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March 3, 2025

VIEWPOINT 2025: Alan Weber, Vice President of New Product Innovations, Cimetrix Connectivity Group by PDF Solutions



VIEWPOINT 2025: Alan Weber, Vice President of New Product Innovations, Cimetrix Connectivity Group by PDF Solutions
Alan Weber, Vice President of New Product Innovations, Cimetrix Connectivity Group by PDF Solutions
Cimetrix by PDF Solutions develops factory automation software used by some of the most expensive factories globally that must collect real-time data on a massive scale and get it to where it can be analyzed and acted upon. Software tools like fault detection and classification (FDC), feedforward/feedback process control, yield analysis and prediction, and schedule optimization enable semiconductor and electronics manufacturers to extract not just data, but genuine intelligence from their factory floors to build ultra-reliable integrated circuits and electronics systems.

In these highly competitive industries, software platforms that encapsulate manufacturing knowledge are increasingly essential for bringing up and running their factories with the required quality, yield, throughput, productivity, cost, and other key performance indices (KPIs).

And this is just the beginning. In the near future, factories will be run like data centers where Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) technologies will be used to accelerate the process of developing accurate analytical models. It will connect them to the sources and destinations of manufacturing information and automate many operational decisions that now require human intervention. This approach is also being heralded under a new label: manufacturing "digital twins."

One important aspect of this solution approach is ChatGPT-like functionality embedded in our manufacturing software products through which users can incorporate large language models (LLMs) and apply algorithms that help them feed equipment-specific data into the models. Once the software platform is connected to a machine, it automatically creates a model, identifies the important state transitions that may occur, and what kind of data should be collected at those points.

The resulting data can be streamed to its users (applications and people) in real time at lower cost and better suited for its immediate use that traditional "just in case" data collection schemes. Because everything is time-stamped, data from multiple sources can easily be merged, allowing the results of complex analysis tasks to be ready in, say, six hours rather than six months. This improvement in the "cycles of learning" enables manufacturing operations staff in many domains more quickly understand how their equipment and factories will work.

Such a transformation is long overdue as users must handle an immense amount of data generated in modern factories. Managing this data is a huge challenge as specific solution applications may start with a modest proof of concept before scaling to 20 machines, then to 100 machines, and eventually to more than 4,000 machines.

In parallel, these systems may be required to collect and manage data across multiple geographies from many factories of different types, capacities, and levels of IT sophistication. Even with the latest emerging generations of system technology at one's disposal, this is not a journey for the faint of heart.

Alan Weber, Vice President of New Product Innovations
Cimetrix Connectivity Group by PDF Solutions
https://www.cimetrix.com/
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