High-mix electronics, scheduled without the chaos
SMT, through-hole, test and box build — Convect understands your feeder setups, approved alternates and ECO versions, and its agents re-sequence the floor when a component is short or a hot order arrives.
The challenge
What makes electronics planning hard
Changeovers eat the day
A dozen line changeovers a day can consume up to 30% of available time — and sequencing is done by gut feel.
Alternates and ECOs everywhere
Frequent engineering changes mean multiple BOM revisions in flight and a tangle of approved alternate parts.
SMT feeder limits
Each SMT line has limited feeder slots; different products need different setups, so sequence drives productivity.
Shortages stop the line
Thousands of small parts, tight JIT supply — and one missing reel can idle an entire line.
Agents at work
What your planning agents handle in electronics
Real situations your planners deal with every week — picked up, analyzed and turned into an explained recommendation without anyone having to notice them first.
A component allocation is cut by 40%
Disruption Response Agent
Checks approved alternates, re-sequences builds that are still kit-complete, and shows which customer orders move.
An ECO is released mid-week
Coordination Agent
Switches affected lots to the new revision at the right point, and flags stock of the old revision before it becomes obsolete.
A hot order from a key account
Scheduling Agent
Finds the slot with the least extra changeover time and presents the trade-off for one-click approval.
Industry ontology
An ontology built for electronics
On top of the core model of products, lines, materials and orders, Convect adds the entities and constraints specific to electronics — so agents understand your business from day one.
What this means for you
Alternates graph + ECO versions — once these relationships are in the model, the impact of any change (a rush order, a shortage, a breakdown) is traced automatically and handed to the optimizer as constraints.
Alternate parts graph
Approved substitutes for each reference designator, with priority and compatibility rules
ECO version control
Links between engineering changes, BOM revisions and production lots
SMT feeder capability
Feeder slots per machine, part types supported, setup times
Routing constraints
Standard and alternate routings: SMT → THT → test → pack
The decisions we optimize
From SMT to box build: five decisions
From long-range planning to the shop floor, each layer’s output becomes the next layer’s constraint.
SMT sequencing
Decision
How to configure feeders and sequence products to minimize setups
Output
Optimal SMT sequence with the fewest changeovers
Kit-complete checks
Decision
Verify material availability before release; adjust automatically on shortage
Output
Builds released only when they can finish
Changeover reduction
Decision
Group similar products to cut changeover share of the day
Output
Changeover time roughly halved, more productive hours
BOM revision management
Decision
Update schedules automatically on ECO release; switch revisions without mis-builds
Output
ECO response in minutes, not days
Final assembly synchronization
Decision
Align SMT, through-hole, test and pack; replan rush orders with minimal disruption
Output
Box build in sync with upstream operations
Upstream decisions constrain downstream ones. When execution drifts, agents trace back up the chain and assess the impact automatically.
Capabilities
Planning capabilities built for electronics
SMT scheduling optimization
Machine-level scheduling that respects feeder constraints
Automatic BOM revision switching
Schedules update automatically when an ECO is released
Changeover optimization
Similar products grouped to minimize changeovers
Kit-complete JIT checks
Material availability verified before release; plans adjust automatically on shortage
| Production type | Key constraints | Planning granularity | BOM complexity | Rush-order frequency | Ontology highlights |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Discrete / mixed-mode | SMT capacity, alternate parts | Day / shift | Deep, many alternates | High | Alternates graph + ECO versions |
See also: Production planning & scheduling · How the platform works
Customer results
Results from the industry
Standards
Configured for electronics requirements
During implementation, we configure the model around the quality systems and standards you operate under:
IPC-A-610
Acceptability of electronic assemblies
IATF 16949
Automotive electronics (where applicable)
RoHS / REACH
Environmental compliance
Put planning agents to work in electronics
Get the Electronics Manufacturing Planning Playbook, or talk to a specialist who knows electronics planning.