Session 14: Standards & Reliability

Moving toward High-Volume Manufacturing with Standards
Thursday, February 15, 2018
9:25 AM - 9:45 AM

Revolutionary advances in flexible electronics hold the promise of producing innovative new products at lower cost than traditional methods. However, the gap between prototype production and high-volume manufacturing (HVM) can be daunting. How can you ensure that you have the infrastructure in place to move your process from the laboratory to the complexities and uncertainties of real-world manufacturing, especially in a smart factory? Fortunately, lessons learned in the semiconductor manufacturing industry provide clear guidance for making the move towards full automation and standardized data collection and material handling.

This presentation reviews the fundamental requirements for making the transition from pilot process to implementation inside a modern production facility and value chain. We’ll discuss design patterns and standards for automation, big data collection, and security that you can implement now to help simplify future sales to demanding customers. We’ll also introduce a path for taking your HVM to the next level: introducing essential concepts for realize smart manufacturing and Industry 4.0. Modern analytics can be used to monitor a fleet of deployed equipment to find opportunities for improvement (e.g., enabling predictive maintenance to reduce unplanned equipment downtime). However, this can only work if the collected data is consolidated securely into a central location. The basic data collection infrastructure we recommend paves the way for a complete, secure remote connectivity and data sharing solution that provides equipment makers and manufacturers a powerful new and secure way to collaborate.