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32 SMT007 MAGAZINE I MARCH 2020 Feature Interview by Dan Feinberg I-CONNECT007 Dan Feinberg met with Cimetrix's Ranjan Chatterjee to talk about how their new Sapi- ence software allows factories to establish communication with a wide variety of equip- ment across multiple lines and multiple facili- ties across the whole industry. Dan Feinberg: We're currently at IPC APEX EXPO 2020. How was the show for you today? Ranjan Chatterjee: It was very good. We were busy. Yesterday, we had people coming before the show even started. Most people are here for a specific purpose, and discussions have been pretty meaningful. Feinberg: Cimetrix's software products deliver factory automation. Tell me about it, particu- larly the software for connectivity, analytics, and sensing, which, from what I understand is your specialty. Chatterjee: Yes. We work on automating the machines, collecting data from those machines, and performing analytics on it. In other words, we provide software on both sides of the pipe as well. We provide the pipe as well We provide you with control capabili- ties as well as connectivity capabilities on the machines to automate them. We connect any kind of machines across the whole industry, whether it's semiconductor front end, semi - conductor back end, or PCB assembly. We have customers in all of these industries. Most wafer fabrication customers use our prod- ucts to do analytics, and then we provide OEE and those kinds of things. We prefer standards, but sometimes we do custom proj- ects. Feinberg: The semiconductor industry and board fabrication are closely connected. What are some of the similarities you see between the two? Chatterjee: Because of the advances in pack- aging technology, the boundaries between the industries are blurring. SMT machines are handling wafers now, for example. PCB indus- tries are using a variety of non-traditional sub- strates that require a cleanroom. Cimetrix Helping to Digitize Factories Ranjan Chatterjee