Europlacer is an active contributor to the IPC CFX
Published: March 22, 2023
Europlacer is an active contributor to the IPC CFX, a new standard for the “smart industry” in electronics.
Europlacer was the first in 2021 to achieve IPC* Connected Factory Exchange (CFX) certification. The IPC CFX standard standardises and improves data communication in the PCB production line. By adopting the standard, all players in the electronics industry, regardless of size or sector, will find concrete benefits in their production monitoring and inventory management.
Europlacer helped design the standard with the active participation of French-based company LACROIX Electronics who has since taken the lead in the concrete implementation in SMT equipment. Europlacer is positioning itself as a forerunner of the widespread adoption of this new standard, a decisive and concrete step towards Industry 4.0 and the “smart factory” in electronic production plants.
The genesis of the IPC CFX standard
The IPC is an internationally recognised association responsible for developing and publishing standards for the electronics industry.
Within the IPC, Europlacer became a member of the “A-Team” which contributed to the design and improvements of the IPC CFX standard, work which continues to this day with new developments. Collaborative work between Europlacer and LACROIX Electronics business has ensured that the technical choices made are fully relevant to high-volume production environments.
Formed in 2018, around fifty meetings have been organised since the creation of this team. The “A-Team” is composed of representatives from machine manufacturers such as Europlacer, but also from software publishers of production operations and data management (MES) such as Aegis. About twenty members work together under the aegis of the IPC.
The tasks of the “A-team” are first and foremost to define the priorities, to write the technical specifications and to code all the new functionalities of the standard over the three versions already released. Regular exchanges between all the members aim to make this standard evolve intelligently so that it corresponds as much as possible to the needs of users. The project is open-source, which means that all contributors who are sincerely committed to serving the electronics industry can become members of the A-Team.
“Europlacer has always been ahead of its time when it comes to data sharing. It was therefore natural for us to join this process of standardisation of exchanges. Writing a standard means thinking broadly for the benefit of users, responding to current demand but also anticipating the needs of the industry of the future. Europlacer also draws on this experience to improve its products and their integration into Industry 4.0.”
Alexis Fouquet, Europlacer R&D Software Engineer
The advantages of this universal protocol for the electronics industry
Like a web service, the standard opens up the implementation of the various CMS line machines in “plug & play”. The data from the machines can be exchanged with each other in a universal language based on the Advanced Message Queuing Protocol (AMQP). Textual information is transmitted in a common language called JSON (JavaScript Object Notation), which all machines and software can process.
This IPC CFX standard thus provides access to the simplified interconnection between equipment that may come from different suppliers within the same production line. By developing interoperability, production monitoring is also facilitated, allowing quality improvement and cost optimisation. All this also creates a standardised ecosystem and convenient and fast interfacing with compatible MES/ERP software.
Another important benefit of the standard is the management of component stocks. Indeed, by working in a fully interconnected environment, better traceability of components is ensured. Similarly, the ability to have centralized visibility of the status of stocks in real-time improves their management, and also that of production flows.
“The IPC CFX standard is the reference for Industry 4.0 in the electronics sector. It provides access to dashboards and real-time production management. It also has the advantage of facilitating the management of material stocks and providing full traceability. It can also improve planning by making it more adaptive and set up automated processes. In short, this standard can bring even more agility to factories, without having to invest in middleware that is often complex and time-consuming to integrate into existing systems.
Michael Ford, Aegis
LACROIX Electronics (France) has already adopted the IPC CFX standard.
Prior to the implementation of the IPC CFX standard, valuable time, sometimes lasting several months, was spent just integrating new machines into a production environment to make their languages compatible.
LACROIX Electronics agreed to partner with Europlacer to test the IPC CFX standard on full-scale production lines. After having noticed that the interconnection of its machines is six times faster than before, the manufacturer is totally convinced by its efficiency and the productivity gains obtained. The company plans to deploy the CFX standard on all its production sites and to require it on all its future machines.
“Our interest is twofold: this protocol not only allows us to plan, launch and modify production in the workshops from production management software (MES) or management software (ERP), but also to check the status of our production in real time.”
Colas Peyrelier, Industrial IT Manager - LACROIX Electronics.
IPC CFX certification, a guarantee for manufacturers
Investing in IPC CFX certified equipment guarantees electronics manufacturers the continuity of their investment thanks to the universal protocol that ensures compatibility with all other certified models of machines or MES software. The ecosystem thus created is totally “connected”, which accelerates the digital transformation of production, making the line “intelligent”, improving industrial performance and increasing the capacity of operators.
Many electronics manufacturers and subcontractors are joining the “supporters” club to specify and/or recommend the use of the standard. LACROIX Electronics is of course one of them, but so are many other manufacturers and subcontractors who want to be the first to benefit from the standard.
“Thanks to LACROIX, we have been able to experiment with the IPC-CFX standard in real production and to confront ourselves with a wider range of situations. To benefit from the experience of a leading industrialist in its field and its power is an opportunity.”
Many equipment manufacturers are also constantly joining the CFX IPC with new machines.
To date, all Europlacer’s ii-A1, ii-A2, ii-A3, ii-A4 and iineo+1 and iineo+2 component placement machines are IPC CFX certified. For the future, Europlacer has decided to launch only IPC CFX certified equipment for both placement and screen printing machines.
