SMT Hybrid Packaging in Nürnberg

2017 Topic: How can modern device manufacturing react efficiently and effectively to the ever greater variation in requirements with regard to quantities, complexity, and integration density, while offering the best possible agility?

For the past seven years the SMT Nürnberg has set the stage for the Future Packaging live production line, organized by Fraunhofer IZM. A row of individual machines and tools, that are needed for the manufacturing of an end product. This year there are 19 companies contributing their machines as modules of the production line. The technical focus is on the quickest possible adaptability of production systems to the products being manufactured. Another point of discussion will be the communication between individual machines.

“Embedded” is the buzzword reflecting many trends in device manufacturing. Electronics are being integrated into our daily lives more and more – and almost invisibly. To make this possible, smart electronics are being included in a whole range of products, and this tendency is on the rise. Many smart products, whether in IoT, Industry 4.0, or AAL, are then fitted into a digital ecosystem to guarantee us maximum flexibility in our daily lives. Examples of this include our ability to operate the appliances in our homes by speech, the simplification of ordering processes thanks to Dash buttons, and similar innovations. Furthermore, we find ourselves to be mere users of autonomous vehicles and place our lives in the hands of a number of sensors/actuators and a CPU. All of these uses illustrate clearly the manifold demands made of a simple device. However, the value-creation chains must also satisfy requirements with regard to efficiency, effectiveness, quality, and environmental awareness. This results in an ever further-reaching and deeper fusion of hardware and software. As early as the product idea stage, the enormous number of requirements presents developers and implementers with completely new challenges, as, even in a globalized world, the products are subject to the regulations of individual countries.

Live production with commentary

The demonstration board will be assembled three times each day on the production line in Hall 5, Booth 434