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Fabmatics

Analytics Platform for Optimal Robot Performance

Due to the global chip shortage, it is essential to use the existing production capacities in an optimal way for maximum output. Automation specialist Fabmatics, headquartered in Dresden, Germany, supplies semiconductor manufacturers worldwide with handling robots. These autonomous robotic systems transport the wafers, which are later used to manufacture chips, to the individual stations in the clean room. In order to further optimize these highly complex logistics processes, Fabmatics would like to offer its customers digital services for process monitoring in the future. In a joint project, Fabmatics, T-Systems MMS, the Smart Systems Hub and Wandelbots developed the prototype for a cloud-based data management platform.


Customer Benefit


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Prospective expansion of the Fabmatic portfolio to include new digital services

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Offer technology and analysis service from a single source

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Conclusions for the optimization and further development of the transport robots

  • Martin Däumler, Group Manager Product Development & System Integration, Fabmatics

    „Our customers are actively asking for these solutions. The higher the level of automation, the more important it becomes to have an overview of the systems - for this we need usable data. We are therefore excited about this opportunity to work with the Smart Systems Hub innovation network to advance the digital agenda. Thanks to the agile co-working methods in the Digital-Product-Factory and the expertise of our project partners T-Systems MMS and Wandelbots, we learned to create results at high speed and mastered the challenge."


Reference Summary


Task

Task

Develop approaches for new digital customer service based on existing data.

 

Solution

Solution

First prototype of a cloud-based data management platform.

 

Benefits

Result

Transparency of all condition data, blueprint for further product development.

 

  • Requirements

    Data analysis for more efficient chip production

    Fabmatics' complex products generate a large amount of data that has not yet been used systematically. In the future, Fabmatics intends to digitally capture, aggregate and evaluate this data in a targeted manner in order to be able to offer its customers additional services. Customers of Fabmatics can thus be offered additional added value in the future in order to be able to monitor processes in an even more targeted manner. On the other hand, Fabmatics intends to use the available database to create new, usage-based business models in the future, for which Big Data and Machine Learning applications will also be used.
    As part of the "Digital Product Factory" co-innovation format, the team of experts took on the challenge of designing the prototype of an IoT infrastructure that provides and analyzes data for robots in the HERO®FAB product group within three months. In addition to Fabmatics, the robotics specialist Wandelbots and the Smart Systems Hub, T-Systems MMS was involved in this project, contributing its many years of expertise in Industrial IoT projects and its integration know-how in cloud architectures and in relation to Amazon Web Services (AWS) technology stacks.

  • Solution

    Prototype monitors Robot-Performance

    In order to tackle the extremely complex task in a targeted manner, the Smart Systems Hub provided a "method suitcase" consisting of design thinking and SCRUM methods. To begin with, the team of experts first analyzed the current situation to determine the appropriate technologies. Subsequently, different options for data processing and analysis as well as the use of cloud-based applications were examined. With the insights gained, the subject matter experts developed an initial prototype for a cloud-based AWS platform that can automatically manage data using a time series database. Open source components were used to make it easier to adapt the platform to new requirements at a later date. Plotly Dash is used as the front-end technology to make data science and machine learning components easily accessible to the user.
    The Minimal Viable Product (MVP) jointly created by the project team comprises a functional cloud infrastructure that can ingest, process, analyze and present a wide variety of data formats from a wide range of sensors and controllers in different user perspectives.

  • Benefit

    Smart services as a new business area

    With the idea of a cloud-based data management platform, Fabmatics also intends to position itself as an innovative service provider in the foreseeable future. Accordingly, the automation specialist wants to show its customers that it is working intensively on future topics such as robot performance monitoring and is continuing to think about its portfolio in the direction of cloudification, smart services, machine learning and advanced analytics.
    On the other hand, the first draft of a "digital twin" enables Fabmatics' product management to draw valuable conclusions for the optimization and further development of its transport and handling robots. Adaptation for other Fabmatics products is also planned.
    For their part, Fabmatics customers should in future be able to use the data management platform to gain maximum transparency over all the Fabmatic robot's status data and thus tap into new potential for optimizing their capacities, processes and material flow.
    The expertise of T-Systems MMS will be called upon again in a follow-up project, which is expected to begin before the end of 2023.

About Fabmatics

Fabmatics GmbH, headquartered in Dresden, has been implementing customer-specific automation projects in the semiconductor industry for over 30 years, as well as for companies in the electronics, medical technology, pharmaceutical and photovoltaics sectors. The product range includes hardware and software for the automation of handling, transport and storage processes as well as solutions for product identification and localization - all under the special conditions of the cleanroom. Around 250 people work for customers in the high-tech industry at the sites in Dresden and the USA.



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