Warehouse management of SMD components

Konrad Wolfenstein

11 years ago

[In cooperation with Cardex Remstar – Advertising]

What are SMDs?

The term surface-mounted device (SMD) is a term from the electronics industry and means surface-mountable components. SMDs have an extremely small design and are the result of the increasing miniaturization of electronic components. In contrast to conventional components, SMDs are glued directly to the surface of the circuit board and then soldered and are no longer plugged into them or wired to them. This eliminates the need for complex drilling on the circuit boards, which is necessary with conventional components. The small format of SMD has led to increasingly lighter and more cost-effective starting products for the electrical industry.

After production, SMD components are usually transported in straps, which are wrapped on roles. At the start of production, these roles are provided with the help of cars – the so -called feeders – the mock machines for manufacturing. Larger SMD components are often packed in plastic rods or in small pallets – the so-called – . While trays can be inserted directly into the assembly machines, feeders are also required for the bars.

Then the boards to be placed through a row, in which the robot puts the required SMD components on the board and “glued”.

The initial SMDs required for the production of electronic components are usually ordered, delivered and stored in large quantities so that sufficient quantities are available at the start of production. After completion of production, unused SMDs are removed

stored again
provided for the next production
scrapped

Efficient picking the feeders with SMD roles plays a crucial role in the flawless and efficient assembly of the circuit boards with the SMD. The core destination is to make the upstream and downstream processes such as deposits and outsourcing of the SMD roles, the provision of the feeder and the retirement of overhanging material according to the base order, productive and inexpensive. The quick conversion of the SMD lines without loss of time and material is also another factor. For this purpose, the various storage and provision – such as circulation shelves or warehouse – are provided with an application-specific software that controls the use of SMD rolls.

Customer requirements

The principle of interconnecting electronic components such as SMD components in the immediate vicinity of the stock lines is becoming increasingly important customer request. It results from an optimized material flow with ever shorter armory and downtimes and requires the seamless traceability of the SMD by the operational – systems.

When storing these parts, customers are looking for complete solutions that, in addition to providing the hardware (the shelf storage), allows them to monitor and control the complex SMD production and give them the opportunity to carry out a permanent inventory of the SMD stocks.

The software within the package plays an important role, recording the movement data of the stored goods and tracking the inventory as well as the useful life of the SMD components. The assignment of the material to the respective production order is also documented. The system recognizes the availability of components for the existing orders and reserves the requirements. Any shortages identified are reported immediately and reordered or requested again from the main warehouse.

In summary, the following customer requirements arise: