Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1216587
34 SMT007 MAGAZINE I MARCH 2020 Feinberg: Likewise, what are the key differences that make implementations unique between these two industries? Chatterjee: The main difference is the cost and complexity of the manufacturing equipment and processes in the two industries. Invest- ment in semiconductors is much higher. Still, the need for data and analytics is the same for every industry. Feinberg: What other software do you have? What have you been working on? Chatterjee: One of the main things we're work- ing on is this platform called Sapience, which is a platform for connecting any equipment with any protocol into various apps. We provide test APIs, and you can write an app. Think of it as like iOS, where you have the Apple store. They would provide you the ability to write your own application, and we will run the store; then, you will be able to connect to any kind of device, machine, robot, or a sensor. Feinberg: Is Sapience structured as a product? Chatterjee: The Sapience platform provides a scalable architecture that allows factories to establish communication with a wide variety of equipment across multiple lines and multi- ple facilities. The platform provides connectiv- ity to any equipment that supports industry- standard protocols. Feinberg: What are the implementations like for a customer? Chatterjee: It's pretty straightforward. The on- premises architected solution takes control and security for factory implementations quite seri- ously. The core system installs easily using a packaged installer. Of course, a hybrid deploy- ment solution can be installed as well, with soft- ware components residing in the public cloud. Scalability is achieved by combining the public cloud and horizontal scaling techniques. Feinberg: It seems like you're doing a number of large installations, which definitely helps validate your solution. How does this scale down for a smaller shop, of which we have quite a few in board fabrication? Chatterjee: The Sapience platform is an out-of- the-box web-based engineering solution. The Sapience ecosystem is designed to quickly pro- vide actionable data with minimal configura- tion. The Insight OEE Module automatically begins collecting real-time equipment utiliza- tion and alarm data as soon as it establishes an equipment connection. This means you can easily scale from one machine to hundreds. Feinberg: For the smaller shop looking to go digital, what will the engagement with Cime- trix look like? What should I expect in terms of implementation help? Chatterjee: For a smaller shop, we can be a unified platform on the factory floor. The Sapi- ence platform provides rapid-deployment tools so that factories can mine all the data avail- able from shop floor equipment. This drives actionable insights for optimal decision-mak- ing. We provide customers with installation and deployment help. We have worked with smaller customers that had one line—or a few lines—that were connected and working with real data in less than a day.