ECall Intelligent Material Call System

The project builds a complete production material-pull system centered on “real-time equipment data + material consumption prediction + automatic material calling + warehouse tasks + QAD coordination.”

The system integrates with the Siemens SIPLACE production environment, continuously obtaining production recipes, equipment completion data, and the remaining quantities of in-use reels, and calculates the remaining producible time of each feeder slot based on production takt and historical consumption.

Once a material reaches its preset threshold, the system automatically raises an alert and converts it into a material-call task.

The warehouse receives tasks through the task workstation and the electronic dashboard; operators confirm picking, shipping, and other states via employee badges and barcode scanning; line-side staff can view task progress in real time.

For material demand the inner warehouse cannot satisfy, the system exchanges data with the QAD ERP over FTP, sending requirements upstream to the outer warehouse and receiving feedback such as shortage information.

The result is:

Actual equipment consumption → remaining-time calculation → shortage alert → automatic material call → warehouse picking → material delivery → line-side loading → consumption captured again

a closed-loop material-pull system.

1. Real-time collection of SIPLACE production data, building a digital foundation for material consumption

Automatic material calling must first answer a core question:

How does the system know what material the line truly needs, and when?

The eCall system integrates with the Siemens SIPLACE production environment, obtaining production-related data through systems such as SiplacePro, SIS, OIS, and SetupCenter.

The system automatically synchronizes the current production recipe and its loading details, establishing the mapping between product, part number, feeder slot, and per-board usage.

It also continuously captures:

• the current production program;
• SMT machine and slot information;
• the barcode of the reel currently in use;
• the real-time remaining quantity of each reel;
• product completion quantities;
• per-board material usage;
• production plans and their completion status.

The system does not merely read equipment status: it links production plans, recipes, machines, feeder slots, reels, and material consumption, providing the data foundation for subsequent automatic shortage-time calculation.

2. Predicting remaining production time from the real consumption rate

The system continuously reads the actual remaining quantity of the reels in use from SetupCenter.

For each SMT slot, it combines recent consumption records to compute the real consumption rate, and then:

Current remaining quantity ÷ actual consumption rate = remaining producible time

Compared with replenishment based on a fixed takt or manual experience, this approach adjusts dynamically to actual shop-floor conditions.

For example, when the machine speed changes, the per-board usage of a part number differs, or the actual production rhythm shifts, the system recalculates how long the material can sustain production.

The result is a material-risk judgment mechanism centered on “remaining minutes.”

3. Multi-level shortage alerts that raise material demand in advance

The project establishes a two-level material alert mechanism.

Field parameters are configurable to production needs, for example:

• remaining production time ≤ 90 minutes: level-2 alert;
• remaining production time ≤ 70 minutes: level-1 alert.

The system also cross-checks the remaining tape length as an auxiliary criterion: when the remaining tape falls below the configured safety value, an alert is triggered as well.

Through this mechanism, material management shifts from:

“discovering it only when the reel is nearly empty”

to:

“the system predicting in advance when the material will run out.”

Alerts flow automatically into the task-generation logic; operators no longer need to check each slot one by one and submit calls manually.

4. Automatic generation of material-call tasks, pulling materials by actual consumption

The system periodically processes pending material alerts and automatically generates warehouse material-call tasks.

Task generation does not simply create one ticket per alert; it applies rule-based processing that matches the characteristics of on-site delivery.

The system supports:

• merging multi-level alerts on the same slot;
• automatically suppressing duplicate calls for the same reel;
• batching ordinary calls within a time window;
• closing a task early once its material count reaches the limit;
• automatically cancelling related calls when the line stops;
• pausing calls for designated materials;
• holding a call when production is about to finish and the existing material suffices for the remaining plan.

These rules avoid both missed calls and a flood of duplicate, invalid tasks entering the warehouse.

Each ordinary replenishment is managed per reel, achieving fine-grained material pull for real SMT production scenarios.

5. Support for urgent calls and multiple types of manual calls

Beyond automatic SMT calling, the system also provides manual calling capabilities for on-site exceptions and assembly operations.

Line-side staff can raise an urgent call by scanning a reel barcode on the PDA.

The system automatically recognizes the current reel and its material information, creates an Urgent task directly, and prevents repeated submissions within a short window through its anti-duplication mechanism.

For assembly and other production scenarios, the PC calling terminal supports:

• PCB bare-board calls;
• through-hole component calls;
• offline electronic material calls.

After the operator enters the material and quantity, the system validates the material master data, creates the call request, and aggregates it into a warehouse task.

Whether triggered automatically by equipment, submitted proactively by operators, or raised urgently under exceptions, everything enters the same task system.

6. Digitized warehouse tasks with full picking and shipping management

Once a call task is generated, the warehouse dashboard automatically displays the pending task.

For urgent tasks, the system gives an audible reminder so warehouse staff respond as a priority.

Warehouse operators view through the WarehouseUI:

• task number;
• production line;
• required material;
• station location;
• required quantity;
• urgency level;
• current processing status;
• shortage conditions.

Tasks advance through a standard state machine:

Pending → Picking → Picked → Shipped → Completed

Operators confirm actions by scanning their employee badge; every state change automatically records the operator and the processing time.

If the warehouse finds a material cannot be supplied, it marks “Shortage” directly, and the line-side system displays the status in sync.

This turns a delivery process once driven by phone calls and questioning people into a digital task flow queryable in real time.

7. Integrating line-side stock to prioritize on-site leftover material

After an SMT changeover, half-used reels often remain at the line side.

Returning this material to the central warehouse and re-delivering it later would create unnecessary logistics handling.

The eCall system establishes line-side inventory and bin-location management to register leftover materials.

When the line later raises the same material demand, the system recognizes the existing line-side stock and marks the corresponding bin location on the task.

Line-store staff handle such tasks through the dedicated LineStoreUI, letting leftover on-site material re-enter production first.

This forms a line-side material recycling loop of:

Production leftover material → line-side stock → new call demand → priority reuse

8. QAD ERP integration for automatic outer-warehouse replenishment requests

When production demand has to be supplemented by the outer warehouse, the system exchanges data with the QAD ERP through the QADSyncServer.

The system periodically aggregates the tasks pending transmission and generates demand data by:

part number + quantity + line

sending it to QAD automatically via FTP.

For different business scenarios, the system distinguishes PCB / through-hole components, offline electronic materials, and urgent demand.

Shortage or exception information returned by QAD is automatically written back into the eCall system and displayed on the warehouse dashboard and line-side terminals.

At the same time, QAD part-number master data is synchronized to eCall on a regular basis, providing the basis for validating part numbers during manual calls.

This opens the demand chain of:

Production line → inner warehouse → QAD → outer warehouse

and reduces manual secondary entry.

9. PDA mobile operations for on-site working efficiency

The project ships WinCE PDA mobile terminals that give material handlers scanning capability on the production floor.

The PDA supports:

• employee login;
• line and workstation selection;
• reel barcode scanning;
• urgent material calls;
• PCB / through-hole component calls;
• material quantity correction;
• material inbound;
• material outbound;
• bin-location management.

Handlers complete calling and inventory operations directly at the line, without returning to fixed PC workstations.

When a reel’s actual quantity differs from the system record, operators scan the reel to correct the quantity and re-sync the corrected result to SetupCenter, keeping the system’s stock consistent with the physical reels.

10. Real-time line-side monitoring, making shortage risk and delivery status transparent

Line-side monitoring displays every SMT machine and feeder slot in real time.

Operators can view:

• the current part number;
• the current reel;
• the remaining quantity;
• the consumption rate;
• the per-board usage;
• the producible boards remaining;
• the remaining production time;
• level-1 / level-2 shortage status;
• the current call task;
• warehouse processing progress;
• QAD shortage information.

For imminent shortage risks, the system issues prominent status warnings.

Production staff no longer check reels one by one, nor phone the warehouse asking “where has my material got to.”

The whole process from production consumption to warehouse delivery becomes transparent.

11. A complete task ledger for end-to-end process traceability

The system maintains a state ledger for every material-call task.

From the moment a material first meets the alert condition, through automatic task generation, warehouse acceptance, staff picking, picking completion, material shipping, and final completion, every key node is recorded as data.

The system also stores:

• reel loading history;
• real-time material status;
• shortage alert records;
• material-call task records;
• task state-change records;
• line-side stock change records;
• quantity correction records;
• QAD exception records;
• production completion records.

When a shortage or delivery exception occurs, the entire process can be quickly reconstructed along the task number, determining whether the problem arose in production forecasting, inventory, warehouse picking, or delivery.

The system business loop

eCall ultimately builds a material supply chain driven by actual production consumption:

SIPLACE production equipment

↓

Recipe / BOM / completion quantities / real-time reel remaining

↓

Actual material consumption rate calculation

↓

Remaining producible time prediction

↓

Level-1 / level-2 shortage alerts

↓

Automatic material-call task generation

↓

Warehouse dashboard acceptance

↓

Picking → shipping → delivery

↓

Line-side loading

↓

SetupCenter captures the new reel state

↓

Continuous real-time monitoring and prediction

When inner-warehouse stock is insufficient, the chain extends further into:

Line demand → eCall → QAD ERP → outer-warehouse replenishment → inner warehouse → production line

achieving a complete Demand-Pull loop between the production floor and warehouse logistics.