Lean manufacturing: Siemens, Factory Logic team up for electronics assembly

By Control Engineering Staff October 12, 2006

In a move to bring lean manufacturing techniques into surface-mount technology production facilities worldwide, the Automation and Drives Group of Siemens AG has signed an OEM agreement whereby Siemens will integrate the Factory Logic Lean Operations Suite into its Siplace manufacturing optimization solutions for the global electronic assembly market. Factory Logic software supports demand-driven production scheduling and pull-based supply synchronization using proven lean methods originally pioneered in the Toyota Production System. Siplace is the Siemens product family name for integrated hardware, software, and services to support the surface-mount technology (SMT) production facility.

As part of Siplace offerings, Factory Logic will enable electronics manufacturers to perform advanced production leveling and Kanban/supermarket management functions in conjunction with Siplace SMT machines and other Siemens components. Factory Logic supports an integrated approach that directly links production to actual customer demand, while maintaining the stability required for consistent, reliable, waste-free operations. Siemens will sell and support the Factory Logic software as an embedded component of Siplace solutions globally.

“Siemens is committed to addressing the needs of the electronics manufacturing market with our Siplace lean manufacturing solutions,” said Holger Ewald, vice president of software for Siemens A&D Electronic Assembly Systems. “We selected Factory Logic as one of the most important components for our lean solution because it’s the most comprehensive level pull production management system in the market. It’s built around well-recognized lean scheduling methods and has been proven in large-scale, real-world deployments.”