Moving right down to the factory floor

Geared to electronic manfacturers, Valor offers the release 6.0 of the Trilogy 5000 software system, featuring an additional set of CAM productivity tools for virtual prototyping, assembly and test.

”Based upon the open ODB++ data exchange format,” says VP marketing, Julian Coates, ”this one source of high-level intelligent data moves right down to the factory floor, incorporating machine optimization and line balancing functions. The result is wellintegrated, optimized datato implement in downstreamoperations, for improvedmanufacturability, reduced costs and shorter NPI cycle time.”

Newly added in Release 6.0 is the stand-alone BOM validator ProBOM. It works with Trilogy 5000 as well as third-party systems. For procurement and NPI assessment, it can read and create first-version BOMs (bill of materials) in the early stages of development and manufacturing setup, before the pertinent CAD data becomes available. At this early stage, BOMs can be checked against existing component stocks and for procurement validation. As a major advance in functionality, ProBOM allows the integration of such BOMs into the CAD data set of the assembly cycle.

ProBOM can parse any BOM or AVL data that are formatted as ASCII text. Easy-to-use, Excel-like GUI access enables users viewing and sorting in a familiar environment. Likewise, access to the Valor parts library is possible, whereby the requested parts information is synchronized with that in the physical component library. Another addition in this release is the support of assembly-machine optimization and line balancing for the Fuji IP3, Panasonic MPA, Universal GSM2 and Siemens Siplace. This ensures optimum productivity and flexible setup for these machines. One package integrated is laid out for optimizing the assembly machines’ programming. Absolute kinematic modeling allows for realistic cycle-time calculation in advance. Another component facilitates a line’s maximum productivity, taking into account the assembly of multiple products.

Job management, meaning the creation of all necessary product-related documentation on the factory floor, is facilitated through the Windows-based documentation generator ProDOC. It delivers easy-to-read, color-coded assembly drawings and instruction lists according to the line type. All changes in the course of the CAD process and line balancing are kept in ProDOC for revision control. Existing data from standard applications can be imported. Likewise, it employs standard drawing and graphics tools. With this functionality, users can cre-ate required documents, such as work orders, workflowand shop-floor instructions or Q&A inspection guides. These documents can be printed and viewed with a very flexible, web-based tool that includes versatile search and query functions.

To connect present-day designs with legacy systems, Trilogy 5000 now features a tool to extract and calculate the center points of components from their pad patterns in Gerber, DXE or HP-GL graphic files. The release applies solder paste optimizer functions to all jobs, independent of their data source. All this translates into higher productivity and manufacturing quality. It also provides the porting from Unix to Windows GUI.

Werner Schulz

EPP 208