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MES provides more than vertical integration

The way to final solar panels – a lot of different production units
MES provides more than vertical integration

Expected heavy drops in cost and price give large-scale Photovoltaic manufacturers rise to push product efficiency improvements of their solar modules while reducing production costs. Keeping these basic challenges in mind root cause analyses (RCA) are discussed as effective measures in manufacturing. A proprietary MES support for RCA strategies throughout the entire value-chain, in a more narrow sense from raw material to salable solar modules, is shown as the linchpin for effective RCA implementation.

Dr.-Ing. Gerald Hemetsberger, camline, Petershausen (Germany)

Due to the fact of economies of scale and subsidies cut back to promote renewable energies, solar panels will get and have to get less costly. To cope with this tapering trend, the following two strategies can be observed from Photovoltaic manufacturers:
  • Technologies are constantly evolving toward higher sunlight-to-electricity conversion efficiencies (Watt-peak).
  • Manufacturing requires low-cost production with less failures (i.e. broken wafers, unplanned downtime) and lower material costs.
For implementation of these two PV strategies, the production needs a properly equipped Manufacturing Execution System (MES) to monitor and report Key Performance Indicators (KPI). A well-known MES illustration was chosen to basically outline “LineWorks Production Control PV” made by camLine, which is a turn-key MES solution specific to Photovoltaic manufacturing demands. The drawing illustrates the system in the context of vertical integration. With its core modules FabLogistics, FabQuality, and FabMonitoring it represents an intermediate layer between Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and production automation. Each module allows the timely identification and trends of typical KPIs.
Now, what can be done if the KPIs do not meet the expectations? Without systematic RCAs, excellent KPI results become the subject of pure gambling. The implementation of our PV strategies requires the close collaboration with manufacturing. This fact deserves special attention: regarding to the MES outline, more or less a wide-spread understanding sees MES as just an extended ERP plug-in for in-depth shop-floor penetration. The company wants to address here both, the importance of RCA implementation in manufacturing as well as the required MES capabilities going beyond ERP integration to meet future Photovoltaic industry challenges.
Systematic RCAs for excellent KPI results
RCAs, initially are a class of problem solving reactive methods aimed at identifying the root causes of problems or incidents. Problems are seen to be best solved by attempting to eliminate root causes, as opposed to addressing the obvious symptoms. By gaining expertise in RCA it becomes a pro-active method that is able to forecast the possibility of an incident even before it could occur. RCAs, holistically seen are considered to be an iterative process and a tool of continuous improvement.
A typical RCA-based corrective action (CA) process can be described best by six bottom-up steps:
  • 1. Search out and define a problem or incidence and a related problem solving objective
  • 2. Collect and analyze data and detect dependencies to accumulate information
  • 3. Identify the real root cause with coherent conclusions and documented evidence
  • 4. Work out CAs that prevent recurrence but do not cause new problems
  • 5. Systematically implement CAs
  • 6. Verify CAs effectiveness with respect to the specified problem solving objective.
Steps 3 and 4 obviously require the most human creative and challenging skills within the CA process cycle. The successful accomplishment of the remaining steps 1, 2, 5 and 6 is favored by MES-critical support. The following examples will help to demonstrate the discussed MES value to practice RCAs in manufacturing.
Steps 1 and 6 need the most general approach and may take place in all MES core modules that are FabLogistics, FabQuality, and FabMonitoring:
  • Defective statistics on losses like broken wafers or damaged modules are part of logistics reporting.
  • Process control (SPC/APC) with individually configured CAs in case of irregularities are necessary for the development of new technologies.
  • OEE reports that are provided by FabMonitoring can quickly indentify unplanned equipment downtime.
For step 2 the advantage of a continuous MES is obvious. In the FabLogistics module the recognition of relationships depends on the achieved traceability level, i.e. the precise mapping of transitions between different production units, from raw material to final solar panels. The system house provides an extra manufacturing data warehouse that separates manufacturing executive operations from data mining and analyses. In this way the data warehouse does not affect logistical operations but provides immediate access to historical and current data for correlations or signature detections.
RCAs used across the supply chain
Still for step 2 supplier quality management (SQM) extends the use of the FabQuality module beyond own manufacturing operations. Before shipping, the suppliers provide quality data of incoming materials to attest their compliance with required specifications or standards. As shown in figure 2 the concept is based on the automated business process to exchange electronic Certificate of Analyses (eCOA ). With SQM, the manufacturer can save resources for Incoming Quality Control (IQC) and is well-positioned to always choose the vendor with the best quality material. The suppliers and subcontractors will benefit from this service and may hold an issued electronic quality certificate for goods with upcoming transit in their hands, even before delivery takes place. This leads to a comprehensive quality data management system that helps to accelerate the entire PV manufacturing process. It offers the possibility to improve the quality of the whole supply chain and defines traceability at a new level.
The implementation of step 5 requires a new and universally used component, the so-called electronic corrective action plan (eCAP) module. As illustrated in figure 3, eCAP represents a separate workflow engine with specified workflow steps that are executed by humans or systems via API. The systematic and documented approach follows requirements as expected by ISO 9000ff or VDA 6.1. The manufacturer profits from eCAP in view of the fact that without required specialists availability, the system will be in the position to make automated instant decisions and initiate the fixing of known problems.
This article addressed advanced MES capabilities that are needed to systematically implement an RCA-based corrective action process in manufacturing. Root cause analyses were discussed as important technique to achieve future PV manufacturing objectives.

About camLine
For more than 20 years camLine is providing software solutions for manufacturing and provides consulting, project management, training, and hotline-support services. The system house develops and markets its own modular product family LineWorks and custom software projects from scratch. In particular, camLine is well-known for the leading SPC system LineWorks SPACE. camLine has numerous installations in semiconductor, electronic, photovoltaic, and medical industries. The turn-key MES solution “LineWorks Production Control PV” and “LineWorks PVQ” address specific demands of photovoltaic manufacturing and quality data analyses. With APC concepts, camLine is partner in the EU-funded project “highSol”, a specific targeted research and innovation project for the high volume manufacturing of photovoltaic cells.
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