Real-time line data from a cable you already have.
The SMEMA adapter sits on the handshake cable between two SMT machines. It records every board transfer as it happens, and lets the MES hold a board back, without touching the machines' software.
Two signals move every board on the line.
SMEMA (IPC-SMEMA-9851) is the interface conveyor-linked SMT machines use to hand boards to each other. The next machine raises Machine ready when it can take a board; the previous one raises Board available when it has one. Only when both are on does the board move. Almost every machine on an SMT line speaks it, whatever the brand or age.
Every transfer becomes a timestamped fact.
The adapter sits in the cable between two machines and reports every change of both signals to the MES. From those edges come the numbers a line runs on, per station and lane, as they happen.
- Boards transferred and cycle time
- Waiting for a board, or waiting for the next machine
- Where the line is actually slow, not where it seems slow
Know which board just passed.
SMEMA says that a board moved, not which one. A scanner at the transfer reads the board code, and the MES ties that read to the transfer, the work order and the placement run, so the record shows when each serial left each machine.
A failed board stops the line.
Paste inspection fails on the board leaving the printer. The MES sends a block, the adapter holds Machine ready low towards the printer, and the transfer stops: the board stays where it is until someone releases the block or bypasses it with a reason. Every command is recorded with who gave it and why.
- An open inspection defect on the board
- A missing or failed result from the previous step
- A setup or program that does not match the work order
One adapter per transfer, one view of the line.
Each transfer gets its own adapter, mapped to its station and lane in the MES, which shows whether every adapter is reporting. Put together, they show the whole line live: which machine is running, which is starved, which is blocked.
Next: what it answersOne transfer, edge by edge.
This is what the adapter sees for a single board. Each edge is a timestamp; the gaps between them are the line's real cycle, wait and block times.
- The downstream machine is free and raises Machine ready.
- The board reaches the exit; Board available goes on and the transfer starts.
- The board arrives downstream; Machine ready drops while it is processed.
- The transfer is complete. A hold keeps step 2 from ever starting.
What an electronics manufacturing line gets from it.
- A mixed machine park
- Lines grow over years, with machines from different makers and generations. The handshake is the one interface they share, so data collection does not wait for every vendor to offer an interface.
- No changes to machine software
- The adapter works on the signals between machines. Machine programs, settings and warranties stay as they are.
- Customer audits and complaints
- Transfer times per serial and per station belong to the same record as materials and test results, so the history of a shipped unit can be shown in one search.
- Throughput and bottlenecks
- Starved and blocked time per machine shows where capacity is lost, measured from the line itself instead of from end-of-shift reports.
- Quality gates that hold
- A rule in the MES becomes a physical stop at the transfer: a board with an open defect or a missing result cannot move on by accident.
- Live status for everyone
- Shift leads, engineering and management see the same line state as it happens, and the reports your customers ask for come from the same data.
From the first walk-through to the first hold.
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Walk the transfers
We look at each machine pair: the SMEMA connection, the lanes, and where a scanner can read the board code.
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Plug in between
The adapter is connected in the SMEMA path between the two machines and to your network. The machines keep talking to each other through it.
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Map it in the MES
Each adapter is assigned to its station and lane. From the first board, transfers appear on the line view and on the board records.
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Add the rules
Once the data is trusted, holds are switched on where they matter, agreed with production and quality.
Questions about the adapter
Does the adapter change how our machines run?
No. It passes the handshake through and reports it. The only time it changes a signal is when the MES holds a board, and that is a rule you agree to and can release.
What about dual-lane conveyors?
Each lane has its own handshake. The adapter is mapped per lane, so transfers, holds and scans are recorded for the lane they happened on.
Newer machines speak IPC-HERMES-9852. Is SMEMA still relevant?
HERMES adds board data over Ethernet, but most lines mix machine generations and still hand boards over by SMEMA. During the walk-through we check what each transfer on your line supports.
Why is a scanner needed as well?
SMEMA only says that a board moved. The scanner says which board it was, so the transfer can be written to that serial and its work order.
Tell us which transfer you want to see first.
Send us the machines on one line and where the data stops today. We will tell you what the adapter can record there, and what it cannot.