New Systems Lets Semiconductor Fabs Automate Factory Control Procedures
INFICON, a provider of process monitoring systems to the global semiconductor industry, and LogicNets, the developer of the LogicNets expert system automation platform, has announced the general availability of the INFICON FabGuard eOCAP software solution built on the LogicNets platform. The FabGuard eOCAP (electronic Out-of-Control Action Plan) system allows semiconductor plants to rapidly automate their own proprietary and sophisticated procedures for reacting to unplanned events in the manufacturing process, as well as managing regular procedures and workflows. The system replaces the use of unstructured documents, intelligently routes users to critical reference materials, and records and reports on the actions taken to mediate each scenario. Customers are able to design and model their own action plans, provide automation and integration into existing factory systems, and expand the system to meet their ever growing and changing needs.
"Adding an eOCAP product to the INFICON portfolio is a logical extension to the FabGuard Fault Detection and Classification product family. Working with LogicNets has allowed INFICON to bring a robust solution to market quickly that is well integrated with other INFICON solutions, said Peter Maier, President of INFICON Inc.," FabGuard eOCAP helps organizations move beyond traditional knowledge repositories, interactively helping non-experts find and apply the right knowledge through relevant and properly sequenced multi-step processes.
"LogicNets has been a critical factor in helping us add automated OCAP to our offering," said Maier. "We needed a platform that would allow us to take our unmatched experience in identifying potential failures and other important events and use it to help our customers automate the procedures they would otherwise be managing manually or in an isolated manner."
"INFICON and its customers exemplify the growing demand for expert system design platforms," said Jelle Ferwerda, founder and CEO of LogicNets. "The LogicNets software platform allowed INFICON to create a robust application within only a matter of months that could properly structure OCAP knowledge, integrate it to pre-existing automation through FabGuard, and allow their customers to efficiently incorporate their own proprietary know-how into an interactive system."