Industry News, Trends and Technology, and Standards Updates

The second video in our Overview of the GEM Standard video series goes into a little more detail on the GEM standard functionality. 

The GEM standard is broken down into two sets of functionality. One is the fundamental requirements.  These are the things that everyone that uses GEM should implement. It gives some of the basic funtionality you want in every equipment and every device that has a GEM interface. Then there are a number of additional capabilities, meaning you can be GEM compliant without using them, but they are available when needed. 

The GEM standard is extremely efficient, with messages that are always transmitted in a binary format, which is much smaller than ASCII based protocols. Among the benefits of this is that the network bandwidth is not wasted. 

To find out even more, be sure to see the second part of our series today! 

SEMICON Europa ist mittlerweile eines der größten europäischen Events der Elektronikindustrie: Werden wir Sie dort sehen? Read now in German, or below in English.

SEMICON Europa wird bereits zum zweiten Mal zusammen mit der Productronica bzw. Electronica auf dem Münchener Messegelände veranstaltet. Wir bei Cimetrix freuen uns, wieder – gemeinsam mit anderen in der Halbleiterindustrie – in der SEMICON Europa Halle auszustellen.

Nach einigen Jahren schwindenden Besucheraufkommens, wirkte die Veranstaltung im vergangenen Jahr deutlich wiederbelebt. Wir hoffen, dass wir diese Begeisterung auf der Show 2018 erneut erleben werden. SEMICON zieht traditionell ein einflussreiches Publikum aus allen Bereichen der Mikroelektronikindustrie an, und kombiniert mit einer zweiten Messe (Electronica) am selben Standort, wird sie zu einer der größten globalen Elektronikmessen. Dementsprechend gehen wir davon aus, dass SEMI auf der von SEMICON West geschaffenen Dynamik aufbauen wird, um führende Unternehmen aus der gesamten Lieferkette für die Produktion zu erreichen, da der Schwerpunkt auf Smart Manufacturing weiterwächst.

Während dieser 4-tägigen Messe werden wir SEMI Board Meetings, SEMI Standards Meetings, Smart Manufacturing Sessions und vieles mehr erleben. Alan Weber, unser Vizepräsident für Neue Produktinnovationen, wird am Mittwoch, den 14. November, von 11:00 - 111:15 Uhr auf einer dieser Sitzungen in der TechLOUNGE (Show Floor Hall A4) "Making Smart Manufacturing Work" vorstellen. Unser Team freut sich, mit Kunden, Interessenten und Kollegen zusammenzutreffen und neue Möglichkeiten zu diskutieren.

Wenn Sie mehr darüber erfahren möchten, wie Cimetrix-Produkte bei Ihren Smart-Manufacturing-Zielen helfen können, besuchen Sie unseren Stand A4635 während der Messe. Sie können jederzeit einen Termin auf unserer Events-Seite vereinbaren. Wir freuen uns darauf, Sie dort zu sehen!

SEMICON Europa  is now in its second year as a co-located event with either Productronica or Electronica in the Messe München exposition center in Munich, Germany. Cimetrix is pleased to once again be exhibiting in the SEMICON Europa hall with others in the semiconductor industry.

After several years of dwindling attendance, this event felt distinctly revitalized last year, and we hope to see that excitement once again at the 2018 show. SEMICON traditionally attracts an influential audience from every sector of the microelectronics industry, and with a second trade fair (Electronica) at the same site, it is becoming one of the largest global electronics shows. Accordingly, we fully anticipate that SEMI will build on the momentum it established at SEMICON West to bring in leaders from the entire manufacturing supply chain as the emphasis on Smart Manufacturing continues to grow.

During this 4-day trade fair, we'll see SEMI board meetings, SEMI Standards meetings, Smart Manufacturing sessions and so much more. Alan Weber, our VP of New Product Innovations, will present “Making Smart Manufacturing Work” at one of these sessions in the TechLOUNGE (Show Floor Hall A4) on Wednesday, November 14, from 11:00 – 111:15. Our team is excited to participate, to meet with clients, prospects, and colleagues, and to discuss new opportunities.

If you would like to learn more about how Cimetrix products can help with your Smart Manufacturing goals, please stop by our booth A4635 during the show. You can also request a meeting any time on our Events page. We look forward to seeing you there!

What is a GEM Interface? What are some of the key features of the GEM SEMI Standard? What does the GEM standard have to do with Smart Manufacturing? Brian Rubow, the Cimetrix Director of Solutions Engineering, conducts a five-part video series that covers the complete GEM standard. In this Part One of the series, he covers some of the main questions that are often asked of manufacturing industries looking into GEM for the first time. 

Brian begins the video by answering the question, "What is a GEM Interface". He follows up by addressing the related SEMI standards, including SECS-II and HSMS. 

The GEM standard is feature complete.and includes the following:

• Event Notification
• Alarm Notification
• Data variable collection
• Recipe Management
• Remote Control
• Adjustment Settings
• Operator Interface

GEM is the proven and mature equipment communication standard used by the front-end semiconductor industry for a number of years and has been adopted by a number of other industries because of it's effectiveness. 

View the entire series today!

SEMICON Taiwan was held September 5-7, 2018 at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center. During that same time (Friday September 7), the e-Manufacturing & Design Collaboration Symposium (eMDC) alsotook place in Hsinchu, Taiwan. Cimetrix exhibited in the Smart Manufacturing Pavilion and had a strong presence at both shows, exhibiting and speaking at SEMICON, and speaking and sponsoring a tea break at eMDC. 

Cimetrix SEMICON attendees included Dave Faulkner (VP Sales and Marketing), Michael Lee (Country Manager Taiwan), Yufeng Huang (Senior Software Engineer), Alan Weber (VP New Product Innovations), Samson Wang (Solutions Engineer) and Kimberly Daich (Marketing Manager); Hwal Song (Country Manager Korea) was also able to attend for one day. We were joined by several partners and distributors as well. The Cimetrix booth was busy throughout the show, and provided a comfortable and convenient setting for the many scheduled and walk-in meetings that took place.

In addition to the exhibitions, SEMICON Taiwan also sponsored many forums for expert speakers throughout the show. Dave Faulkner spoke on Friday morning on the topic of "Making Smart Manufacturing Work with EDA: The Stakeholder-driven requirements Development Process". On that same day, Alan Weber traveled to Hsinchu for eMDC and spoke on a similar topic, "Smart Manufacturing Stakeholders and Their Requirements." Smart Manufacturing is a prevailing topic across the industry and was featured at SEMICON Taiwan, as they continue the Smart Manufacturing Journey that began with SEMICON West. 

Our office in Taiwan has expanded recently with the addition of a new Solutions Engineer, and we are excited as new opportunities open up throughout the region. 

If you would like to learn more about Smart Manufacturing, our work in Taiwan or Cimetrix, please feel free to ask an expert any time. 

Cimetrix is here at SEMICON West 2018 and we're excited to be a part of the first Smart Manufacturing Pavilion in the South Hall. We hope you've been able to drop by and hear some of the great speeches including our own experts Alan Weber, VP New Product Innovations and our VP & GM Smart Factory Business Ranjan Chatterjee with Dan Gamota (VP Digital Engineering Services) at Jabil.

Alan Weber's presentation is now available online. The topic he chose is "Making Smart Manufacturing Work: The Stakeholder-driven Requirements Development Process".

An important maxim of performance management is “You get what you measure.” This is largely true whether you are talking about employees, organizations, processes, time management, sports teams, or – to highlight a current global industry topic – Smart Manufacturing.

The question now becomes “How DO the industry’s leading manufacturers ensure the equipment they buy will support their Smart Manufacturing objectives?” This presentation explains how the careabouts of key stakeholder groups are “translated” into specific equipment automation and communications interface requirements which can then be directly included in the equipment purchasing specifications. As more semiconductor manufacturing companies take this approach, effectively “raising the bar” for the entire industry, the collective capability of the equipment suppliers will increase in response, to everyone’s benefit.

Through several interviews with leading manufacturers over the past 18 months, we discovered that the best way to accomplish this is through a focused, interactive questionnaire process. By asking very specific questions about people’s daily tasks, problem areas, expectations, success criteria, and other items of constant concern, we can take a generic automation purchase specification outline and generate a complete, factory-specific set of automation and communications interface purchase specifications in a matter of days. This is time well-spent when you consider the value and volume of equipment potentially affected… and the opportunity cost of not having these requirements clearly expressed.

If the above discussion triggers the question “I wonder if our equipment automation purchase specs are sufficient to address the Smart Manufacturing challenges we’ll face in the next few years?” this presentation will interest you. Taking its lessons to heart may be the most important next step you take in formulating you own company’s Smart Manufacturing implementation roadmap.

Get Alan Weber's SEMICON West presentation now!

SEMICON West 2018 is fast approaching and the Cimetrix team is gearing up for a great show.  The show runs from July 10^th – 12^th at the Moscone Center in San Francisco and we’re looking forward to meeting with all our present and future clients.

This year SEMICON West is unveiling the new Smart Manufacturing Pavilion to showcase the entire manufacturing process from silicon to systems, including Front End, Back End and PCB Assembly. Cimetrix is excited to announce that we are a sponsor and will be participating in the Smart Manufacturing Pavilion showcase, both as part of the Front End segment as well as in the PCB Assembly area.

The Smart Manufacturing Pavilion includes a “Meet the Experts Theater” featuring presentations from two of our own Cimetrix thought leaders.  Alan Weber will present “Making Smart Manufacturing Work: The Stakeholder-driven Requirements Development Process” on Wednesday, July 11^th at 11:00 am. This process has already been used successfully to support the significant growth of SEMI EDA standards usage in Asia, but is equally relevant for a wide range of related Smart Manufacturing technologies.

Later on Wednesday afternoon at 3:00 pm, Ranjan Chatterjee and Dan Gamota of Jabil will present “Convergence of Technologies and Standards Across the Semiconductor, SMT and OSAT Segments.” 

Cimetrix will be exhibiting at booth #1122 in the South Hall, just a short walk from the Smart Manufacturing Pavilion. Stop by our booth or find us at the Pavilion to talk to our experts about your specific needs. We will have onsite product demonstrations as well as information about our company available.  You can also schedule in advance a time to meet with us at the show by filling out a quick form with your meeting request.  

See you at SEMICON!

SEMICON China was held from March 14-16, 2018 in Shanghai at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre. Simultaneously co-located at this huge complex were Productronica China and Laser World of Photonics China. All three shows were very busy this year, and it is clear the electronics manufacturing industry in China is booming.

Cimetrix attendees included Dave Faulkner (VP Sales and Marketing), Ranjan Chatterjee (VP Smart Factory Business Unit), Michael Lee (Country Manager Taiwan), Yufeng Huang (Senior Software Engineer), Alan Weber (VP New Product Innovations), and Kimberly Daich (Marketing Manager); Hwal Song (Country Manager Korea) was also able to attend for one day. The Cimetrix booth was busy throughout the show, and provided a comfortable and convenient setting for the many scheduled and walk-in meetings that took place.

Cimetrix partners Facet and Flagship also attended the show, and participated in several customer/prospect discussions. In conjunction with our partner Facet, Cimetrix software products are now used in more than 25 production factories within the China market segment. Moreover, the relationships we have established throughout the semiconductor and electronics markets are strengthening our global presence and enable Cimetrix to provide local support to current and potential clients. The most recent example is our Shanghai office, opened in 2017.

In addition to the exhibitions, SEMICON China sponsored many forums for expert speakers throughout the show. One of these included the New Technology Release Forum where our own Alan Weber was selected as a speaker. His topic “Integrated Equipment Data Collection and Management for Smart Manufacturing” was well received by those in attendance. Smart Manufacturing has been a topic of keen interest at all SEMICONs over the past 18 months, and China was no exception; a separate forum dedicated to Smart Manufacturing drew a standing-room-only crowd to hear a broad range of speakers across the technology spectrum.

We are currently expanding our Shanghai office in response to the exciting growth opportunities we see for our industry in China, and look forward to many years of collaborative work in this region.

Creating a great company culture isn’t easy. You have to think about hiring the right team members, creating processes everyone can support, promoting an open environment with respect for everyone and without judgement, and fostering a sense of accountability. The Cimetrix Leadership team is always looking for ways to improve the company culture and develop an environment of trust and great communication. Giving everyone a voice and making sure everyone feels comfortable sharing their thoughts is key to employee engagement and maintaining a great culture.

When many members of the team work remotely, however, a great culture can be difficult to form, maintain and share. Remote employees spend most of their time working without seeing the other members of their team face-to-face.  While there are teams that travel frequently between the global offices, it is a rare opportunity to gather the entire company to work, learn and grow together. By meeting in person, our teams can create a sense of personal connection and trust that carries on long after returning to the remote office.  That’s just what Cimetrix did by organizing our 2017 All Company Gathering.

With the theme of “Growth – Business and Personal”, we started the week getting inspired to focus on each individual’s personal and professional growth. We learned about goal setting, reasons many fail to meet goals and a few secrets on how to make and keep effective goals. We were reminded that it’s important to recognize each other and ourselves when great things are achieved. Cimetrix recognized Crystal Glenn, Client Relations Specialist, for her outstanding contributions above and beyond her daily workload in the form of the Cimetrix Super Charged Award – an award that is rarely given and only to those who display the highest achievement in keeping with company values.

The next day began with a very interesting discussion led by the individual Country Managers from China, Taiwan, Japan and Korea about the direction of the company, the international growth achieved in 2017 and  the growth expected over the next few years. A panel discussion including Q&A was highly engaging and fun as everyone got to know the Country Managers and their respective cultures a little better.  A team building experience at a series of escape rooms followed by a discussion and analysis of leadership, teams and communication gave everyone the chance to get to know each other better and work together in a new capacity.

After a morning of working in teams, day three was dedicated to learning how to more efficiently use our time, specifically with regards to meetings. Everyone knows that unproductive meetings can be a drain on time and resources, but all too often we sit through too many of them anyway. Learning when to have meetings and how to make them as effective as possible is a skill that everyone should learn, and we look forward to implementing these new processes at Cimetrix. The evening brought a banquet dinner where we were privileged to hear from Mike Thompson, a shareholder, board member and great friend to Cimetrix.

The All Company Gathering ended Friday afternoon with a company meeting recapping all that happened during the week and a celebration for birthdays, anniversaries and new employees. Interspersed throughout the week were opportunities to get to know employees from different departments and different parts of the world.  Many continued to meet into the weekend for more in-depth training and education. 

The All Company Gathering requires weeks of organization and planning, but in the end, it’s worth the effort to bring the teams together for a few days as we seek to get to know each other better, build trust between team members, have discussions about company culture and core values and improve teamwork skills.  Good relationships are key to maintaining a successful company culture, and the entire Cimetrix team enjoyed this time to recharge and reenergize.

SEMICON West 2017 has come and gone! The trade show and technical conference was held this year at the Moscone Center in San Francisco and turned out to be a very busy show for the Cimetrix team. While the show was only two halls strong, we had many meetings with current clients, met with new potential clients and even made a few new friends along the way.

A major highlight of the event for all of Cimetrix took place Tuesday evening at the SEMI Standards Awards reception where our own Brian Rubow, Director of Client Training and Support at Cimetrix, took home the prestigious SEMI Leadership Award. Brian, who has over 20 years of experience in the industry, has been a long-time leader and key contributor to the SEMI Standards programs throughout his career.  We were very proud of his work and so glad he was able to receive recognition from the SEMI organization. 

The sales team was hard at work during the entire show and it wasn’t often the Cimetrix booth was empty! Meeting with many new companies made the show very exciting. Our team was especially pleased to meet for several hours with the CEO of our newest client from China! The relationships we establish and cultivate while at these tradeshows make them an invaluable part of our sales, marketing and support efforts. 

The Cimetrix team members that attended were Bob Reback (President and CEO), Dave Faulkner (EVP Sales and Marketing), Ranjan Chatterjee (V.P. Emerging Business & Technology Office), Stu Benger (Director of Sales, North America), Brian Rubow (Director of Client Training and Support), David Francis (Director of Product Management), Alan Weber (V.P. New Product Innovations) and Kimberly Daich (Marketing Manager). Several team members were able to attend for just a day including some of our newest engineers. It was a great chance for them to get to know the show, meet some clients and see some of the machines our software powers in action.

The Moscone Center is undergoing major renovations in preparation for SEMICON West 2018; and we were able to secure a premium spot for next year’s show. SEMICON West is always a great show and we were pleased to be able to attend this year, and as always we’re already looking forward to SEMICON West 2018!

SEMICON Europa was held in Grenoble France this year from October 25-27, 2016.  Grenoble is a hot point for semiconductor technology in France with fabs and technology centers located close by.  Typically, this trade fair moves between Dresden and Grenoble each year with attendance of about 6000. 

The Cimetrix team consisted of Dave Faulkner, EVP Sales & Marketing; Bruce Febvret, Business Development,  Europe; and Kimberly Daich, our new Marketing Manager.  Cimetrix brought our new double wide booth with new branding and was located next to our integration partner Agileo Automation.  

We highlighted our CIMPortal Plus software demonstrating the benefits of the SEMI E164 standard.  Attendance seemed light this year which allowed the Cimetrix team ample time to meet with various equipment supplier customers who had exhibits at the show. Of particular interest to our customers was our advice on when and how to add Interface A to their control systems, and what impact Industry 4.0 and smart manufacturing will bring.  The evening networking event was very well done; congrats to the SEMI team.

SEMI made an importance announcement that starting next year, SEMICON Europa will no longer move back and forth between Grenoble and Dresden; and will move to Munich in mid-November.  This allows one large show featuring SEMICON and Productronica.  SEMICON Europa will focus on semiconductor related activities and Productronica will focus on electronics assembly technologies.  This decision works very well for Cimetrix as we share customers in both industries. See you next year in Munich!