M3-2 ELE[TRDNI[· .~~ 18[IR[UIT5~WORLD[ONVEIITIDI

A STANDARDS-BASED APPROACHTO INTEGRATINGINFORMATIONACROSS THE ELECTRONICS

MANUFACTURING SUPPLY NETWORK

Barbara MaiaGoldstein* and Andrew Dugenske*** Project Leader

Infrastructurefor Integrated ElectronicsManufacturingProjectNational Institute of Standards & Technology(NIST)

Bldg 225/Rm A53 Gaithersburg, MD 20899 USAPhone: 1-301-975-2304, Fax: 1-301-975-3157, bgoldstein@nist.gov

** Manager of Research ServicesGeorgia Institute of Technology Manufacturing ResearchCenter

813 Ferst Drive Atlanta, GA 30332-0560 USAPhone:404-894-9161, Fax:404-894-0957I andrew.dugenske@marc.gatech.edu

Ms. Barbara Maia Goldstein

Barbara Maia Goldstein serves as leader of the Infrastructure for IntegratedElectronics Manufacturing (HEM) Project at NIST and co-chairs the

Factory Information Systems Technology Implementation Group of theNational Electronics Manufacturing Initiative. Ms. Goldstein previouslyserved as U.S. Delegate to lEC TC93, member of ISO 10303 IPO ElectricalApplications Committee, and Chair of the Tools & Technology Council ofANSI Harmonization of Product Data Standards (HPS) Committee. She

initiated the STEP Process Plant Application Protocol Planning Project asa consultant to the Process Data eXchange Institute (PDX!).

Short Abstract (Synopsis):

This paper summarizes industry needs for the integrationof informationsystemsacross the electronicsmanufacturingsupply chain. Various standards development and demonstration projects, and their impact on the supply chainintegration, are discussed. While standards cannot address all the complexities introduced by outsourcing, severalare under development which promise to reduce the burden of multi-organizational information exchange andmanagement.

ECWC 8, Tokyo 99 M3-2- )

Introduction

Electronics manufacturers (OEMs) are contracting anincreasing breadth of production processes to theirnetwork of suppliers -a trend which is global, but highlypronounced in North America. By relying on a broadlydistributed supply network, OEMs achieve enormousflexibility. They can rapidly modify their manufacturingcapacity by adding or subtracting new suppliers for anyelement of the production process with little or no impactto their investments because they own a shrinkingpercentage of the manufacturing capability. With thismodel, OEMs that previously were required to predict theexact acceptance of any particular product or productversion can now dynamically respond to market conditionsas they change.

At the same time, however, the outsourcing model raisesa number of challenges in terms of technical capabilitiesand business processes. In some cases, outsourcingexacerbates existing problems; in others, it creates newconcerns of its own. The issues are complex, and threatenthe competitive stature of major manufacturers:

· Product demand. Product life cycles are beingmeasured in weeks instead of months or years, drivingfast-paced evolution in assembly technology andcreating the need for ever tighter control of themanufacturing process.

Integration issues. High technology products are oftenbuilt in facto"rieswithout integrated software systems.Highly sophisticated assembly equipment lines stilloperate as classjc islands of automation, with littleability to communicate and coordinate.

· Interface issues. Even the most advanced

manufacturers have aging, homegrown systems,presenting serious integration issues. Those issues arecompounded by the rapid growth of an ElectronicsManufacturing Services (EMS) industry that introducesanother component - first-tiersuppliers- with whichamanufacturer's homegrown system must interface.

While greater reliance on a supply network providesflexibility in response to unpredictable market conditions,a serious lack of standards for information integrationacross cross-company and inter-company systemsthreatens to limit any potential efficiency gains.

M3-2-2

Traditionally, supply chain integration has not addressedsuch issues as collaborative design, quality, yield, andcomponent traceability. As the electronics industrymigrates to a model of close integration among OEMsand their supply chains, it becomes more necessary toshare accurate and timely information across the entiresupply chain. In many instances, the development andadoption of industry standards could allow companies toshare a richer scope of information with less in-houseeffort. Table I lists business processes, the data thatsupports them, and some of the related standardsdevelopment efforts currently underway.

ECWC 8,Tokyo 99

Table 1

B\; i.'\:".'};. riE;',;'...: '.fIS'''~~~.'Er~e$S

Business Process Common tenninology. process modelDefinition

Vendor Evaluation;Make/Buy DecisionProcurement

Planning/SchedulingBid/QuoteManagement

Order Fulfillment

Engineering toManufacturing Hand-offTest

Production Control

ComponentTraceability

Packing/Shipping

Production Status

Final AssemblyInter-CompanyWorkflowInfrastructure

Vendor scorecards. cost-benefitanalysisPurchase requisitions, purchaseorders, invoicing, paymentEnterprise resource planning

Demand, schedule, projection tostock, inventory, WIP, finishedgoods, in-transit, raw/consignedmaterials flow

BOM, netlist. CAD, approvedmaterials list, engineering changeorders

Inspection, in-circuit, functional,stress, SPC, imaging, system testreportsMachine recipes

Component genealogy, traceability.machine parameters

Incoming: pallets. cartons, contents,acknowledgementOutgoing: pallets. cartons, contents.receiverBi-directional infonnation reportingFactory floor infonnation reporting,alanns & alerts, cycle time, yield

Security

RelatediSfa~~~1J!1!::1'!!!')!-n

Supply Chain Council SCOR model,NEMI Virtual Factory InfonnationExchange Project (VFIIP)

EDI, ANSI X.12

Open Applications Group, RosettaNet

Open Applications Group,NEMI VFIIP in collaboration w/IPCRosettaNet,Open Applications Group

IPC GenCAM, EDIFNEMI VFIIP in collaboration wlIPC

SMEMA Standard Recipe FileFonnat (SRFF), NEMI Plug & PlayFactory Project, NEMI VFIIP

SMEMA SRFF, NEMI Plug & PlayFactory ProjectSilicon Integration Initiativestandards,NEMI VFIIPNEMI VFIIP

NEMI Plug & Play Factory ProjectNEMI VFIIP in collaboration wlIPCNEMI VFIIP

Object Management Group, IIOPNEMI VFIIPW3C

The remainder of this paper will highlight some of these collaborative research and standards development efforts.

ECWC 8, Tokyo 99 M3-2-3

National Electronics Manufacturing Initiative

(www.nemi.org)

The National Electronics Manufacturing Initiative (NEMI)is an industry-led consortium made up of more than 50North American electronic equipment manufacturers,suppliers, associations, government agencies anduniversities. This organization roadmaps the needs of theNorth American electronics industry and identifies criticalgaps in the region's electronics infrastructure. Based onthis infonnation, NEMI then stimulates R&D projects toclose the longer tenn gaps, and establishes implementationprojects to eJiminate the nearer term gaps. Anotherimportant area of activity is the consortium's support andencouragement of standards activities to speed andbroaden the introduction of new technology.

The NEMI Factory Information Systems TechnicalImplementation Group has initiated two projects to definestandards that support infonnation exchange partnershipsacross the manufacturing supply web: the Plug & PlayFactory Project and the Virtual Factory InformationInterchange Project (VFIIP). The Plug & Play FactoryProject will result in three draft IPC standards by the endof 1999 which will facilitate interoperability amonghardware and software components used in themanufacturingprocess. Based on XML (eXtensible Mark-up Language) and Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP),these proposed standards provide a common interfaceamong all the hardware components on a PCBmanufacturing line. The standards allow data to becollected from all machines - regardless of vendor orgeographic location - and displayed inside a web browser.

The NEMI Virtual Factory Information InterchangeProject extends the reach of interoperability from withinan enterprise (the focus of the Plug & Play Factory Project)to information systems distributed across businesspartners. VFIIP will spur the development of standardsnot previously needed when manufacturers performedmost functions in-house, and will validate and recommend

standards and processes which promise efficiency gainsfor the electronics industry. This endeavor is being spear-headed by Intel and Celestica.

One of the initial efforts undertaken by the project iscollaboration with IPC on a new standard for bills of

material (BOM) and engineering change orders (ECOs).In addition, the project wiII prototype the technologyidentified and developed in an industrial setting.

M3-2-4

GenCAM Standard (www.gencam.org)

The IPC estimates that over $100 million each year isspent on non-value added translation of design data forthe production of circuit board assemblies. Consequently,IPC is in the process of developing the Generic ComputerAided Manufacturing (GenCAM) standard to reduce thesecosts. GenCAM is a method of representing dataassociated with an electronic assembly in a standards-based manner. Some of the data contained in a GenCAM

file includes: the board layout, location of components,electrical traces, definition of test fixtures, artwork, andadministration data. In addition to the original design data,changes to the data are included directly in the file so thatrevision history can easily be ascertained.

Combining GenCAM with the Standard Recipe FileFormat (SRFF), electronic manufacturers have astandards-based way to represent information from ideato manufacture. It is anticipated that an idea would befirst formalized through a CAD package, the output ofwhich would be a GenCAM file. A CAM program woulduse this GenCAM as input, combine it with knowledgeabout the manufacturing process, and produce SRFF tiles.By using GenCAM and SRFF to transfer informationthrough the enterprise, only two file fonnats are requiredto move an idea to manufacture. This is sharp contrast tothe dozens of potential methods to transmit informationin the present climate.

SRFF Standard (www.smema.org)

The Surface Mount Equipment Manufacturers Association(SMEMA) recently released the Standard Recipe FileFormat (SRFF) Specification, which outlines a genericmethod for producing process control files. Processcontrol files, often referred to as "recipes," provide theinstructions to electronic manufacturing equipment.

Prior to SRFF, vendors made use of a proprietary methodfor describing manufacturing information within theirrecipes. Hence, recipes could not be shared amongequipment developed by different vendors, which greatlyreduced the flexibility of electronic manufacturers. If aproduct were to be moved to a manufacturing line thatcontained different equipment from the first, new processcontrol files would have to be written, costing both timeand money.

SRFF was developed to reduce the costs and timeassociated with moving production from dissimilar

ECWC 8, Tokyo 99

manufacturingscenarios. It was also developed to increasequality and flexibility. SRFF attempts to accomplish thesegoals by describing specific attributes about a product ina generic manner. Manufacturing data is combined withthe attributes to provide instructions to equipment. Themain advantage is that manufacturing instructions are"decoupled" from the equipment used to produce theproducts.

Lack of flexibility is especially salient in today'senvironment of increased outsourcing. EMS providers(contract manufacturers) are continuing to expand, oftenby purchasing current manufacturing facilities. Since theequipment contained in these newly acquiredmanufacturing facilities are seldom identical, the need tocommunicate with the equipment in a standardized methodbecomes increasingly important.

NIST Internet Commerce for Manufacturing(www.mel.nist.gov/namtJprojects/icmlicml.htm)

The Internet Commerce for Manufacturing (ICM) project,part of NIST's National Advanced Manufacturing Testbed.is working with industry to develop, validate anddemonstrate the use of open systems and standards forefficient sharing of printed circuit assembly data betweenelectronics manufacturers and their supply chain partners.

To date, ~he ICM project has established a distributedtestbed, linking together commercial applications andprototype software to demonstrate potential supply chainefficiency gains through more efficient use of the Internetand information exchange standards. Software andspecifications showcased in the testbed include the NEMIPlug & Play Factory testbed at the Georgia Institute ofTechnology; Agile Software's product changecollaboration tools; Automata Design lnc.'smanufacturability analysis software: IPC's GenCAMstandard, and emerging XML-based standards for bills ofmaterial, quoting and change collaboration.

The project has also developed a web-based standardsroadmap to help navigate industry through over 700information technology related standards. Other activitiesinclude release of a Conformance Test Module for the

IPC GenCAM standard, and procurement of two actualboards via an electronic bid site with web-accessible

design information.

ECWC 8.Tokyo99

Other Activities

A number of other groups are working on complimentaryprojects with mandates to create standards to ease supplychain integration across the OEM-EMS-Supply web.Through its charter and by virtue of its membership, eachhas outlined which part of the problem they are choosingto address:

·The RosettaNet consortium has set the goal of creatingthe "lingua franca for eBusiness" in the areas of productintroduction and order management.

·CommerceNet launched the eCo Working Group todefine cross-industry electronic commerce standards.

·The Silicon Integration Initiative's (SF) ElectronicComponent Information Exchange (ECIX) project isdedicated to designing standards for creation, exchangeand use of electronic component information.

Conclusion

As the above efforts mature, industry will soon have theabi lity to go from design through assembly, test anddistribution via a suite of standards, and to see thisapproach validated in academic and industry testbeds.Such a standards-based approach to integratinginformation across the electronics manufacturing supplychain will become increasingly integral to success asmanufacturers outsource an ever-widening scope of theirproduction processes to their supplier networks.

M3-2-5