MATT MOHR, Product Manager – Components, Omron
Growth of the semiconductor industry over the last decade has been staggering, driven by the increased demand for digital technology in our lives. From smart phones and watches to cars and trucks packed with advanced driving aids, semiconductors are required for almost every modern electronic device. The shift towards a digital lifestyle has brought many benefits, but it’s also bringing new challenges with respect to the environment. Achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 is the ultimate goal shared by most companies, but is it possible while also ramping up production to meet growing demand? How will the semiconductor industry reduce their carbon footprint without impacting business goals?
Semiconductor manufacturing is a resource intensive operation, requiring gargantuan amounts of energy and water. Recent data shows that many major players in the semiconductor industry now have a larger carbon footprint than most major automotive companies. In some cases, a semiconductor manufacturing facility can produce up to twice the output of hazardous waste when compared to an automotive plant. Taming this large growing carbon footprint will be no easy feat, but with advancements in technology, we can now increase the efficiency of semiconductor production facilities, reducing the overall carbon footprint while meeting business goals by augmenting existing machines with new technology.
Enter Predictive Maintenance technology, an evolution of the methods used to maintain the modern manufacturing facility. In the past, facilities employed a reactive maintenance strategy where failures were addressed after they occur, which puts a heavy burden on both the business and environment. This strategy creates more machine downtime caused by equipment failure, leading to inefficient use of energy, loss of quality, and defective products. Today facilities use a preventative maintenance strategy where failures are prevented through excessive maintenance and business is prioritized at the expense of the environment. The environmental toll from preventative maintenance is created through frequent downtime for routine maintenance, and additional waste production from equipment being replaced prematurely. Neither of these approaches are optimal, and both introduce inefficiencies that create more waste, increased downtime, and excess energy consumption.
Driven by technologies that allow manufacturing facilities to prevent failures just in time, predictive maintenance offers an optimal balance between business and the environment. By being able to smartly schedule maintenance and repairs, companies can reduce unplanned downtime, decrease maintenance frequency, and decrease waste production while also conserving energy. A Predictive Maintenance methodology enables customers to collect data and get real time updates on equipment status. Parameters can be set, and if equipment goes outside its normal operating range, maintenance teams are notified so issues can be addressed before they become a critical failure that halts production. Predictive Maintenance offers solutions for preventing power failure, monitoring fluids and moving parts, thermal condition sensing, and power monitoring solutions.
Click here to read the full article in Semiconductor Digest magazine.
