Feeder setups, parts on allocation and an NPI that needs the line on Tuesday.
An SMT line earns while it is placing parts and loses while feeders are being changed. Board mix is high, so the sequence decides how many setups a shift pays for. Parts drop into allocation between releases, approved alternates have their own rules, moisture-sensitive devices run on a floor-life clock, and every new product needs clean line time while the regular orders still have to leave. Orvixo holds the feeder setups, the approved parts list, the test fixtures and the operators in one model and re-solves the line plan when a reel goes short.
What makes electronics hard to plan
The setup is the product
On a high-mix line the time between two boards is feeder changes, a new stencil and a reflow profile. Boards that share components can run back to back on one setup; boards that do not pay for a full changeover. The sequence decides how much of the shift is spent placing parts.
Parts go on allocation between releases
A component that was in stock on Monday is short on Wednesday, because a supplier put it on allocation or a date code failed inspection. The approved alternate may be a different reel with its own rules, and a work order that was clear to build is stranded.
Moisture-sensitive devices have a clock
Once a dry pack is opened, the parts have a floor life in hours before they must be baked or scrapped. A run that slips a day is not just late; it may need a bake cycle before it can start.
New products need the line that volume also wants
Each new product introduction needs a clean slot, an engineer at the line and operators certified for the class of build, while the regular orders still have to leave on time. Lose the slot and the launch slips.
Test is a bottleneck with fixtures
In-circuit and functional test need a specific fixture and a programme: one fixture per product, one product at a time, and a queue that forms after the line has done its job.
Every reel is traceable
Customers want to know which reel, which date code and which operator built every serial. Lot control decides which reels can be issued to which job, and a substitution is a record, not a shortcut.
How Orvixo plans it
Setups grouped by family
Feeder loads and component overlap are in the model. The plan groups boards that share a setup and orders changeovers so the line runs on common feeders for as long as the due dates allow.
Clear to build before the line, not at it
Stock, allocations and approved alternates are constraints. A work order is only planned when every part is available or an approved substitute is, and a reel going short re-solves the sequence around it.
Floor life as a constraint
Moisture-sensitive parts carry their exposure clock. The plan issues them when the run will use them, and schedules a bake when a slip makes it unavoidable.
NPI slots protected
New product runs are placed with the engineers and certified operators they need, and the slot is held while regular volume re-solves around it.
Test capacity in the same plan
Fixtures, test programmes and burn-in are resources with calendars. Boards come off the line in an order the test cell can take, not in a pile.
Re-solve with the reasoning written down
Every move is explained: which reel, which fixture, which rule. Your planners review and publish, or let Orvixo publish within your rules.
The ones your best planner already knows.
Written in plain language by your team, compiled by Orvixo into constraints the plan must respect. These are the ones we see in most SMT and box-build plants.
See it on your lines.
Talk us through how your plant plans today. We will show you where Orvixo would change it.