Peter Kronfeld
Progress! Manufacturers agree on open standard for M2M communication for SMT assembly lines
At last, an open, cross-vendor protocol standard for SMT assembly lines and thus a key building block for process-integration and the Smart Factory. We’ve often criticized the lack of standards in our blog, as in their absence, the electronics producers’’s integration costs increase significantly. Now there are definite signs of progress and so far, the direction is promising.
The Hermes Standard – why does it show such great promise?
- 17 leading manufacturers have already joined the initiative: ASM, ASYS, CYBEROPTICS, ERSA, KIC, KOH
YOUNG, MIRTEC, MYCRONIC, NUTEK, OMRON, PARMI, REHM, SAKI, SMT, VISCOM, YAMAHA and YJ LINK. - It’s an open, modern standard: The Hermes Standard is based on TCP/IP- and XML, is completely open and therefore free of charge for any manufacturer and all users.
- It’s got a solid time and work schedule: the initiative has an ambitious and clearly defined time line. By the end of June, the specifications for the standard will be presented in the first version. And at this year’s productronica, the active manufacturers intend to be ready to show first solutions for cross-vendor communication based on the standard.
A small drawback is that some large manufacturers such as Panasonic, Fuji and others have not (yet) found the courage to join the initiative. But the doors are wide open and growing market pressure will no doubt determine the direction. In any case, these manufacturers can easily integrate the open standard into their solutions free of charge.
Currently, IPC and other standardization proposals are not integrated yet. This initiative obviously did not want to be hampered by their formalities, structures and processes. In view of the work done so far with regards to modern data standards, that’s understandable. The IPC’s blessing can no doubt always be sought once the initiative proves to be a success.
The coming weeks and productronica 2017 will be telling. For certain, however: The Hermes Standard is a great starting point towards tackling the big challenges faced by the SMT factory of the future.
7 Comments
Lots of talk about the Hermes Standard, but I am failing to find a web site with the spec so my company can start to implement it into our software platform. For any format to ‘win’ the documentation, SDK and sample code, must be freely available without the need to knock on doors or pick up phones.
Hi David,
good point – pushed your comment and address to a guy from ASM who is currently in charge to coordinate activities regarding the Hermes Standard.
I hope this is OK for you and he will get in touch with you.
regards, Peter
Hello.
I have the same problem. I’m from a technology company that manages production line controlling. I would be very interested in technical information but I can not find them.
Hi Jan,
you may have found “the source” already: It is all at www.the-hermes-standard.info
The site comes with a lot of answers. Yet if it leaves you with some questions still open, please feel free to use the contacts page for getting even more information directly.
Cheers
Stefan
Hi David,
thank You for Your interest in The Hermes Standard and sorry for the inconvenience of not finding it easily. We will check for the reasons. For the time being, you are invited to go directly to www.the-hermes-standard.com for more details and background info.
If you need more, please let me know.
Cheers
Stefan
Hello,
I am from a IT company we manage the production machine controlling applications for our clients, our clients are very interested in Herms Standards, I visit the official website for herms but still not find any kind of SDK or sample codes that how this would be integrate.
Dear Guru Soni,
Thank You very much for your inquiry and sorry for the late response.
As The Hermes Standard is a protocol to be used for communication between different machines, you would not need a dedicated tool for The Hermes Standard, but you need to program your / your client’s machines using their respective tools. (Usually, this would be possible only if your client is a machine vendor). The protocol is specified in the document available for download from The Hermes Standard website at https://www.the-hermes-standard.info/download/
For testing your implementation, you may want to use a test driver provided by ASM and available for download from the same page. Please understand that using the tool is free of charge but fully at your own risk.
For any further question, please feel free to use the contact form at the website.
Cheers
Stefan