Las Vegas — Optimal Electronics Corporation, a global provider of innovative software solutions for the control and optimization of the electronics assembly process, announces that it has been awarded a SMT VISION Award in the category of Process Control Software for its industry-leading Optel^TM MES software suite, including its Dynamic Production Scheduling. The award was presented to the company during a Wednesday, April 2, 2008 ceremony that took place in Las Vegas during APEX 2008.

Optel’s Dynamic Production Scheduling is a key Lean Manufacturing software technology that is crucial for today’s highly dynamic electronic manufacturing environment. The market has shifted to require high-mix, low-volume manufacturing, with ever-decreasing lead times. This requires companies to be more agile and efficient than ever before if they are to be profitable. The Optel Dynamic Production Scheduling software helps manufacturers meet due dates while eliminating unnecessary changeovers, reducing the changeover times, and minimizing WIP and inventory levels.

Optel Dynamic Production Scheduling takes work orders as input from the ERP/MRP system, scans them for common parts and due dates, and groups them in common setups. These grouped setups — rather than individual work orders — are then scheduled in the most optimum way across all available SMT lines and placement machines to maximize asset utilization. Dynamic Production Scheduling works in concert with the kitting, automated multi-vendor machine programming, and optimization functions in the Optel suite to provide execution and control of the manufacturing process. It is configurable to support multiple optimization objectives and also provides an easy-to-use manual scheduling and rescheduling capability to react to changing demands, such as hot lots and prototype runs.

Optel, the best solution for improving manufacturing productivity, visibility and traceability, offers maximum control, flexibility, and interconnectivity with industry-leading assembly line equipment.Optel can integrate and communicate directly with the stockroom and component placement machines, providing needed visibility to WIP and accurate inventory levels. This restores inventory integrity to ERP/MRP systems, allowing production management to make informed decisions. A key capability in Optel Material Management is component-level traceability. This is a requirement for electronics used in military, aerospace, automotive, communications, and medical products. It is also a crucial tool for manufacturers to ensure RoHS compliance (i.e., lead-free), purge defective components, and dramatically lower costs in the event of a recall.

Now in its 16th year, the SMT VISION Awards program is an annual celebration of product excellence in electronics surface mount assembly. Premier products based on the finest examples of creative advancement in technology in 16 key areas are chosen by a distinguished panel of industry experts.