for China factory to move on quickly into Industry 4.0 transformation. Final Assembly, Test and Packout (FATP) will be the trend to Electronics Manufacturing Services (EMS) in the next horizon together with the implementation of Industry 4.0 in the manufacturing industry. The author of this chapter is taking an electronic Printed Circuit Board (PCB) assembly process in the case factory to demonstrate the benefit of adopting Industry 4.0 in the Surface Mount Technology (SMT) production floor for cost effectiveness and quality performance over the conventional production work process.