How do you manage a semiconductor production facility? Most people in the chip industry would say: with semiconductor MES. With its complex processes and products that cannot be clearly seen with the naked human eye, the semiconductor industry began broadly adopting MES in the 1980s and 1990s.
And therein lies the problem. The systems that many semiconductor professionals know – and some still use – are completely outdated. This guest blog post by Julie Fraser points out that just as the semiconductor industry has changed radically, so has the software available to support it. She argues it is time for redefining semiconductor MES.
The new definition encompasses many new changes in four categories:
- Functionality
- Integration and data availability
- Configuration and scalability
- Solution partner experience
Functionality is both broader and deeper than legacy MES. A modern system can handle both fab and backend, and is both broader and deeper than previous systems. Analytics are, of course, also much more advanced.
Integration is also radically more comprehensive. With an equipment layer and built-in integration to both lower-level systems and enterprise systems.
The MES also becomes more of an enterprise-ready system with configurability and scalability. Most semiconductor companies with legacy MES have dozens of programmers to support the system and keep it useful. Redefined semiconductor MES does not need that.
Semiconductor MES is a topic Julie has been following for about 30 years. Redefining semiconductor MES is essential to support the next 30 years of semiconductor progress. Read the entire guest blog post here on Eyelit.
Thank you, Eyelit, for giving us an opportunity to express our views on this!