The PCB National League Promotes Common Communication Protocol, Intelligent Manufacturing Technologies Platform aimed at Industrial 4.0

 

The PCB industry in Taiwan has taken automation initiatives earlier than its counterparts. A TPCA survey shows that manufacturing technologies of suppliers in Taiwan are somewhere between Industry 2.0 and 2.5, while the PCB industry is well ahead, lacking only customized solutions or integration approaches.

 

In response to the need to create more role models and government initiatives of intelligent machinery, the TPCA held the PCB Intelligent Manufacturing National Summit on the 16^th in conjunction with the Institute for Information Industry and the Industrial Technology Research Institute with sponsorship from the Ministry of Economic Affairs. Led by the Deputy Director of the Industry (MOEA), Mr. Zheng-Hwa Liu, many key suppliers and business moguls in the PCB industry pledged to establish the PCB Intelligent Manufacturing National League, trailblazing the path of intelligent manufacturing.

 

In fact, confronted by fierce competition from China, Japan, and Korea, the mass production characteristic of the PCB industry has been forced to switch to high variety production, regardless of whether the company produces in small or large quantities. It is imperative for Taiwan’s PCB industry to consider new ways of enhancing its supply chain and bridge information and communication technology to boost the efficiency and elasticity of intelligent machinery production.

 

In his speech, Mr. Liu said that the government began to promote the initiative of the intelligent machinery policy in 2016 and has established a dedicated agency to this cause. PCB is indeed a key industry in Taiwan, in which the TPCA plays a vital, leading role. Now that the TPCA has founded the National League for PCB Intelligent Manufacturing and has horizontally integrated the supply chain, competitiveness and cohesion have been greatly reinforced, which is highly valued by the government for optimizing the use of resources. It is expected that the PCB model can be applied to other industries alike in Taiwan to magnify the effect intelligent manufacturing.

 

Mr. Wu, Director of the TPCA, said that the PCB industry has had a long history of development and its members have generally been fully dedicated to its development. However, it is precisely due to the long history that most of the PCB suppliers are still very outdated in terms of the automation of machinery, i.e. somewhere between Industry 2.0 and 2.5. In order to upgrade the industry, a white-book plan was implemented by the TPCA in 2014 in the hope of consolidating the consensus and reinforcing intelligent machinery so that PCB production can be further integrated and coordinated.

 

Currently, the PCB Intelligent Manufacturing National League is jointly operated by the TPCA, III and the ITRI and headed by Avantech and Sink, who provide solutions for intelligent manufacturing. The League has engaged Unimicron, Chinpoon, Unitech in its efforts to construct a platform for PCB intelligent manufacturing and coordinate the communication standards of equipment network, accelerating the speed of development of intelligent, high-value production. The event on the 16^th featured discussion sessions on intelligent manufacturing among solution providers such as Nexcom, and FS-Tech Company.

 

What is more note-worthy is that the deputy director of the YPCA, Ms.Ya-Yun Hung, added in the session on the Strategic Outlook for Taiwan PCB Intelligent Machinery, that Taiwan constitutes some 30.2% of the market share of the PCB supply; its aggregate output totaling some NT$800 billion in 2016. What has made Taiwan outshine its competitors with such statistics is the long-term large-volume investment into R&D of the industry’s advanced manufacturing technologies as well as the comprehensive supply chain composed of more than 800 suppliers. The PCB industry’s white-book was launched in 2014, and its first phase was dedicated to accelerating the industry’s intelligent manufacturing capabilities. The second, was building a cross-sector alliance aimed at promoting competitiveness as a whole. Ms. Hung’s views are shared by Mr. Wen-Sen Shih, Development Director of Industry 4.0 at Avantech, who considers it increasingly vital to promote intelligent manufacturing in the industry, particularly following’s Germany’s advocacy for Industry 4.0 and the subsequent repercussions worldwide. Aside from the Industrial Revolution, Industry 4.0 not only represents a change in production systems, but an overturn of traditional thinking that connects information technology and virtual integration, establishing a brand-new business value.

 

In the session of “How the PCB Industry Advanced to Intelligent Manufacturing,” Mr. Chih-Yuan Chang, an Intelligent Manufacturing R&D Manager, stressed that one of the most staggering challenges facing the PCB industry is the dilemma of balancing quality assurance and time restrictions for delivery in response to urgent orders, which has plagued both management and operational levels alike. As a result, intelligent manufacturing has become the answer to this issue. The elasticity and integrated resources of intelligent manufacturing effectively reduce costs, ensure productivity, and enhance the efficiency of systems.. In the face of such trends, Mr. Li-Wei Lee, Vice General Manager of Nexcom, shared his insights in the session “Controlling Smart Risks—How to Diagnose Machinery?” He says that the manufacturing industry is not unfamiliar with the concept of early maintenance. With the rise of Industry 4.0, IT, and OT savvy, advanced care and maintenance is becoming a more comprehensive and precise element in production. With the support from software and hardware suppliers, an industrial network with equipment sensitivity and data access has been established as the main framework for future manufacturing systems. Equipment outage pre-alerts and advance care and maintenance will be the major functions of future modern systems.

 

The GM of FS Tech, Mr. Chih-An Kao, points out in his speech on building intangible competitiveness that the determinants for PCB machinery such as data creation, equipment connection, and data analysis are far beyond satisfaction, which leads to the inability of businesses to accurately judge the potential of their systems, the result of which is the potential loss of business opportunities and increased chances of risks. He considers horizontal integration within the supply chain, the creation a WIP tracking system, and group efforts to promote PCB competitiveness in Taiwan by strengthening negotiation skills and involving union resources vital. He further commented on the efforts the PCB National League in integrating the supply chain and creating a by following this path.