WILSONVILLE, OR — Saying there is an urgent industry need for a printed circuit board assembly-specific Internet of Manufacturing standard interface, Mentor Graphics today announced the launch of the Open Manufacturing Language initiative. 

The culmination of three years of development, the single, normalized, vendor-neutral communication interface allows users to integrate shop-floor data to create or enhance added-value manufacturing execution solutions, the software vendor said, minimizing development and support effort while ensuring optimum data accuracy, timeliness and completeness.

OML is said to create an operational hierarchy through which neutralized information is exchanged between manufacturing processes. The format can handle details of shop-floor events for process performance, materials setup and consumption, traceability, process results and parameters, process control (poka-yoke), and quality information from test, inspection and repair processes, both automated and manual. It is said to resolves numerous issues in automated and manual processes that previous formats could not address.

The standard also ties in automated collection of full traceability data including routing and compliance enforcement, Mentor added.

Mentor created the language in order to promulgate use of the Internet of Manufacturing, Industry 4.0 and Smart Factory 1.0, Mentor marketing development manager Michael Ford told CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY. He stressed that the standard would be open to industry, with Mentor acting as the gatekeeper as the lead company in a new online community. The community will offer technical support and manage revisions, he said.

Top 60 EMS company Hana Microelectronics and industrial computer OEM iEi Integration are among the companies that have tested the standard. 

Ian Ticehurst, senior corporate MIS manager at Hana Microelectronics, called the initiative "perfectly timed to enable our IT team to put their latest ideas into practice following the principles and potential of the Internet of Manufacturing with a fraction of the effort, cost and lead-time originally required.”

iEi president and GM Jordan Jiang added, “The OML standard is a key technology and contributor for the Internet of Manufacturing and Industry 4.0 in PCB assembly.”  

“For some time now we have seen and heard the demand for a comprehensive shop-floor communication standard that is detailed enough to support the next generation of computerization such as Industry 4.0 solutions,” said Dan Hoz, general manager of Mentor Graphics Valor Division in a press release. “With this initiative, Valor contributes the first step and sets the pace for the revolution in manufacturing for PCB assembly”

Membership of the community is now open for end-users, machine vendors, and other interested parties by registering at OMLcommunity.com, where a free download of the full documentation and samples are available. 

Initial members of the OML Community include three leading providers of component placement and other SMT assembly equipment: Yamaha, Juki, Kulicke & Soffa.