25 January 2012

CIGS PV maker NuvoSun chooses FactoryLOOK and VistrianMES systems

Vistrian Inc of Milpitas, CA, USA is to provide its FactoryLOOK and VistrianMES software systems to NuvoSun Inc (also of Milpitas), which manufactures copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) thin-film photovoltaic (PV) cells and modules on flexible foil (using a proprietary high-speed roll-to-roll sputtering process).

FactoryLOOK is a server-based ‘manufacturing intelligence system’ used by firms including manufacturers of solar, semiconductor, advanced lighting, data storage, networking, and electronic assembly. It allows the gathering, analyzing and archiving of significant amounts of information from throughout the factory, including tooling, utilities, testing, metrology, recipe tracking and legacy data systems/databases. It also allows for the immediate alerting and identifying of process anomalies and the ability to quickly identify factors affecting the development process or manufacturing process and their associated variables, thus reducing costs and reducing product development time.

VistrianMES software integrates with FactoryLOOK using Vistrian’s ‘Quick Launch’ feature, which brings what is claimed to be a uniquely high degree of usability to all users, with all functions accessible with just a few clicks of the mouse. VistrianMES allows managing of the factories materials, workflow, WIP and long-term field correlation.

Vistrian configures all elements of FactoryLOOK and VistrianMES without the need for a third-party integrator or internal IT department resources, significantly reducing implementation cost, the firm claims.

“Vistrian is a company founded and operated by manufacturing executives who have integrated their knowledge and experience into a software system allowing for a true benefit to the user,” says co-founder & CEO Ronald Allen. “Our products allow for us to accommodate unique customer needs with our installation base growing worldwide,” he adds. “The integration of FactoryLOOK and VistrianMES along with our unique ‘Quick Launch’ system will allow our product to be adopted by all users in the organization, providing full adoption and visibility to NuvoSun,” Allen notes.

“The team at Vistrian has worked closely with us to implement their system to meet our specific needs and work with us every step of the way,” says NuvoSun’s president & CEO Dave Pearce. “Vistrian’s short implementation time has allowed us to bring up our process in record time while being scalable to our future needs,” he adds. “We are confident with Vistrian’s software we can run a consistent process at any factory location throughout the world.”

FactoryLOOK is used as a tool to integrate all processes and equipment data and to provide access to all users using a web browser. This includes the Facility, Environmental, Tooling, Test Equipment, Flat Files, Legacy systems (MES, ERP) and Operator interfaces. Its tool-set features provide analysis, alerts, dashboards and reports using the integral rules engine in real-time, providing timely information to optimize operations and processes. Users have reported significant improvements in utilization and yields, claims Vistrian.

Vistrian says that FactoryLOOK has proven invaluable with its user base both in high-volume and pilot-production environments as a way to increase yields, reduce process and development time, and increase process uptime through significantly increased visibility to the process and the variables that affect it.

Tags: NuvoSun CIGS PV

Visit: www.vistrian.com

Visit: www.nuvosun.com