Valor Materials Manager Software from Mentor Graphics Wins a 2010 Global Technology Award

Premiering in 2005, the Global Technology Awards program is an annual celebration of product excellence in electronics surface mount assembly. Award-winning products are chosen by a distinguished panel of industry experts.

The Valor Materials Manager application is based on actual materials usage, both consumption and attrition (i.e. dropped parts/mis-picks) from the SMT machines in the factory to generate true “lean” pull signals for replenishment materials and replacement materials needed to complete the work order ahead of a planned change-over. This is an intelligent system that makes the best decisions possible to ensure the correct material is delivered with the lowest cost of operation, to the correct machines, just in time.

User-defined options, such as FIFO, determine the method used to continuously choose the least expensive pick location or part status when creating a pick-list. In many factories, existing material management tools have limited or no visibility into actual material usage, attrition, MSD (Moisture Sensitive Device) status, RoHS status, machine production rates and schedule, downtime or floor stock. Without access to these dynamic attributes from the shop floor, ERP systems or material handling tools operate in the dark and lead to unnecessary build up of excessive inventories to compensate. The innovation in the Materials Manager software bases all material movements on real-time accurate data from the shop floor, whether delivering materials directly to a machine or managing setup on an off-line trolley.