Beijing Borei Advanced Technology Co., Ltd.

Borey Advanced and ASMPT's newly launched Factory Material Manager system

2025-07-23

In the electronics manufacturing industry, accurately managing inventory data is crucial for optimizing material flow—something ASMPT’s Factory Material Manager now fully addresses by delivering complete data transparency. This application enhances production efficiency significantly by streamlining the loading process, ensuring components are delivered to the production line precisely when needed.

ASMPT Senior Product Manager of Automation Solutions, Rob Raine, noted:

In a modern SMT factory, the number of component packages stored in warehouses and workshops can be enormous—often reaching as high as 100,000 units. Fortunately, the Factory Material Manager can identify and track the precise location of each material in real time.

Which material tray is placed where? Are all the materials needed for the next production run fully stocked? And has sufficient attention been paid to the expiration dates of the materials during retrieval?

The Factory Material Manager provides real-time, reliable data that precisely answers these critical questions, saving operators valuable time by eliminating the need for time-consuming routine tasks—such as manual data entry or inventory counts. These capabilities significantly boost productivity, especially in today’s modern manufacturing environments that focus on small-batch, multi-variety production. Such operations demand efficient handling of numerous production orders, a wide range of component types, and frequent relocations of inventory across the entire factory floor.

Inventory data is updated in real time, from material receipt to production.

When receiving the materials, each material pack or tray comes with a label containing a User ID (UID), which is closely linked to manufacturer information—including details like the production batch number, delivery date, MSD (Moisture-Sensitive Device) status, and expiration dates, among other specific attributes.

When the position of a component package changes, its ID is instantly scanned and updated in the system, ensuring that the Factory Material Manager always operates with the most current data. Leveraging this detailed and accurate information, the software can precisely plan material retrieval routes and generate optimized pick lists, effectively supporting the loading process while enabling seamless material tracking throughout the entire production cycle.

Additionally, the Factory Material Manager can communicate with third-party-manufactured automated warehousing systems, ensuring strict adherence to the First-In, First-Out (FIFO) principle and effectively preventing material wastage caused by expiration. At the same time, the continuously updated tracking system helps avoid stockouts and production line stoppages resulting from material shortages. This fully automated, real-time inventory monitoring system not only significantly enhances process stability and boosts efficiency but also drives down costs by reducing the need for emergency inventory. According to statistics from SMT manufacturers, material inventory levels can be reduced by up to 5% as a result.

Empowering Smart Factories: Building Exceptional Collaborative Strengths

Raine emphasized: " The Factory Material Manager embodies the concept of a smart factory in a highly unified manner. It extensively collects data from the shop-floor level up to the enterprise level, enabling efficient data processing and intelligent applications that significantly enhance production process efficiency.

When the Factory Material Manager works in tandem with ASMPT's other application, specifically designed to optimize shop-floor material flow, it enables comprehensive optimization and automation of the entire production material flow.

ASMPT's two newly launched applications work seamlessly together to ensure materials are supplied exactly when needed, effectively reducing transportation and material-handling costs. At the same time, they enable smooth collaboration between operators and autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), even supporting automated line-change capabilities on the production floor. With this powerful software suite, electronic manufacturing companies can maximize their return on investment (ROI), gaining a significant competitive edge in the process.