IPC Committee Works to Develop Shop Floor Communication Standard

On Wednesday, March 16, at IPC APEX EXPO, IPC’s 2-13 Shop Floor Communications Subcommittee brought together leading software developers, machine vendors, assembly equipment manufacturers and their customers to work on development of a new IPC standard to meet the current and future needs of industry that will fill a gap identified by the group. This new standard will provide uniformity of data protocols that will allow ease of machine to machine communication.

“The subcommittee is firmly committed to developing the standard and is also working to provide an easy-to-understand definition of Industry 4.0 and its significance,” said Subcommittee Chairman Jason Spera, CEO of Aegis Software. “The group is working to identify additional committee leaders from the customer and machine side.”

“Machine vendors want to engage quickly and all parties agree that a replacement for the current IPC-2541, Generic Requirements for Electronics Manufacturing Shop-Floor Equipment Communication Messages (CAMX) is needed and demanded by industry and speed of execution is critical,” said David Bergman, IPC vice president of standards and training. “During the meeting two commercial initiatives were presented, and based on those two presentations, the subcommittee realized that several licensing and intellectual property issues need to be resolved before the new standard can progress. The subcommittee also determined that the IP cannot be controlled by any entity other than IPC, nor a revenue generator for any company contributing to the standard.”

For more information on this evolving standard and 2-13 subcommittee activities, contact Bergman, at DavidBergman@ipc.org or +1 847-597-2840.

IPC (www.IPC.org) is a global industry association based in Bannockburn, Ill., dedicated to the competitive excellence and financial success of its 3,700 member companies which represent all facets of the electronics industry, including design, printed board manufacturing, electronics assembly and test. As a member-driven organization and leading source for industry standards, training, market research and public policy advocacy, IPC supports programs to meet the needs of an estimated $2 trillion global electronics industry. IPC maintains additional offices in Taos, N.M.; Washington, D.C.; Atlanta, Ga.; Brussels, Belgium; Stockholm, Sweden; Moscow, Russia; Bangalore and New Delhi, India; Bangkok, Thailand; and Qingdao, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Suzhou and Beijing, China.