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Material Serialization#

Overview#

The Material Serialization feature aims to provide to the user the possibility to configure the conditions where and when PCB Panels and Boards should be identified by a unique ID.

Background Information

In order to ensure full traceability over the entire process chain, PCB serialization is one of the first steps in PCBA. Each panel and/or board(s) receives a unique ID that will be used for singular traceability over the entire product flow.

During a serialization process a Panel and/or Board is identified with a serial identifier, typically by laser marking or by labelling equipment. However, labelling can also be done manually by an operator. The naming of the Board or Panel follows a convention that is normally defined by the customer.

The labelling may be specific for a Product or Product Group (family) and may contain additional information other than the serial identifier such as the Product Name, and other information managed at the level of the Product, Product Group, Customer, etc.

The ownership of generating each unique ID may be owned by the MES or by the equipment.

The Serialization for each level may happen before, during or after the SMT Line depending of when the marking/labelling of each level is performed. So far, the following cases were identified:

  • Panel and Board serialization before the line.
  • Panel-only serialization before the line.
  • Panel and Board serialization during the line.
    • At the same or separate events.
  • Panel-only serialization during the line.
  • Panel serialization during the line and Board serialization after the line - at an offline Depaneling equipment.

After the serialization of the Boards, the Operator may have to be required to scan all the Boards Panel by Panel.

Note that serialized and non-serialized Panels/Boards need to coexist in the same manufacturing process.

Concept#

When a Material is tracked-in or tracked-out, the table SMTMaterialExpandContext is resolved and based on that context the Material is Expanded. Then if the columns:

  • IsExternalNaming equals False
    • The table SMTMaterialNameGenerationContext is resolved and based on that context a Name Generation is assigned to the Material Expand Operation that will be performed

Setting up Material Serialization#

The following configuration is needed:

Configuring the SMTMaterialExpandContext ST#

The expansion context must be specified in the SMTMaterialExpandContext smart table.

  • Expand Step: the step where expansion is going to occur;
  • Parent Form: parent material form;
  • Child Form: Child material form, Board or Panel;
  • Sub Child Form: Sub Child material form - Board;
  • Expand Operation: transaction that will trigger the serialization process, Track-In or Track-Out;
  • Is External Naming: set to true if naming is external or false if naming is performed by an MES name generator;
  • Expansion Factor: decimal value to expand material from parent to Child form (you can think of this as the primary quantity that the child materials will have)
  • Sub Expansion Factor: decimal value to expand the sub material from Child to Sub Child form
  • Detach Step: the step where boards are detached from panels.
  • Position Mapping: set to true if you want to set the sub material position;
  • Is Special Mode: If the expansion (serialization) has 3 levels such as: Lot, Panel, Board and it all occur at the same expand step, property is special mode must be set to true. If the expand from Parent to Child and from Child to Sub Child occurs in different steps, Is Special mode should be set to false.

Without Special Mode#

As mentioned above, if the expand from Parent to Child and from Child to Sub Child occurs in different steps, Is Special mode should be set to false.

Considering an example for a Panel that has 4 boards each and a lot as a parent material with quantity 8, the target of the parent material is normally defined in quantity of needed boards so in this case the configuration should be as follows:

Screenshot

State of the lot material after tracking in the the SMT_Serialization step:

Screenshot

State of the lot material after tracking in the the SMT_Packing step:

Screenshot

Screenshot

With Special Mode#

This special mode consists in making two levels of serialization on the same step; The main aspect of this mode is making the first expansion considering there will be a second one. This way, the expansion makes sure to leave enough quantity of the Child material to perform the second expansion generating the Sub Child. For each material that enters the determined step - in the parent form - it is expected to be generated the specified number of submaterials as Child and Sub Child.

Lot Panel Boards expansion example, with special mode enabled: Screenshot

Considering the above example for a Panel that has 4 boards each and a lot as a parent material with quantity 4:

  • 1st Expand (Panels)

    • number of children = parent quantity /(expansion factor * subexpansion factor) = 4/(1*4) = 1 panel created
    • child quantity = subexpansion factor * expansion factor = 1*4 = with quantity of 4

  • 2nd Expand (Boards)

    • number of sub children = subexpansion factor = 4 boards created
    • sub child quantity = expansion factor = with quantity of 1

Configuring the SMTMaterialNameGenerationContext ST#

On the SMTMaterialNameGenerationContext ST, configure and derive, for boards and/or panels, the Name Generator to be applied if Is External Name was set to false. Define the following fields:

  • Step: step where serialization for the board or panel form is going to be performed;
  • Form: material form for which a name is to be generated;
  • Operation: select "ExpandMaterial";
  • Name Generator: name generator name from Name Generators list;
  • Label Validation Mask: define a validation mask for the label if necessary.

Board name generator configuration example: Screenshot

Configuring the SMTMaterialPrintableDocumentContext ST#

This smart table is used to configure and derive the labels applicable to each expand (serialization) if a label is to be printed.

  • Step: step where serialization for the board or panel form is going to be performed;
  • Material Form: material form for which a label is to be printed;
  • Operation: select the operation that will trigger the label printing;
  • Label: printable document name from Printable Document's list;
  • Syncronous Printing: select or deselect synchronous printing.

Board label configuration example: Screenshot

Administration#

To use this feature, the config /SMT/MaterialSerialization/IsEnabled must be enabled.

The /SMT/MaterialNameGeneration/IsEnabled will need to be enabled, should you need to use the MES to generate the material names during the serialization step.

The /SMT/MaterialAutomaticLabelPrinting/IsEnabled config will also need to be enabled if you wish to enable the label-printing functionality of this feature.