Software manages engineering changes in semiconductor fabs.
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Press Release Summary:
ENGINEERINGworks integrates planning, product, process, and tool data across internal and external manufacturing and engineering supply chains. Its 3-tier Client-Application-Data architecture delivers all content over Web. Users can explore data with data mining and analysis methods to resolve problems with planned and unplanned engineering changes. Software provides reporting, analysis, and collaboration capabilities.
Original Press Release:
Brooks-PRI Automation and SAS® Introduce Engineeringworks, the First Software that Manages Engineering Change to Improve Yield, Quality and Performance in Semiconductor Fabs
Software could help semiconductor manufacturers save millions of dollars
CHELMSFORD, MA -- Brooks-PRI Automation Inc. (NASDAQ: BRKS), which delivers total automation for semiconductor manufacturing, today introduced an innovative new software solution designed specifically for semiconductor fabs. ENGINEERINGworks, infused with domain expertise from Brooks-PRI and powered by the data mining, data warehousing and analytical software of SAS, the market leader in business intelligence, helps semiconductor manufacturers improve yield, quality and performance by helping to manage the effects of frequent engineering change driven by aggressive technology and product roadmaps.
Examples of factors driving such engineering changes are feature size reductions, adoption of better interconnect technologies and larger wafer sizes. The trend toward decentralized manufacturing has further raised the risks related to engineering change. The speed with which these changes can be managed, and with which any associated manufacturing problems are resolved, can have a tremendous impact on a semiconductor manufacturer's bottom line.
Brooks-PRI's solution to this challenge, ENGINEERINGworks, is the result of many years of development and conversations with customers who sought a solution for integrating engineering and manufacturing data, analysis, reporting and collaboration. By integrating all of the data engineers need to access to understand and solve problems - including planning, product, process and tool data - ENGINEERINGworks enables customers to solve a broad range of engineering issues. These include: finding a problem root cause; characterizing a new product design code; qualifying a new resist vendor; qualifying a new tool; identifying the drivers for increased product performance; improving preventive maintenance schedules; reducing monitor wafers; eliminating optical inspection and many more.
With ENGINEERINGworks, engineers can explore comprehensive data with a rich set of data mining and analysis methods to resolve problems associated with planned and unplanned engineering changes in the semiconductor fabrication process, and also manage the complexities of outsourced manufacturing.
Brooks-PRI and SAS formed an industry-exclusive partnership in April to combine SAS' data warehousing and advanced analytics expertise with Brooks-PRI's domain expertise. "Together, Brooks-PRI and SAS and have created a unique and compelling solution to the long-standing semiconductor industry problem of data integration," said Jeff Cassis, senior vice president of Brooks-PRI's FAB Systems Division. "We believe that by enabling companies to rapidly address engineering and yield-limiting problems, ENGINEERINGworks has the potential to save semiconductor companies millions of dollars each year."
ENGINEERINGworks is capable of integrating data across internal and external manufacturing and engineering supply chains. In addition to providing an integrated view of manufacturing and engineering data, the software provides rich reporting, analysis and collaboration capabilities enabling the fullest range of engineering issues to be resolved promptly and effectively. ENGINEERINGworks is a multi-site solution that works equally well for vertically integrated and non-vertically integrated companies. The modern 3-tier "Client-Application-Data" architecture delivers all content over the Web and is simple to deploy, use and maintain.
About Brooks-PRI Automation, Inc.
Brooks-PRI (NASDAQ: BRKS) delivers total automation. The company's hardware, software and services can manage every wafer, reticle and data movement in the fab, helping semiconductor manufacturers accelerate time-to-market while reducing their risk. Brooks-PRI products can be found in virtually every fab in the world. For information, visit www.brooks-pri.com.
About SAS
SAS is the market leader in providing a new generation of business intelligence software and services that create true enterprise intelligence. SAS solutions are used at more than 38,000 sites - including 99 of the top 100 businesses on the Fortune 500 - to develop more profitable relationships with customers and suppliers; to enable better, more accurate and informed decisions; and to drive organizations forward. SAS is the only vendor that completely integrates leading data warehousing, analytics and traditional BI applications to create intelligence from massive amounts of data. For more than 25 years, SAS has been giving customers around the world The Power to Know. Visit www.sas.com.
"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: The foregoing discussion contains forward-looking statements related to future financial results and speaks only of the Company's expectations as of the date of this press release. The forward-looking statements involve several known and unknown risks and uncertainties including, without limitation, risks relating to the benefits of the merger of PRI Automation Systems, Inc., into Brooks Automation, Inc. ("the Company") the continued success of the combined Brooks-PRI Automation, Inc. (the "Company") in the marketplace, the Company's ability to capitalize on PRI Automation's technology, the financial contribution of the acquired business, the ease of integrating PRI Automation into the Company, the Company's dependence on the cyclical semiconductor industry, the highly competitive nature and rapid technological change that characterize the industries in which the Company competes, and other risks and uncertainties described in the Company's reports and registration statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. As a result, there can be no assurance that the Company's future results will not be materially different from those projected. The Company expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any such statement to reflect any change in the Company's expectations or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based.
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