The increasing complexity of electronics manufacturing requires embracing data analytics to manage electronics factories, according to a new white paper from IPC’s Chief Technologist Council (CTC),  Outlook for Data Analytics in the Electronics Manufacturing Industry.

Multiple factors challenge the status quo of how electronics manufacturers are managed, including the blurring of the line between semiconductor and circuit manufacturing and the rapidly increasing demand for additional electronics manufacturing caused by the adoption of high-performance computing, electric vehicles, and consumer electronics, among other challenges. These pressures require manufacturers to pay closer attention to data analytics to increase productivity and reduce error and waste.

This white paper explores important aspects coming out of the rise and need for data analytics in electronics manufacturing, including:

• The types of machine data that can be collected
• Addressing difficulties with assembling data for analysis
• Immediate issues and future trends facilities can see through data analytics
• Removing the barriers for achieving real-time data collection using open-source tools such as IPC-CFX
• Skills needed for data interpretation

The white paper also describes five top use cases:

• Faster reaction to current conditions
• Advanced prevention of downtime
• Automatic process drift correction using feedback between machines
• Data-driven feedback to design, simulation and planning
• Advanced quality prediction

“Growing complexity in electronics manufacturing is making the use of data analytics more crucial than ever. As the cost of data collection drops and analytics technology advances, the ability to leverage data for real-time insights is transforming operations, thus making manufacturing smarter, more efficient, and highly adaptive to today's challenges. This trend will continue to accelerate and provide new opportunities for operational excellence, allowing electronics manufacturers to lead the way on the global stage,” said Tim Burke, Ph.D., Arch Systems and primary white paper author. “The CTC white paper provides direction for every electronics manufacturer looking to understand how to make better use of their operational data.”

Download  the report.