Symphony Systems provides Equipment Productivity Management software solutions for maximizing the productivity of capital equipment by both equipment users and equipment manufacturers. Symphony is a corporate-backed startup with an innovative and proven technology. Symphony's network-based connectivity infrastructure and suite of software applications seamlessly connect people with new and existing equipment and create a communication channel for equipment, equipment users, equipment suppliers, parts and subsystems suppliers and application software providers. This ability to integrate manufacturers, suppliers and information systems with equipment forms the backbone of Symphony's products and services. Initially, Symphony Systems' solutions specifically address the needs of the semiconductor industry. Symphony Systems has a clear vision for equipment applications that will provide benefits of the web-based solutions to highly competitive enterprises in semiconductor, manufacturing, telecommunications and other fields.

Business Opportunity

Productivity of semiconductor capital equipment, i.e. yield, throughput and production availability, is essential to maintain and extend competitive advantage. Product yield in the semiconductor industry has exceeded the 90 percent mark, yet the combination of throughput and production availability of equipment hovers at less than 50 percent. SEMATECH, and their Japanese counterpart, JEITA, semiconductor industry trade organizations are actively promoting equipment engineering systems e-diagnostics and APC to improve equipment productivity. Equipment users are under pressure to increase productivity as they respond to rapidly changing markets. Consequently, they are demanding equipment manufacturers to take responsibility to improve equipment productivity. Equipment users, manufacturers, subsystem suppliers, and application software providers are looking for private and secure networks as the vehicle to increase equipment uptime and productivity. Achieving improved efficiency of equipment operations requires having ready access to equipment data, enabling engineers to identify trends and make informed and timely decisions. In most semiconductor factories today, engineers do not have all the data, or even the access to equipment data, to allow them to do their job effectively.

Symphony Solution

Symphony Systems has developed an infrastructure and a suite of applications (Equipment Productivity Manager) that monitors, analyzes and improves semiconductor-manufacturing processes. This solution comprises several modules: The high-speed database and Data Collection Manager retrieve real-time and continuous information from each piece of equipment in the line and offers diagnostic applications to identify tolerance deviations. The open-architecture software platform enables applications from multiple software providers to concurrently access information used in capital equipment, making it a shared and real-time source for multiple applications. Access to the equipment is provided by the Symphony Equipment Server (SES). SES functions as a gateway for multiple applications to conduct fault detection and analysis, equipment health monitoring, and data trending. By aggregating and integrating applications, Symphony has truly positioned itself to "orchestrate" the future of factory productivity.

Company History