Connect IoT & Equipment Integration#

There are many drivers for improving the degree of automation in manufacturing operations. Typically, there are three types of equipment in the shop floor that can be integrated: process equipment, metrology equipment and logistics equipment. The logistics equipment includes not only automated material storage and retrieval equipment, but also transport equipment, such as Automatic Guide Vehicles (AGVs) and Autonomous Intelligent Vehicles (AIVs). The primary goal of equipment integration is to abstract the equipment idiosyncrasies and to provide a standard interface with the MES.

At its most basic level, equipment integration is used for automatic data collection. At a higher level of integration, equipment integration is used for process automation and equipment control. For example, when a carrier is detected at a load port of a particular equipment, the system can automatically validate the carrier, and can initiate the processing of the material resolving the recipe and any other information required for the process job.

Different communication protocols, different equipment capabilities and different levels of job control require an equipment integration solution that is modular, flexible and extensible to accommodate a big variety of equipment integration scenarios. Furthermore, because in a production environment, the roll-out of changes must be well controlled, it is critical to provide good change management tools.

Connect IoT is a distributed equipment integration module that can be used to connect virtually any equipment or device that provides some type of connectivity

Paths by Role#

Table: Where to start by project role

Available guides#

Table: Configuration Tutorials guides