Industry News, Trends and Technology, and Standards Updates

Ask ten different people and you will be told ten different ways to write your resume. Some people say education should be up front, others say to focus on your job history, but the reality is you need to write your resume for those who are going to read it. Your resume isn’t a story about what a wonderful and diverse person you are, it needs to provide information quickly and concisely about your ability to do the job. As a software engineer, the temptation is to write your resume for other engineers, which you should, but you also need to think about everyone who will see your resume. There are three people you should keep in mind when writing your resume:

1. The Human Resources person who will initially look at your resume
2. The Hiring Manager who will ultimately decide who to interview and hire
3. The Potential Co-Workers on your team, who may contribute to the hiring decision and be involved in the interview

The Human Resources person will most often be the first person who will review your resume. That person will be looking to see if you meet the minimum requirements for the position, such as:

• Do you have the required education?
• Do you have the years of experience?
• Have you worked in this industry before or something similar?

Sometimes the HR person looking at your resume will be familiar with a few software engineering terms, but their degree is often in a non-technology field. So, the easier you can make it for the person to determine the answers to the above three questions, the better. If your degree is in computer science or a related degree, put that before your job history. This is often an easy hurdle that HR uses to determine who is qualified and who is not, so get it out of the way immediately. As part of your education, list the programming languages you studied and which ones you are proficient in. You might even put in a sentence or two about how any class projects relate to the position you are applying for. 

BS – Computer Science, Westminster College                      Graduation Date: 6/1/2018
               Proficient in: C++, C#, Java
               Studied: Amazon Web Services (AWS), Visual Basic
               Completed class project with C# to create an application to manage multiple devices.

Notice in the above example that Amazon Web Services (AWS) is spelled out. Don’t assume your HR person knows all of the common abbreviations in the industry. Spell them out on first usage with the abbreviation in parenthesis. Then you can just use the abbreviation going forward. 

Now it is time for work history on the resume. You will want to demonstrate the experience you have that is related to the position. Your job as a stock boy at House of Fabrics when you were a teenager can be left off. When listing job history put the name of the company, years worked, a short sentence about what the company does, and three or four bullets that illustrate experience you obtained that qualified for the position you are applying for. If you are struggling with how to describe the company, look it up on Wikipedia.com. They will often have a one sentence description written for you that you can borrow.

SK Hynix - Software Engineer                                                     January, 2001 – March, 2016
               Semiconductor supplier of dynamic random access memory chips and flash memory chips.
               - Developed C++ application that laser measures the drill depths of holes in circuit boards.
               - Worked on a team to create a database of company products that could be accessed via AWS.
               - Interacted with customers on installation of support software products, customized in C#.

Finally, if there are particular projects, applications or accomplishments that speak to your ability to perform the job desired, list those in a heading called “Accomplishments.” Remember, the HR person doesn’t care if you were an Eagle Scout, Student Body President or Employee of the Month three times in a row. They are looking to see if you can do the job. Look at the job description and determine if any of the accomplishments you have achieved relate. If so, include them in a couple of sentences.

Accomplishments
- Served on the board of directors of semi.org, and worked with 14 companies on implementation of Generic Equipment Model (GEM) standards.

The second person who will look at your resume is the hiring manager. They are going to be focused on can you do the job required. While the HR Person may understand in general terms what the job does, it is the hiring manager who is closest to the job and can make the judgment call as to who can do the job. The hiring manager is going to be looking to see if you have performed similar work elsewhere of if dissimilar work could actually be translated into similar skills at the new employer. You might illustrate this by putting adding another bullet that illustrates this.

IKEA – Computer Support Technician                                      March, 2016 – June 2018
Designs and sells ready to assemble furniture, appliances and home accessories.
- Provided technical support for store operations employees with desktop and Point of Sale (POS) software.
- Developed enhancement in C#, to POS software, to allow for the automation of the credit card reconciliation process on a nightly basis. This software was required to operate with no user intervention and pull the databases of over 100 stores across the world.

So, while the software enhancement above didn’t make microchips, it did demonstrate your ability to create software with no user interaction, automation, via networking, authored in C#. If you are applying outside of your industry, these explanations become critical so that the hiring manager still considers you a viable candidate.

As with the HR Person, don’t assume the hiring manager was an engineer. Some companies will promote people who are good managers, but not necessarily skilled in the area they are managing. If you can demonstrate your ability to clearly communicate to a layperson, this will be another point in your favor.

Learn about all the career possibilities at Cimetrix!

SEMICON Southeast Asia is coming up at the Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Centre (MITEC) in Kuala Lumpur on May 7-9. Cimetrix is exhibiting at the show this year for the first time ever! In addition, we are pleased to announce our sponsorship of the new SMART Manufacturing Journey at the Global Pavilion. If you are attending SEMICON Southeast Asia this year, please stop by to see us at our Booth (#528) or meet with our team in the Pavilion.

SEMICON Southeast Asia has become an important exposition for the electronics industry in Southeast Asia, so we are excited to be exhibiting. In the booth you can see all of our connectivity and control products in action. A few short steps away is the Smart Manufacturing Journey, where you can hear one of our industry experts speak at the Smart Manufacturing Pavilion. 

In particular, Ranjan Chatterjee, VP & GM Smart Factory Business at Cimetrix, will share his thoughts on the "Consolidation of the Electronics Supply Chain and its Impact on a Data-driven Deployment Strategy for Smart Manufacturing" at the Technology Innovation - Smart Manufacturing & Smart Data Forum at 3:50pm on Tuesday, 07 May. 

If you'd like to schedule an appointment, please fill out our events meeting form by clicking below. Otherwise, we hope you'll drop by and see us during the show!

Cimetrix participated in the recent European Advanced Process Control and Manufacturing (apc|m) Conference, along with over 150 control professionals across the European and global semiconductor manufacturing industry. This site of this year’s conference was Villach, Austria, a picturesque town nestled in the eastern Alps just north of the Italian border in the state of Carinthia. This region is home to a number of high-tech companies and institutions all along the semiconductor manufacturing value chain, and since it was the first time the conference was held in Villach, the local hosts rolled out the red carpet. 

This conference, now in its 19th year and organized by Silicon Saxony, is one of only a few global events dedicated to the domain of semiconductor process control and directly supporting technologies. As usual, the conference was very well organized, and featured a wide range of high-quality presentations, keynote addresses, and tutorial sessions. The supplier exhibits associated with this year’s event were especially numerous, as were the technical posters displayed in the exhibition area just outside the conference rooms.

As in many prior years, Cimetrix was privileged to present at this conference, as Alan Weber delivered a talk entitled “Addressing Connectivity Challenges of Disparate Data Sources in Smart Manufacturing.” The presentation highlighted the need for unifying data collection concepts—like explicit equipment models and generic structures for data collection plans—are increasing necessary for maintaining the fidelity of a factory’s “digital twin” in Smart Manufacturing settings where the number of data source types is growing. This presentation resonated with a number of the key conference themes, so if you want to know more, feel free to download a copy of the entire presentation from our web site.

Other highlights of the conference included:

• An update by Otto Graf on the ambitious vision and progress of the BOSCH 300mm wafer fab now under construction in Dresden. In this talk he emphasized the role that digital technologies will play in bringing up the fab and climbing the yield ramp and other features of a wall-to-wall Industrie 4.0 implementation. 
• “The Role of APC and Smart Manufacturing / Industrie 4.0 in New Reliability-Critical Markets“ by James Moyne (University of Michigan / Applied Materials) – James re-presented a number of the Smart Manufacturing technologies in the context of automotive industry requirements, especially the role that Subject Matter Expertise (i.e., people!) will play alongside other emerging technologies. He also pointed out that the Factory Integration chapter of the International Roadmap for Devices and Systems (IRDS) will be reorganized around the key tenets of Smart Manufacturing.
  
  
• A thought-provoking invited talk from Dr. Roman Kern of the KNOW-CENTER titled “Possibilities and Challenges of Digitalization in the Semiconductor and Other Domains.” His key messages started with “Big Data is the new oil…. AI is the new electricity… and Data Science is the new lingua franca for leading global industries,” and then he went deeper into all of these.
  
  
• Dr. Germar Schneider of Infineon Technologies built on the theme above in a practical setting with his “Chances and Challenges of Digitization in Semiconductor Fabs and Success Factors during the implementation” presentation. This was not only an in-depth look at some of the multi-year efforts at Infineon, but also included a summary of current digitization projects across the European manufacturing R&D community. 
  
  
• Another invited talk from BMW was delivered by Rainer Hohenhoff which covered “Product Data and Product Life Cycle Management in the face of new business models of the automotive industry.” In short, it discussed many of the ways a car company might make money even after people stop buying as many cars as they do today… and what collisions (pun intended) you could expect in the market as service companies like Google, Amazon, UBER, and others converge on the transportation consumer. 

There were poignant moments as well. After 19 years of personal dedication to this event, both Gitta Haupold of Silicon Saxony and Dr. Klaus Kabitzsch, Program Committee Chair from Technical University of Dresden are retiring. They will definitely be missed!

The insights gained from these and the other 30+ presentations are too numerous to list here, but in aggregate, they provided an excellent reminder of how relevant semiconductor technology has become for our comfort, sustenance, safety, and overall quality of life. 

This conference and its sister conference in the US are excellent venues to understand what manufacturers do with all the data they collect, so if this topic piques your interest, be sure to put these events on your calendar in the future. In the meantime, if you have questions about any of the above, or want to know how equipment connectivity and control fit into the overall Smart Manufacturing landscape, please contact us!

It's time to meet the folks that keep Cimetrix running - our Front Office team! Meet Kelli Freshman, a Cimetrix Administrative Assistant. Read on to learn a little bit more about Kelli.

How long have you been working at Cimetrix? 

I have worked at Cimetrix since June of 2018, though it feels like I’ve been a part of this team for much longer.

What is your role at Cimetrix?

My official position is Administrative Assistant, providing support to all of the employees of Cimetrix. My day to day tasks vary greatly from all things big and small. I enjoy arranging the details of travel, gatherings and client visits, ensuring things go smoothly. I am responsible for maintaining the calendar for the office, tracking our employees near and far as they visit clients, tradeshows, or work remotely all over the globe. Annually, Cimetrix holds an “All Company Gathering” which is a week where all of our employees, regardless of where they work/live, meet in Salt Lake City for training, team building and a lot of fun! This event includes many moving parts and I love making sure it all goes off without a hitch.  

What drew you to Cimetrix originally?

The first things that attracted me to Cimetrix was the thoroughness and precision that comes behind every decision. From the smallest details to the largest decisions, they place the utmost importance in making sure whatever they decide will move the company forward. Having worked here, I value the team atmosphere more than anything. Regardless of your position, opinions are heard and valued. I also appreciate the attitude of getting the people that are best suited for any position and letting them shine at that, rather than trying to stretch employees thin doing everything.

What do you enjoy most about the work you do?

I find it incredibly rewarding to be a part of things going smoothly, according to plan. I love helping people and making them feel welcome and happy at work. 

What do you find to be most challenging about your job?

There are definitely a lot of different aspects of my job. Keeping track of the different tasks and varied responsibilities takes a focus and ability to multi-task to a level at which I haven’t had to reach before. I’ve enjoyed the challenges of this position, and excited to continue to help other departments in the areas I have experience in. 

What are your top 3 favorite books and/or movies?

As for books, I really enjoy checking thrillers and self-help books out from the library and setting them on my nightstand until they are due and I have to take them back unread.

The first half of movies are usually pretty good, then I fall asleep because my husband’s shoulder is incredibly comfortable. I notoriously fell asleep in the theater before the beginning credits started when the new Star Wars movie came out.

What do you like to do in your free time?

I’m a somewhat newlywed, and love spending time with my husband and our six kids. We enjoy the crazy and the not crazy times equally, whether we’re exploring Utah or enjoying quiet nights at home.

The #MeToo movement has brought the issues of harassment and discrimination to the forefront of American thought. High profile celebrities, business people and politicians have had their illegal behavior exposed as a result of the movement. While the situations generally profiled in the media center around rampant abuse and overtly inappropriate behavior, it is important to consider that not all issues of harassment and discrimination take the form of sexual assault. In fact, sometimes even our best-intentioned behaviors can send the wrong message.

For example, let's say a hiring manager is looking at four candidates for a software engineer position. Three of the candidates are male, one female. The hiring manager currently has all males reporting to him and they frequently go out to sporting events and movies together. The hiring manager worries that if he hires a female, the fun dynamic he has now will be impacted. After all, women may not be interested in football or slasher movies, right?

There are two fallacies in this hiring manager’s thinking. The first is the impact of choosing someone who is not like the others. Often times the most productive teams are those that bring a variety of skills, knowledge and experience to bear. The second fallacy is in making assumptions about a person based on gender. When gender (or race, religion, sexual orientation, etc.) impacts your expectations of how someone will act or work, it is not only insulting to the person, it can lead to bad decision making.

Of course, one key fact is that when hiring, you should not be looking for a friend to hang out with. You should be looking at someone who can perform the job and make positive contributions to the company. Worrying too much about team dynamics, and not enough about job skill, can lead to a bunch of friends who can’t meet the goals of the company.

We must be aware that even our most well-intentioned actions can potentially be inappropriate, and possibly illegal. A male employee working the night shift at a grocery store along with several other employees gets asked to bring in the shopping carts. He agrees and brings in the carts. After this happens for a few nights in a row, the employee asks his manager why only he has to get the carts while none of the female employees do. The manager replies, “Well, this late it is pretty dark, and I don’t like sending our female employees out alone in the dark. There are a lot of crazy people out there.”

While this may seem like a perfectly reasonable explanation, making an employment decision such as work assignments, based on gender is illegal. If there is a legitimate safety concern about female employees being out after dark, then the manager should look for solutions that don’t involve gender bias. Perhaps security cameras need to be installed. Maybe two people should be sent out instead of just one. There are many possibilities you could brainstorm that would not run afoul of the law.

Finally, it's important to watch how small impact behaviors can escalate into larger issues. What if one of the female office clerks that supports your team often says things like, “You know women, we change our minds a lot” or, “I need a big strong man to help me move this table.”? If you thought you don’t need to be concerned because a female is talking about females, then you could be making a harmful mistake. If a male said something like, “This is women’s work” it would almost instantly raise our eyebrows and we’d address it. But either gender making denigrating comments about their own gender can also have a cumulative effect. People who get to used hearing a stereotype reinforced may start to view the statement as fact. How do we memorize something? Repeat it over and over. How do we build a negative attitude towards anything? By hearing or saying negative things about it over and over. The result is that, at some point we may become so desensitized, we inadvertently speak or act in an inappropriate way.

While this blog post has focused mainly on gender; any protected class such as race, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation or veteran status can be substituted in. When working with managers, co-workers and direct reports, the only legal thing to do is treat everyone equally. Don’t let non-job-related factors influence your judgment. Treat people fairly and make your employment decisions based on knowledge, skills and abilities and not any other factors.

Read the Post-show report of the SEMICON China 2019 show today. Read it now in Chinese or below in English.

3月20日至22日在上海国际博览中心举行的SEMICON China 2019，不仅是全球规模最大的SEMICON展会，还与Productronica China， Electronica China和FPD China同时举办，集高科技领域于一体，令人惊叹。因此，SEMICON中国吸引了世界领先的技术公司，这些公司设计、开发、制造和供应驱动着当今最复杂的消费和商业产品的微电子产品。这个庞大的群体为这个行业创造了巨大的能量和令人兴奋的事物!这是Cimetrix作为独立参展商参加展会的第一年，整个展会期间我们的展位都很忙碌! 我们的团队成员来自全球各地，包括中国大陆的黄玉峰和刘波（Clare Liu）, 来自台湾的Samson Wang, 来自韩国的Hwal Song和来自美国的Bob Reback, Dave Faulkner和Kim Daich。以我们传统的SECE/GEM和EDA产品为特色，我们的展位展示了各种设备的连接和控制解决方案。

总的来说，SEMICON China对Cimetrix来说是一个巨大的成功，我们对中国半导体市场的机遇有了第一手的了解。我们的客户也对我们的产品感到满意。展会已经结束，我们还有很多工作要做，去跟进的新需求和机会。

要了解更多关于Cimetrix产品和服务的信息，您可以随时安排会议。

SEMICON China 2019, held on March 20-22 at Shanghai International Expo Center, is not only the largest SEMICON show in the world, it was co-located with FPD China, Productronica China and Electronica China… an awe-inspiring collection of high technology at one venue. As such, SEMICON China attracts the world's leading technology companies who design, develop, manufacture, and supply the microelectronics that drive today's most sophisticated consumer and commercial products. The huge crowds created a tremendous amount of energy and excitement for the industry!

This the first year Cimetrix participated as a stand-alone exhibitor, and we stayed very busy at our booth throughout the event! Our team consisted of a global group with Yufeng Huang and Clare Liu from China, Samson Wang of Taiwan, Hwal Song from Korea and Bob Reback, Dave Faulkner and Kim Daich from the U.S. And, featuring our traditional line of GEM (SECS/GEM) and EDA products, we had demos available in the booth for our full range of equipment connectivity and control solutions.

Overall, SEMICON China was a great success for Cimetrix, and we came away with first-hand knowledge of the scope of opportunity in the China semiconductor market. Our customers are happy and there is a lot of work to do now that the show is over to follow up with new leads and opportunities.

To learn more about Cimetrix products and services, you can schedule a meeting any time.

The Cimetrix Resource Center is a great tool for anyone who wants to learn more about industry standards including GEM (SECS/GEM), GEM300, EDA/Interface A, and more. These standards are among the key enabling technologies for the Smart Manufacturing and Industry 4.0 global initiatives that are having a major impact on many industries. Manufacturers and their equipment suppliers must be able to connect equipment and other data sources, gather and analyze data in real time, and optimize production through a wide variety of applications. The free white papers listed below provide in-depth coverage of the most broadly used equipment connectivity standards. They have been written by technical experts who have participated in and led the standards development process for more than two decades.

• Introduction to the Standards: GEM (SECS/GEM) – SEMI E5, E30, E37
• Introduction to the Standards: GEM300 – E40, E87, E90, E94, E116, E148, E157
• Introduction to the Standards: EDA/Interface A – E120, E125, E132, E134, E164 (and others)
• Introduction to the Standards: PV2 (PVECI)
• Introduction to the Standards: Implementing GEM and PV2
• SECS Messaging Primer

Be sure to stop by our Resource Center any time or download the white papers directly from the links in this posting.

It's time to meet the folks that keep Cimetrix running - our Front Office team! Meet Brice Laris, Human Resources Manager at Cimetrix.

Read on to learn a little bit more about Brice

How long have you been working at Cimetrix? 

I've been at Cimetrix a little under a year.

What is your role at Cimetrix?

I am the Human Resources Manager.

What drew you to Cimetrix originally?

The opportunity to create a Human Resources organization for a company that had never needed one, but now did because of its growth. 

What do you enjoy most about the work you do?

The opportunity to train employees on the “soft skills” that help them to be successful. 

What do you find to be most challenging about your job?

Finding candidates that are a great fit for our specialized positions. At Cimetrix, we want talented people, who want a long term career, and who can exemplify our company’s core values of Integrity, Team, Growth and Clients. Finding one of those attributes is easy, two is challenging and three is down right difficult. But when you do find that great candidate and there is alignment between what we want and what the candidate wants, it is a great day!

What are your top 3 favorite movies and/or books?

Movies: 1. Independence Day, 2. all of the Star Trek movies JJ Abrams didn’t do, and 3. Hamlet 2.
Books: 1. Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn, 2. World War Z by Max Brooks, 3. Red Rising by Pierce Brown

What do you like to do in your free time?

Travel, especially to places where there is a beach or a Disney park. I also read about 24 books a year, play video games and take care of my three cats. 

SEMICON China 2019 is fast approaching and we will be there! You can read about it now in English or below in Simplified Chinese!

Shanghai is the best place to be March 20 – 22 as it welcomes SEMICON China, Productronica China and more this year in the Shanghai New International Expo Centre. Cimetrix will be attending SEMICON China for our fourth straight year and we hope to see many of you there! Please drop by booth #N4- 4284 any time during the expo!

China is a growing market for the industry and for Cimetrix! We have expanded our office to better serve our customers as we expand throughout the region and we believe SEMICON China is the perfect place to come together with our current customers and many of the industry leaders.

The main focus of SEMICON China is to further the development of the China semiconductor and related emerging industries. You will see high-level executives from the semiconductor industry and others showcase their products and give presentations during this three-day show.

As we prepare for the show, we welcome any meeting requests by clicking the button below. Or you can always drop by our booth at any time. We hope to meet you there!

3月20日至22日，上海新国际博览中心将迎来本年度的SEMICON China、Productronica China等诸多盛会。Cimetrix将连续第四年参加SEMICON China，我们诚挚的邀请您展会期间莅临N4-4284展位交流，由衷的希望能在那里见到各位!

对于整个半导体行业和Cimetrix来说，中国是一个不断增长的市场! 随着Cimetrix在全球规模的不断扩张，我们已经拓展了我们的办公区域，以更好地服务于我们的客户。我们相信，SEMICON China是与我们的客户和许多行业领导者相聚的完美地方。

SEMICON China的主要目标是进一步发展中国半导体及相关新兴产业。在为期三天的展会上，您将看到来自半导体行业和其他行业的高层管理人员展示他们的产品并发表演讲。

作为为展会做的准备，我们欢迎任何会议请求，点击下面的按钮。或者您可以随时莅临我们的展位。我们很希望在那里见到您!

Our 2019 has started with a bang! First with CES (Consumer Electronics Show) at the beginning of January, rapidly followed by APEX at the end of the same month. What intrigues me is that the ingredient technologies promoted as essential to the success of autonomous driving, smart homes and smart cities at CES, are exactly the same as those discussed as enablers for smart manufacturing at APEX. The drive for Industry 4.0, like the drive for the digital transformation of our lives, will be built on connectivity, on data and, of course, on the actionable intelligence that is derived from that data.

At APEX, I spent a lot of my time listening to speakers, talking to our customers and prospects and sharing my own ideas with industry luminaries on panels. The story is extremely consistent. The fundamental need in the short term is to get everything in the factory, and in fact throughout the entire manufacturing ecosystem, connected and digitized. What is less consistent is the approach to doing that, with many making a simple process much more complex than it needs to be.One element which, to my mind, is creating unnecessary inertia, is the debate around standards. Within the industry there is considerable debate around the new standards. Whilst some great work has been done, and in many ways it is a fine example of how IPC can bring the industry together, the whole debate has made a simple task more complex than needed. Many users are asking which standard to use, do I need one or multiple, what machines connect to which standard and when will all the new standards be available everywhere?

Yes, the new standards could be good, but it certainly isn’t the only good standard, and it will take a long time to develop, debug, adopt and implement. The suppliers in the industry along with a few MES providers are quite animated about the new standards, but the EMS companies and OEMs making product as well as the PCB fabricators, and of course the semiconductor industry, are less excited. Many of them have existing communications standards like GEM, ELS, etc., that work perfectly well. Others have legacy machines that would need additional hardware and software to connect to new standards, but have some existing and functioning communications protocol.

The truth is connectivity should be simpler, and it can be. The semiconductor industry has been through this entire experience over the last two decades and many companies have successfully connected thousands of machines from hundreds of vendors in dozens of facilities in many countries. At Cimetrix, we have been working with them and have been delivering simple, scalable, economic connectivity solutions as well as the layers of analysis and intelligence that are built on top of that.

My advice to anyone starting their smart factory journey is to get the digitization and connectivity done and move onto building the digital building blocks of analytics and intelligence as well as value as quickly as possible. The inertia caused by worrying about standards is counter-productive and could cause companies to be left behind. They could also remain in the Proof-of-Concept purgatory forever.

One of the pleasing things about the debates and discussions related to smart factory at APEX is the willingness of vendors to collaborate. Most, if not all, recognize that smart factory solutions won’t come from a single vendor. Machine makers are also realizing that their deep domain knowledge combined with data manipulation only delivers part of the value and the way that data is shared on the line and beyond is where additional performance benefits can be found. There are now dozens of partnerships between the machines that collect data and those that use data, some in a closed loop but more recently in a manner that makes data available to whoever can derive value from it. These open communications and data formats will deliver real value in the future and make smart manufacturing a reality across the whole supply chain, from sand to phone.

There is a universal awareness that this digitization will drive a huge growth in data volumes. Many see cloud and hybrid cloud solutions as an important part of the data storage mix. Huge amounts of data also need manipulation and vendors are betting on AI (Artificial Intelligence) to help manage the data and derive real value.

It’s fascinating to see the ingredient technologies of the smart cities, smart homes and smart living, finding their way into smart factories and it will be exciting to see how the PCB and SMT industries utilize these huge leaps in progress driven by the consumer electronics world.

(This post first ran on EMSnow.com on February 14, 2019.)