Smart Manufacturing

With rapid advancements in Industry 4.0 and AIoT technologies, smart manufacturing is increasingly adopted across industries. As a leading PCB manufacturer, Unimicron embraces the challenges of smart manufacturing and capitalizes on ICT advancements. The company aims to leverage technologies to enhance speed, quality, cost efficiency, and overall technological capabilities. Our goal is to create a comprehensive manufacturing ecosystem that offers exceptional value to customers.

Exploration Period – Automation and Internet of Equipment

In 2017, Unimicron joined the PCB Smart Manufacturing (A-Team), a government-supported consortium of software, hardware, and PCB manufacturing companies. The goal was to establish communication protocol standards, create common platforms, and develop a vertically integrated solution by collaborating with academic research teams and institutions, all aimed at supporting smart manufacturing planning. In 2020, we formed the Smart Manufacturing Promotion Organization, building on the efforts of the smart transformation team members from the A-Team. From machine networking to intelligent application tools, we improved production processes, saved manpower, and enhanced quality analysis, marking Unimicron's first year of smart manufacturing.

Infrastructure Construction Period - Smart Manufacturing Golden Fab Construction and Big Data Platform

In 2021, we expanded our AI image research team and developed AI defect detection technology, introduced AOI/AVI inspection equipment, reducing re-inspection workers by >50%. We also scaled up technology across our plants. By 2022, we completed AI model construction for 117 machines across 7 plants and commenced mass production. We developed 108 intelligent solutions according to our smart development blueprint and deployed them across 18 plants. By 2022, after achieving AI-driven manpower savings and efficiency improvements, our intelligent manufacturing team began the next phase of AI application. Building on our autonomous AI image technology, we are expanding into workplace safety and no-code AI platforms. This enables rapid, autonomous deployment in plants, advancing towards universal AI integration.

As plants grow and the need for cross-plant collaboration and big data applications rises, we have initiated upgrades in hardware, MES, information security, and data governance to ensure the stability, efficiency, and security of our maintenance systems. We leverage data normalization and sharing to integrate multiple data sources and eliminate "information island." This provides engineers with a data analysis platform for rapid anomaly detection and resolution within 5 minutes, enhancing production efficiency and quality.

Unimicron’s vision focuses on enhancing speed, quality, cost, and technology while delivering exceptional value to customers. We introduced the SECS communication protocol, setting up two demonstration plants in Taoyuan with automated production machines, material transport, and scheduling systems, and we will commence mass production in 2022. Building on the Golden Fab, we will continue to integrate and update smart, innovative solutions to achieve energy-saving and environmentally friendly smart manufacturing.