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With the official introduction of the U.S. CHIPS and Science Act, the key battlefield of global semiconductor industry competition has further extended to the manufacturing field. Production management software systems, which play a core role in this area, have garnered more attention from semiconductor manufacturers.

At the same time, as semiconductor production automation and intelligence levels further improve, semiconductor manufacturers have raised higher requirements for the capabilities of production management software systems.

#01

MES is important, but MES is not everything

As a typical technology-intensive manufacturing industry, semiconductor manufacturing features multiple product types, short cycles, and high batch counts. Its production processes are highly complex and precise, with fast updates and information changes, high production costs, and stringent yield requirements. This necessitates finer management of the production process, making the support of a Manufacturing Execution System (MES) more critical than in other industries. By precisely controlling personnel, materials, equipment, processes, data collection, and order management, MES enhances production scheduling and strengthens process monitoring.

Therefore, traditionally, MES has always been the focus for semiconductor manufacturers and software service providers.

Taking Grentech as an example, its MES, built on proprietary technology and tailored to semiconductor production characteristics, offers highly integrated, precise, and traceable production execution systems. In addition to comprehensive and advanced conventional functions, it also boasts the following advantages:

More transparent planning, more controllable delivery

Achieves transparent production management, shortening the manufacturing cycle by approximately 35%

Timely exception response

Rapid reaction to production, quality, and equipment exceptions, improving efficiency and reducing losses through real-time scheduling

Improved production quality

Precise data collection, controllable quality, full-process quality monitoring, and traceability ensured with barcodes

Real-time analysis, cost reduction

Through analysis and improvement, optimizes capacity, reduces consumption, shortens production cycles, and lowers overall costs

As semiconductor manufacturing processes and quality requirements continue to rise, more manufacturers realize that maximizing MES value requires more than a single system. This poses challenges for specialized MES service providers.

In contrast, providers like Grentech, with full-process, full-stack solution and service capabilities, offer comprehensive CIM (Computer Integrated Manufacturing) solutions including MES. This approach more effectively addresses key production challenges and is gaining wider industry recognition.

For example, a chip manufacturer relying entirely on manual experience for multi-factory, multi-workshop production management, quality control, and process optimization faced severe constraints on capacity expansion. Efficiency and quality improvements could not meet expansion demands. Manual data export from production, measurement, and inspection equipment resulted in heavy workloads, allowing only basic analysis of efficiency losses and quality issues, with further analysis impossible.

To address these complex challenges, Grentech provided a semiconductor CIM solution. The first phase included six systems: MES, EAP, RMS, SPC, WMS, and reporting, enabling full-process traceability from raw material crystal pulling to finished product assembly. MES & EAP achieved automatic equipment networking, and a multi-tenant MES enabled 'one factory' and 'one set of data' management across multiple workshops and business types, increasing management efficiency by 20% and reducing labor costs by over 30%. The collaboration between MES and EAP reached the industry-advanced level of smart factory Auto Level-1.

#02

CIM: Maximizing the Effectiveness of Semiconductor MES

In many industries, MES is considered the 'brain' of factory production. However, in the highly automated semiconductor industry, the CIM system is recognized as the fab's 'central brain,' key to maximizing MES effectiveness. CIM integrates critical modules such as MES, equipment management systems, statistical process control, advanced process control, fault detection and classification, and yield management systems. It spans key chip production stages including production execution, operations, and control, while managing equipment and factory personnel.

From a holistic perspective, CIM truly meets the complex, multi-dimensional needs of semiconductor enterprises, further enhancing MES capabilities and performance with multi-system support.

Xu Lei, Chief Consultant of Grentech Semiconductor CIM, pointed out:

"As the industry has developed, the complexity of chip production processes has grown exponentially, and workflows have lengthened, driving fabs to pursue breakthroughs and innovations in advanced processes. This places higher demands on the intelligence of CIM systems and the refinement of their functions, highlighting the value of CIM systems.

Grentech's next-generation Industry 4.0 smart factory for the semiconductor industry uses intelligent software to make equipment smarter and process control more precise, breaking through traditional automation bottlenecks. It helps mature process production lines increase capacity and reduce production time, while for advanced processes, it enhances product performance and optimizes production and process design."

As a cross-industry platform originating from China's semiconductor manufacturing sector, Grentech's self-developed CIM solution integrates key systems including MES, EAP, SPC, APC, FDC, and YMS. It achieves dynamic equipment management, precise logistics management, efficient planning coordination, transparent production execution, and accurate quality traceability. It enables end-to-end data and system integration and intelligent management from planning to procurement and manufacturing, showcasing industry-leading core technical strength and empowerment capabilities.

At the recent World Semiconductor Conference, Grentech's CIM solution won the 'Chip Power' product award for its outstanding comprehensive technical strength, making it the only semiconductor software product to receive this recognition.

Currently, Grentech's semiconductor customers span semiconductor materials, wafer manufacturing, packaging and testing, and semiconductor equipment. Its full-process, full-stack smart factory products and solutions use new technologies to reconstruct traditional software architectures, better supporting high-concurrency, low-latency, and precise business scenarios. They excel in integrating numerous complex, non-native systems.