New SIPLACE Feeder Manager 2.0: More capacity utilization for SMT lines

The new version 2.0 of the SIPLACE Feeder Manager from Siemens Electronics Assembly Systems delivers professional feeder management with inventory management, maintenance cycle and repair cost monitoring as well as feeder status and history reports. The SIPLACE Feeder Manager 2.0 raises feeder availability reduces unscheduled production stops and improves placement yield and reliability. All these benefits enable companies to improve the utilization of their SMT lines and reduce the maintenance and repair costs considerably. Depending on the user’s requirements, the SIPLACE Feeder Manager 2.0 can be configured as a standalone system or a fully networked system for the entire production environment.

Feeders that work flawlessly and can be easily located are an important part of continuous production processes with a high level of pickup reliability, which in turn delivers a high yield rate. With the SIPLACE Feeder Manager 2.0, electronics manufacturers are now able to effectively organize their feeder maintenance and trace the repair and maintenance history of each feeder down to the smallest detail.

More productivity in electronics manufacturing

Using professional feeder management enables electronics manufacturers to reduce the number of unscheduled, feeder-related production interruptions. As a result, the availability and placement quality of their lines increase significantly. In addition, users of the SIPLACE Feeder Manager 2.0 benefit from lower process costs, fewer repairs and faster maintenance, because the SIPLACE Feeder Manager 2.0 lets them organize their feeder maintenance much more effectively and efficiently. The new software allows them to define time- or usage based maintenance intervals for each feeder model or even each individual feeder. If a feeder is due for maintenance, the system uses color codes to indicate this on the machine or in the pre-setup area. And if a feeder is overdue, the system can even block it completely from any setups.

The SIPLACE Feeder Manager 2.0 also supports the maintenance team across the entire maintenance and repair process. It electronically records and tracks each feeder’s status, replacement parts and repair history. If the operators use PDAs, they can even enter fault descriptions for defective feeders via drop-down lists and error codes directly on the line. The electronic assignment of the fault message to the feeder ID eliminates the need for error-prone Post-It notes and prevents faulty feeders from being used in other setups. And exporting the data to Excel, users can quickly generate detailed lists and customized reports.

The SIPLACE Feeder Manager can be configured in various ways, from a standalone application for the maintenance department to a fully networked system with clients in all relevant production areas and links to each SIPLACE machine.