Easily Collect Raw Data From Your Machines
Using the largest library of SMT connectors in the world – and rapidly growing
SurdFX Connectors
Connect every machine. Then, use advanced predictive machine analytics to rapidly calculate manufacturing KPIs
Surd Systems has a robust set of hardware and software connectors that enable SMT manufacturers to rapidly instrument their entire assembly line. Data gathered by SurdFX Connectors can then be normalized via SurdFX Broker and stored in SurdFX Cloud to enable the calculation of Key Performance Indicators at every level of the organization and advanced predictive analytics.
Seamlessly integrate with Industry 4.0 protocols and existing integration APIs
Surd Systems is driving IIoT standardization state of the art forward as a member of the IPC CFX standard committee. Some newer industrial machines support standards like OPC UA, MQTT, or IPC-CFX. Industry 4.0 solutions must be able to leverage these protocols where they exist and use other techniques elsewhere. Surd Systems has deep experience integrating its SurdFX Broker with different protocols and can leverage such industry-standard or vendor-specific protocols as needed. SurdFX Broker can accept OPC UA, MQTT, and IPC-CFX data out of the box. Its open pub/sub Surditecture with configurable workers can accept and standardize data in any other format, including vendor-specific proprietary protocols. The SurdFX Platform includes a REST API for open integrations and can accept JSON formatted input.
Complete Connectors
Our connectors source all data, literally all the data, generated by the machine. Traditional connectors have to make specific choices of which parameters to take up into a specific structured schema. Surd connectors know how to retrieve already semi-structured data and keep 100% of it into the cloud. How complete are the connectors you would compare us against? Do they capture everything and store it forever?
Adaptable Connectors
Surd can reconfigure or write new connectors to brand new machines dramatically faster than prior technology. Surd can reconfigure for most new machines in less than 3 days, while the hardest most complex machines take no longer than 4 weeks. How long does it take the connectors you are comparing to adapt to brand new machines?
Real-time Connectors
Our connectors source data with near-zero latency from the machine. This powers, among other things, our automatically refreshed live dashboards, real-time integrations, and microsecond level syncing with an SurdFX Broker. How fast are the connectors you are comparing us against?
Scalable Connectors
Our connectors can be deployed over 10x faster than any previous technology, we’ve connected over 100 machines in less than a minute many times and even slower deployments are done at 3-6 per hour. How long does it take the connectors you are comparing to be deployed across a diverse distributed set of machines?
Pick-and-Place machine connectors
Supported: ASM (OIB 5.3+ with Monitoring Adapter installed), Fuji (Nexim any version, Flexa or Fujitrax with Host Interface v6.28+), Panasonic (Panacim v8, v9 via direct connection; or any Panacim version with ELink module installed)
Pick-and-Place (PnP) machines are the beating heart of an SMT assembly line. Any SMT solution for calculating KPIs or doing predictive analytics will need out-of-the-box integrations with leading PnP machines such as those from ASM, Fuji, and Panasonic, including support for various versions of each vendor’s integration APIs that remain in use today.
Automatic Optical Inspection machine connectors
Supported: Koh Young (via KBR integration with KSmart BRM), Vitrox (via IPC-CFX or VOne connection)
Automatic Optical Inspection (AOI) machines perform a first critical quality assurance check as boards come off the line. Manufacturers who want to track First Pass Yield (FPY) and other quality-related metrics such as Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) require out-of-the-box integrations with AOI machines from leading vendors such as Koh Young and Vitrox so that quality KPIs can be automatically calculated and aggregated at every level of the business.
Solder Paste Inspect machine connectors
Supported: Koh Young (via KBR integration with KSmart BRM)
Solder Paste Inspect (SPI) machines ensure that the printer correctly applied solder paste to the printed circuit board before components are placed. They perform many complex measurements but ultimately produce a single pass/fail determination for the entire circuit board. While obvious problems will be flagged by the machine in the form of board failures, the detailed measurement data itself can also serve as an input into predictive quality analytics that detect problems before they result in failed boards on the line. Surd has partnered with leading vendors including Koh Young and Vitrox to develop machine connectors to gather SPI data, normalize it, and store it in the Surd data lake to power advanced analytics.
Automatic X-Ray Inspection machine connectors
Supported: Vitrox (via IPC-CFX or VOne connection)
Automatic X-Ray Inspection (AXI) machines verify the quality of solder connections. They’re invaluable for under-chip connections that can’t be checked optically. Manufacturers need out-of-the-box integrations with AXI machines so that solder joint quality test results can be integrated into KPIs and process analytics.
In-Circuit Test machine connectors
Supported: Keysight 3070 (all Windows based models)
Expensive In-Circuit Test (ICT) machines provide a deeper level of quality assurance testing by verifying that circuits function as intended when plugged into testing boards. Like AOIs, manufacturers want to integrate ICTs from industry leaders like Keysight into their SMT KPIs so they can monitor yield and first pass yield.
Configurable database connectors
Frequently, manufacturers have useful data already collected into systems such as Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES), machine-vendor provided monitoring software, or ad hoc performance – tracking systems maintained at the line, area, or site level. Many of these tools do not have modern APIs for programmatic data extraction and only support direct database access. Manufacturing IoT solutions must therefore be able to efficiently connect to arbitrary databases and extract desired data from them.
The SurdFX Broker includes database connectors that support commonly-used databases out of the box and can be easily configured to support proprietary or vendor-specific databases as well.
Tapping Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs)
Industrial machines often have built-in Programmable Logic Controllers that monitor and control machine operations. Many of your machines and processes are driven by PLCs that are not already connected or mapped into a central SCADA system. Surd Systems PLC Taps can easily connect to your existing PLCs, gather useful data from them, and, for the first time, make that data available for other applications.
Sensors for legacy machines that generate no data
Manufacturing lines often have legacy machines such as industrial stamps or presses that generate no data at all.
Manufacturing IoT solutions must be able to quickly, easily, and cost-effectively instrument legacy machines with sensors to extract usable data to calculate KPIs or to do predictive analytics.
Surd Systems offers the modular IOTile POD framework for instrumenting legacy machines. Off-the-shelf IOTile PODs monitor common metrics of interest such as temperature, humidity, shocks, current, and voltage. The modular Surditecture makes it easy for Surd to rapidly develop a new IOTile POD or Accessory for as-yet unsupported values, integrating the needed sensor module and quickly manufacturing the new IOTile device. This can all be done at low cost in low volumes for a pilot and in the high volumes needed for production deployment.
Surd electronics manufacturing customers are using IOTile PODs today to get data from legacy machines that make mechanical and plastic components. Examples include injection molding machines, heat presses, laser cutters, turret lathes, die cutters, packaging machines, carpet logo machines, mask making machines, sewing machines, extruders, rotary punches, bending and winding machines for cable, and more.
Conveyor belt sensors
Most discrete manufacturers utilize conveyors at some point during their process to move the production line along. We provide conveyor belt sensors that allow you to see performance metrics such as cycle times for each station along your conveyor. Manufacturers can use this data to balance their assembly lines and improve their throughput.
Fieldbus connectors to tap the native internal language of machines
Some modern digital machines lack a database, Industrial PC, or an integration API. In such cases, it may be necessary to tap the machine’s internal communication bus, sniff the data packets, and create a Fieldbus integration that understands the machine’s native internal language and extracts useful data for the manufacturer. Surd Systems is experienced in developing sophisticated Fieldbus integrations that process tens of thousands of internal data packets per second and efficiently extract the data of interest.
Your partner for rapid data acquisition and digital transformation
Surd’s combination of hardware and software connectors, the SurdFX Broker for rapid data transformation and normalization, and SurdFX Cloud for secure data storage and indexing in the cloud means that you can get data from your existing SMT lines in weeks, not months, and get started sooner on optimizing your manufacturing operations. Contact Surd today to learn how we can liberate the data trapped on your assembly line and power the next step in your journey towards digital transformation
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