TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Originally Printed in the July 2001 Issue of SMT
Magazine
SMT PERSPECTIVES COLUMN
A forum where industry leaders are encouraged to express their opinions on the latest and hottest topics in the SMT industry. This month's installment discusses the correlation between industry demand and better manufacturing software.
Few
things have developed as rapidly as manufacturing software during the
past decade. There are reasons for this, not the least of which is the
dizzying pace at which manufacturing requirements are changing. What
used to be a simple, localized process now involves factories around the
world and advanced assembly processes that have little or not room for
error. Time to market has sped up dramatically and, as a result,
tracking change orders is like counting the wheels of a moving train.
In addition, industry professionals now have more experience with
manufacturing software, and are more knowledgeable about software
systems and technology in general. They have come to understand the
potential of software in the manufacturing environment. This knowledge
and experience combined with changing industry needs has made their
expectations increase exponentially. To respond, software developers
have been forced to supply better and broader solutions for electronics
assembly and, as a result, our industry has reached a significant growth
stage, at which truly profound productivity and efficiency are now
possible.
CUSTOMER DRIVEN INNOVATION
In the early days of manufacturing software, vendors often supported a
customer with limited computer experience and practically no knowledge
of networking or the Internet. Evaluating a user interface design,
system architecture, platforms, etc. was not something this customer
could do. Software design and user interfaces reflected this.
Then the situation changed. Windows operating systems became common in
both the home and workplace, and the widespread use of commercial
applications created a world of discerning software consumers,
manufacturers among them. Customers then insisted upon the same user
interface efficiency and design they experienced in commercial packages
when evaluating manufacturing software. The first major change was the
move to Windows, and this move had two phases: the first was just a
‘porting’ to Windows for existing software, but the next phase produced
fresh systems actually harnessing the benefits of the Windows interface.
The demand for a greater scope of capability drove the next major stage
of development -- the evolution of software tools into systems.
THE EVOLUTION OF TOOLS INTO SYSTEMS
Customers first obtained system-like capability through collections of
tools using different (or inadequate) databases. At this time, software
tools for manufacturing really existed as answers to specific problems;
a manufacturing enterprise would adopt many tools to approximate a full
solution. The speed and quality benefits of each of these tools
justified their adoption.
This sufficed until expectations of more seamless and effective
operation drove customers to insist on coherent, fully-integrated
solutions. At first, platform technology and the related cost barriers
prevented these tools from evolving into the systems that would meet the
full scope of customer requirements. But as these technology barriers
began to lift, IT departments demanded centralized data, complete
stability, and systems capable of scaling without incurring great
infrastructure expenses.
TECHNOLOGY CATCHES UP
The nearly universal adoption of Windows in factories, dependence on the
Internet as a backbone for current operating systems, and the existence
of powerful databases have made large, integrated software systems
viable. Inter-factory networking in combination with the Internet has
paved the way for enterprise-level manufacturing software systems.
Today, a manufacturing software system is actually a combination of
technology from the manufacturing software vendor and the operating
system vendor.
But the story doesn’t stop here. These systems have inspired customers
to seek larger, fully-integrated solutions with even greater benefits
for operations and production. This demand has converged with advanced
software development and design technologies to push software to yet
another level of sophistication – browser-based TransCollaborative
Manufacturing (TCM) software.
THE NEXT FRONTIER
TCM software combines web-centric design with collaborative operation.
Web-centric systems utilize web servers and browsers as key components
of their architecture. User interaction is via browsers; connections
between them employ the company network as well as the Internet, making
them multi-department, multi-factory, and even extra-corporate in scope.
TCM software operates collaboratively, doing more than just moving data
around quickly. It allows multiple parties to act upon common data
simultaneously, thereby creating, moving, editing, and disseminating
manufacturing information more quickly than is possible by any
sequential or linear system.
Industry professionals are now being offered the latest response to
their software expectations: fully coherent systems that are both
powerful and easy to maintain. Systems that are more than simple data
management tools, but portals through which multiple parties can
interact to expedite product introduction and engineering changes.
Systems bringing both speed and control to manufacturing information
management. Rather than creating a series of software tools to build a
single solution, customers now enjoy a singular system that fulfills
their information management requirements. And, unlike the cycle of
expectation/response of the past which would drive software vendors to
re-invent systems with each new level of requirement, the latest
software technology allows for evolutionary advancements in the future.
Technologies such as the Component Object Model method of software
design allow systems to evolve and scale over time, without having to
discard existing architectures to move to new levels of functionality.
CONCLUSION
The next few years will be extremely exciting for users of manufacturing
software. As manufacturing needs expand, so will the software that
supports them, further driving the cycle of innovation. With new
technologies such as TCM software and advanced development tools,
manufacturing software is finally on track for the 21st Century.
Author Information:
Jason Spera, Chief Executive Officer
Aegis Industrial Software Corporation
220 Gibraltar Road, Suite 100
Horsham, PA 19044