KUKA Systems GmbH verwendet SPS-Adapter von acp-IT für durchgehende SEMI-PV02 konforme Anlagenschnittstelle in seiner schlüsselfertigen Modulfertigung

23.April 2010, GERMANY – KUKA Systems GmbH, einer der weltweit führenden Hersteller von schlüsselfertigen hoch automatisierten Photovoltaik Fertigungslinien, verwendet den InFrame Synapse SPS-Adapter der acp-IT AG, um durchgängig Anlagenschnittstellen konform zum SEMI-PV02 Standard anzubieten.

InFrame Synapse SPS-Adapter (engl. PLC-Adapter, programmable logic controller) ist die ideale Lösung für Anlagen-Hersteller in der Photovoltaik Industrie, die auf Basis ihrer SPS eine SEMI-PV02 konformen Anlagenschnittstelle zu einem MES System zur Verfügung stellen möchten. Die schnelle, einfache und dennoch kostengünstige Lösung InFrame Synapse SPS-Adapter eignet sich sowohl für kleine einfache Anlagen, bis hin zu komplexeren Cluster-Tools. Der Adapter kann für Prozessanlagen sowie für Messanlagen eingesetzt werden.

Der Vorteil für den Anlagenhersteller ist, dass er sich nicht mit dem SEMI-PV02 Standard im Detail auseinander setzen muss, und sich auf seine Kernkompetenz der Automatisierung durch die SPS konzentrieren kann.

“InFrame Synapse SEMI-PV02 SPS-Adapter ermöglichte uns innerhalb kürzester Zeit unsere Anlagenschnittstellen auf den Standard SEMI-PV02 aufzurüsten. Wir haben acp-IT ausgewählt, um neben den leistungsstarken Softwarekomponenten in jeder Situation einen kompetenten Ansprechpartner für unsere MES-Umfänge zu haben, von ersten Integrationen bis hin zur Inbetriebnahme. In Zusammenarbeit mit acp-IT ist die KUKA Systems in der Lage, ihren Kunden eine leistungsstärkere und flexiblere schlüsselfertige Fertigungsanlage incl. MES im PV-Bereich anzubieten (Markus Keese, Projektleiter Energy bei KUKA Systems GmbH).

Dr. Frank Frauenhoffer, Geschäftsführer von acp-IT legt außerdem dar “Wir sind stolz unsere schnell und einfach zu integrierendeSEMI-PV02 SPS-Adapter in die vollautomatisierte Modulfertigungslinie von KUKA Systems GmbH integrieren zu können. Dadurch steigern wie wesentlich die Marktpräsenz unserer Produktions-IT-Lösung InFrame Synapse PLC-Adapter, MES, sowie SPC. Wir glauben fest daran, dass wir zusammen mit KUKA Systems GmbH, die besten Produktionslösungen für eine optimale Fertigungseffizienz in Kombination mit professionellen Beratungsleistungen für den schnell wachsenden Photovoltaik-Markt anbieten können.”

Über acp-IT

acp-IT liefert spezialisierte Softwarelösungen für die Automatisierung von Hightech-Produktionsstätten und –Anlagen. Diese Lösungen tragen entscheidend dazu bei, die Produktionsprozesse unserer Kunden zu optimieren. Schwerpunkte des Produktportfolios sind Systeme zur Produktionsplanung und –steuerung (Manufacturing Execution Systeme, MES), Systeme zur Prozesskontrolle und –optimierung (Process Control Systeme, PCS) sowie Fabrik-Simulation von hochautomatisierten Produktionslinien.
www.acp-it.com

Über KUKA Systems GmbH

Die KUKA Systems GmbH, Geschäftsbereich der KUKA Aktiengesellschaft in Augsburg, ist ein internationaler Anbieter von flexiblen roboterbasierten Automationsanlagen für die Automotive-, Aerospace-, Energy- und General Industry.

Rund 3.780 Mitarbeiter weltweit arbeiten an Ideen, Konzepten und Lösungen für die automatisierte Produktion, sowie die Bereitstellung von Produkten und Dienstleistungen für nahezu alle Aufgaben bei der industriellen Verarbeitung von metallischen und nichtmetallischen Werkstoffen. Im Geschäftsfeld Energy bietet das Unternehmen Engineeringdienstleistungen, automatisierte Fertigungsmodule und komplette schlüsselfertige Produktionslinien für die Photovoltaik-, die Solarthermie-, die Windenergie-Branche. Über die Tochtergesellschaften und Vertriebsbüros in Europa, Amerika und Asien wird das Angebotsspektrum international präsentiert und vermarktet.

Für weitere Information wenden Sie sich bitte an:

acp-IT AG

Frank Bölstler, Leiter Vertrieb
Telefon: +49 (351) 20 78 18-0
Email: frank.boelstler(at)acp-it(dot)com

- oder -

KUKA Systems GmbH

Albert Vontz, Leiter Vertrieb Energy
Telefon: +49 (821) 797 1076
Email: Albert.Vontz(at)kuka(dot)de
http://www.kuka.com

9.04.2010: Die advanced clean production Information Technology AG (acp-IT) aus Stuttgart sowie das Dresdner Carl Zeiss Innovationszentrum für Messtechnik (Carl Zeiss IZfM) werden zukünftig ihre Aktivitäten im Photovoltaik-Markt bündeln. (...) Kern der Vereinbarung ist die Integration von PiWeb von Carl Zeiss in InFrame Synapse von acp-IT. PiWeb ermöglicht zusammen mit InFrame Synapse zeitnahe Auswertungen und Maßnahmen zur Ertragsoptimierung und Qualitätssicherung sowie automatisierte Lösungen zur Prozessregelung.

Die vollständige Pressemitteilung finden Sie auch im PHOTON-Archiv unter folgendem Link:
http://www.photon.de/newsletter/document/22584.pdf

The PLC-Connector of acp-IT is a new easy to use software product, which enhances your equipment PLC with a SEMI SECS communication interface. This enables the PLC to communicate to other host systems (e.g., MES) via SECS-II Protocol.

The internationally accepted SEMI PV02 standard describes the SECS Interface for any manufacturing equipment in the PV industry. The PLC-Connector implements the standard in a way that profound know-how about SEMI or interface programming skills are not necessary. You will learn easily the steps for integrating the PLC-connector into your PLC code. Thus, the effort for integration and maintenance will be reduced drastically.

SECS equipment interfaces are the market standard in the PV and SC industries. With the PLC-Connector of acp-IT you are able to implement it in a cost-efficient way.

Please contact mark.suntrup(at)acp-it(dot)com for more details. Information about upcoming product road show events in German language please refer to the news on our German home page. 

Registration:

Are you interested in? Then attend the cost-free "PLC-Connector product presentation" event on Monday, 26.4.2010 in the PRO[business center] in Stuttgart. You can download the flyer for the registration including the agenda here, or register under info(at)acp-it(dot)com.

Villach/Austria - acp-Information Technology GmbH participates in the Light Rolls – Consortium and InFrame Synapse Process Control System will be the contribution to the consortium.

Light-Rolls project takes care of cost efficient production for light modules. The EC funded project Light-Rolls was started by kick-off meeting at 7th of July 2009. The project focuses research and development of modular based production units for the seamless, high throughput manufacture of micro-structured, polymer based components and microsystems. The scientific objective aims to realize structures in the micron range and integrate also dies to be assembled in high-speed and parallel by benefit of self assembling. Nanoparticle dispersions used in fast conductive track printing technologies will allow the parallel generation of conductive lines.

These processes comprise the founding elements of the Light-Rolls technology platform with a roll-to-roll philosophy. The manufacturing modules will be integrable, exchangeable, with mechanical, fluidic and IT interfaces, to make it easy and cost efficient to adjust the sequence of process steps to the product to be produced. Beside the translation of processes for high-throughput manufacturing, high yield will be achieved by the application of advanced process control and production IT methods. Lines run without dangerous chemicals and use integrated recycling.

“Our contribution to the project of the consortium will be the InFrame Synapse Process Control System product, accordingly our deep experience in applied manufacturing process control and diagnostics, as well as our long years experience in equipment integration and respective standards in semiconductor and photovoltaics”, says Roland Willmann – Project Manager of the project on the side of acp-Information Technology GmbH. “The project is deepening our understanding for requirements and challenges in a high-tech printing process and more general in nano-technologies.”

For future products a Light-Rolls knowledge base for design for manufacturing will be elaborated. A pilot line will be set-up, tested for fabrication of flexible LED-display systems. Manufacture of other components like Lab-on-Chip or integration of new micro-energy storage components is possible in future to address needs of European industry. Project website www.light-rolls.eu with details about the project, the partners and the planed exploitation will be available in September.

For any requests please contact project office:
info(at)light-rolls(dot)eu; Prodintec dgf(at)prodintec(dot)com and microTEC info(at)microtec-d(dot)com

Light Rolls Partner: Prodintec Spain, microTEC Gesellschaft für Mikrotechnologie mbH Germany, Norbert Schläfli Maschinen Zofingen Switzerland, Centro Ricerche FIAT S.C.p.A. Italy, Design LED Products Ltd United Kingdom, acp-Information Technology GmbH Austria, Fraunhofer IPA Germany, Xaar Jet AB Sweden, microelectronica S.A. Romania;

Project is co-funded by European Community's Seventh Framework Programme under grant agreement n° CP-TP 228686

Press Release „Process Control and Manufacturing Efficiency“

acp-IT and Systema announce partnership in Manufacturing Efficiency

08/17/09, Stuttgart, GERMANY – acp-IT, a manufacturing solutions company, announce partnership with Systema GmbH, a manufacturing automation and system integration company, to support the solar industry in areas of manufacturing efficiency. This agreement extends acp-IT’s InFrame Synapse Process Control System (PCS) and Advanced Planning & Scheduling (APS) presence within Photovoltaic market.

InFrame Synapse PCS (Process Control System) software platform address yield improvement through rich functionalities in the areas of process control, process data collection and automated data correlation analysis, while the InFrame Synapse APS (Advanced Planning and Scheduling) is a powerful tool for short-, mid- or 
long-term planning of production line and equipment utilization.

Under the terms of the partnering agreement, Systema will provide distribution and integration support for the InFrame Synapse Process Control System (PCS) and Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) solution worldwide. In addition, acp-IT will be able to enhance their delivery portfolio with the long-years experienced integration service portfolio of Systema GmbH.

“InFrame Synapse PCS & APS System provides the best solution on the market for our customers to master with the increasing IT requirements of continuously growing production volumes while driving down product costs. We believe that in collaborating with acp-IT, we are able to offer a more complete, integrated solution than available on the market today”,said Manfred Austen, CEO of Systema GmbH.

Dr. Frank Frauenhoffer, CEO of acp-IT stated in addition: “Together with Systema GmbH we will increase the market presence of our InFrame Synapse production-IT solutions. In addition we are able to enhance our integration and project capacities with the experts from Systema GmbH if necessary. We strongly believe that together with Systema offer the best solutions for manufacturing efficiency in combination with professional services for the fast growing Photovoltaic market”.

About acp-IT

acp-IT provides with its InFrame Synapse product family IT-solutions for PV industry and other automation of high-tech production sites and equipment. These solutions make a substantial contribution to the optimization of our clients' production processes. Focus of acp-IT’s product portfolio are systems for production planning and control (Manufacturing Execution Systems, MES), systems for process control and –optimization (Process Control Systems, PCS) as well as fab simulation of highly automated production lines.


www.acp-it.com
pcs.acp-it.com

About Systema GmbH

SYSTEMA GmbH is a recognized leader in manufacturing system integration for the semiconductor and PV industry. SYSTEMA'S product and service portfolio has a proven track record to significantly reduce IT's TCO, manufacturing operating cost, and help avoid capital expenditure while maintaining the system flexibility required in today's ever changing business environment.


www.systemagmbh.de

For more information, please contact:
Frank Bölstler, Branch Manager
Phone: +49 (351) 20 78 18-0
Email: frank.boelstler(at)acp-it(dot)com
https://www.acp-it.com
https://www.acp-it.com
-or-
Ricco Walter, Senior Manager Sales & Marketing
Phone: +49 (351) 88 24 - 615
Email: ricco.walter(at)systemagmbh(dot)de
http://www.systemagmbh.de

Press Release „Duality Principle Partnership“

acp-IT and Duality Principle announce partnership to support the solar industry in North America.

3/23/09, AUSTIN, TX -- Duality Principle Consulting (“Duality Principle”), a recognized leader in Agile Architecture and known for delivering innovative framework-centric manufacturing solutions, announced partnership with acp-IT, a manufacturing solutions and consulting company. This agreement extends acp-IT’s expanding presence within Photovoltaic (PV) manufacturing.

Under the terms of the partnering agreement, Duality Principle will provide distribution and local integration support for the Synapse product suite within North America. In addition, acp-IT will be able to enhance their delivery portfolio with the Agile Architecture and Operational Efficiency services within Europe.

The Synapse MES (Manufacturing Execution System) software platform has rich functionalities in the areas of production planning and control for high-tech manufacturing while the SynapsePCS (Process Control System) is a powerful tool for process data collection and analysis. The Synapse Simulation product facilitates real time modeling of any production flow or business process, enabling customers planning and optimization potential for any size manufacturing line.

“We are excited about our industry reference models for the clean energy segment. We are very impressed with InFrame Synapse and believe that in collaborating with acp-IT, we are able to offer a more complete, integrated solution than available on the market today”, said Marcus Turner, CEO of Duality Principle. Dr. Frank Frauenhoffer, CEO of acp-IT stated in addition: “Together with Duality Principle we are able to significantly increase our presence in US. The experts from Duality Principle are an ideal partner for us bringing in profound skills and knowledge in the high-tech production domain. We strongly believe that together with Duality Principle we are able to offer the best production solutions and professional services for the North American Photovoltaic market”.

About acp-IT

acp-IT, headquartered in Stuttgart Germany, supports your planning and production processes with professional IT solutions. Our expert knowledge helps you in optimizing your production processes.

www.acp-it.com

About Duality Principle

Duality Principle, an Austin based company, promotes business innovation by seamlessly integrating people, processes and technology. Guiding overall design and integration of wellarchitected solutions, they enable clients to achieve greater business agility and tightly couple strategic initiatives with the overall business vision.

www.dualityprinciple.com

For more information, please contact:
Gene Fojtik, Practice Principle
Phone: +1.512.293.4596
Email: gene(at)dualityprinciple(dot)com/a>
http://dualityprinciple.com
-or-
Michael Kurz, Practice Principle
Phone: +49.177.42.48.105
Email: michael.kurz(at)acp-it(dot)com
https://www.acp-it.com

Press Release „Concentrix MES Implementation“

MES InFrame Synapse of acp-IT AG was successfully implemented at Concentrix Solar Freiburg

Concentrix Solar GmbH has successfully implemented the Manufacturing Execution System (MES) InFrame Synapse of acp-IT AG within their fully automated Concentrator PV production line.

Since September 2008 Concentrix Solar manufactures its FLATCON® Concentrator Modules within a new fully automated production line with a yearly production capacity of 25 Megawatt (MW) in Freiburg. Building, infrastructure and MES are sized to be expanded quickly to 100 MW.

Quality and precision are of the highest importance in the production of CPV modules. Therefore Concentrix Solar pays very close attention to its QA and relies on the use of a powerful MES system. The connection of all relevant production equipment to InFrame Synapse MES of acp-IT AG enables Concentrix Solar to record all product and process data within a central database system.

The seamless tracking of all products and all assigned process data is thereby assured. Various analysis calculations to monitor process stability, material and product tracking as well as equipment availability can be visualized on-line at any time or alternatively be created as report. The continuous and transparent display of equipment, line and fab productivity reveals bottlenecks fast and reliable. These can afterwards be recovered promptly.

The product family InFrame Synapse MES, PCS and Equipment Integration of acp-IT AG is based on a completely modular Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). It gives customers the possibility to cope with the increasing IT requirements of a continuously growing production line. This covers increasing production capacity as well as increasingly required functionality.

“We have chosen acp-IT AG as Turn-Key MES vendor for our mass production out of several other competitors, since acp-IT was optimally capable to deliver a complete MES service and product package to Concentrix Solar. The project execution was performed with a minimum of effort required from Concentrix Solar. Specific strengths of InFrame Synapse are in the area of a powerful product and process data collection and –analysis. Finally acp-IT convinced us by a quite attractive cost/performance ratio.”
Karl Friedrich Haarburger, COO, Concentrix Solar GmbH.

At the trade fair Photon 2009, Hall C1 Booth M15, acp-IT AG presents its complete
InFrame Synapse product family.

• InFrame Synapse MES, Manufacturing Execution System
• InFrame Synapse PCS, Process Control and Analysis
• InFrame Synapse EI, Framework for Equipment Integration
• InFrame Synapse PV Simulation, Fab Simulation for photovoltaic production lines

About acp-IT

acp-IT delivers specialized software solutions for automation of high-tech production sites and equipment. These solutions make a substantial contribution to the optimization of our clients' production processes. Focus of acp-IT’s product portfolio are systems for production planning and control (Manufacturing Execution Systems, MES), systems for process control and –optimization (Process Control Systems, PCS) as well as fab simulation of highly automated production lines.

www.acp-it.com

About Concentrix Solar

Concentrix Solar GmbH was founded in February 2005 as a spin-off company of the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE in Freiburg, Germany. Concentrix Solar manufactures concentrator power plants for sunny locations. Using a Fresnel lens, sunlight is concentrated 500 times and focused onto a small highly-efficient solar cell. These solar cells convert the concentrated light directly into electrical energy. With this technology, system efficiencies of 23 percent are possible – this is almost twice as high as the efficiencies reached with conventional silicon technology.

For its FLATCON® technology, Concentrix Solar GmbH was awarded the Innovation Award of the German Economy 2007 in the category of “Start-Up Companies”. Since September 2008, Concentrix Solar operates an automated production line in Freiburg, Germany with an annual production capacity of 25 MW for manufacturing the concentrator modules.

www.concentrix-solar.de

Frank Bölstler accompanies as speaker the Photovoltaic workgroup of the Silicon Saxony eV.

acp-IT and Systema announce partnership in Manufacturing Efficiency. read more...