Siemens introduces Siplace Sicluster software

Siplace combines products into setup families (clusters) and determines any component overlaps in these family setups.

It groups these shared components on 'constant component tables', which remain on the machine during setup changeovers, thus saving a significant amount of time.

Particularly in high-mix production environments with small-to-medium lot sizes, Siplace Sicluster Professional can reduce the time spent on setups by several hours while reducing the space and investment requirements for feeders and component carts by up to 33 per cent.

Siplace Sicluster Professional is available as an add-on to the programming software Siplace Pro from version 7.1.

To maximise the productivity and utilisation of SMT lines for all production requirements, Siplace offers a broad spectrum of intelligent setup strategies and optimisation tools: setups for single products or product families combined with fixed setups, offline setups of feeder tables and changeover table concepts, or non-stop setup changeovers with Siplace LES (Line Execution System) or random setups of individual feeder modules without having to stop the line.

For production environments with medium-to-small lot sizes and lots of product diversity, the new Siplace Sicluster Professional software now offers additional improvement potential.

Siplace Sicluster Professional combines different products into clusters, which, with enough feeder capacity, can be manufactured as product ranges without setup changeovers.

In addition, the software automatically identifies overlaps between these clusters and groups the shared components on constant-component tables.

Since the constant-component tables remain on the line during setup changeovers, setups become faster and easier.

The higher the number of product and family setups and the higher the share of constant-component tables on the line, the more time and effort is saved.

The new Siplace setup strategy also reduces the need for feeders and component tables, which provides relief for the investment budget, depreciation and maintenance costs as well as the space requirements for component carts and feeders.

The Siplace team was able to verify these savings at various manufacturing sites.

Depending on the type of production, the number of feeders could be reduced by up to 33 per cent, the number of component carts by up to 28 per cent, in addition to significant time savings for setup changes per changeover process.

Savings of tens of thousands of Euros per year are realistic, which means that Siplace Sicluster Professional will pay for itself within a few months.