Communicating Machines with Computer Aided Manufacturing using XML (CAMX)

Background:

In December 1997, the electronics manufacturing industry converged through the International Electronics Manufacturing Initiative (iNEMI), an industry-led consortium of over 60 large electronics manufacturers, to launch the Plug and Play Factory project. Estimates showed that integrating equipment and factory information systems cost as much as 4X to 20X the cost of the software itself.

The goal of the project was to design, develop and demonstrate a technical infrastructure to enable the deployment and replacement of both electronics assembly equipment and factory information systems in a fraction of the time and at a fraction of the cost normally associated with those activities.

The resulting infrastructure implemented machine-to-machine communications through the exchange of XML messages, and was called Computer Aided Manufacturing using XML (CAMX). The success of the Plug and Play Factory project spun-off a number of industrial consortia with the objective of standardizing the CAMX messaging framework and the CAMX messages for different types of electronics production equipment. The consortia operated under the umbrella of the IPC, Association Connecting Electronics Industries, an ANSI accredited standards body with membership of over 2,000 companies and 1,000 individuals. The result of this work is the set of IPC/CAMX standards, which comprise the IPC-2501 through IPC-2588 series of standards.

The use of CAMX standards enables:

• Interoperability and exchangeability of machines: possibility to select best-in-class equipment
• Seamless real-time integration of XML process data into factory information systems
• Deployment and integration time of an electronics assembly line down to one day
• Guaranteed Message Delivery

Workshop objectives

The workshop will explain the foundations of machine-to-machine communication using XML and CAMX, and the underlying network infrastructure using Ethernet and TCP/IP Web-based technologies. The IPC-2501 protocol for brokering of messages among communicating machines will then be covered. Finally, the structure and content of the most commonly used XML messages will be addressed.

Participants will gain hands-on experience on CAMX by experimenting with real CAMX software and CAMX-enabled industrial equipment. Participants will recreate real CAMX communication scenarios that are being used in production in several factories around the world.

Target Audience

This book is intended for:

• Industrial managers and decision-makers who need to learn about new technologies to respond to lower cost and mass customization demands
• System integrators who need a solution to deploy production systems with reduced installation, operation and maintenance cost, reduced deployment and ramp-up time, increased operations visibility and controllability, and ease of integration to factory information systems
• Machine vendors who need to supply equipment with the latest communication technology to keep up with current demand
• Graduate students who wish to learn about latest trends in factory automation

Instructors

Prof. Jose L. Martinez Lastra, Tampere University of Technology, Finland
Ivan M. Delamer, Tampere University of Technology, Finland