Middlesex Industries Global Site

PROfab in the Hard Disk Drive industry

Middlesex PROfab control is designed to perfectly adapt to the lean approach used in the hard disk drive environment.

The very high throughput and takting-oriented manufacturing process required in the hard disk drive production are managed very well by the PROfab control software:

• small form-factor local control module. This LCM module is the first interfacing point to the conveyor hardware. It performs basic operations like motor running, sensor readings, tracking of carriers through readers, point to point WIP moves
• a failsafe, redundant central control module. The CCM contains the real time information about the status of the conveyor network (WIP location and destination, hardware status …)
• central distributed database allowing for an immediate and very easy reconfiguration of the transportation network layout. All the real time and configuration changes are periodically stored there
• a multi-view, multistage high definition graphics user interface, fully customizable to the system needs

Middlesex PROfab software control also features:

• Class 1 cleanliness achieved through a patented motor clutch. This component prevents particle contamination caused by excessive high acceleration/deceleration contact friction
• Asynchronous WIP movement through independent control of drive motors
• Soft buffer accumulation of queued WIPs, featuring contact free and safe movements throughout the conveyor network
• High density, high throughput movement of WIPs
• Incredible smoothness of movement, minimizing WIP vibrations
• SEMI standard compliance

A typical control configuration for a hard disk drive fab will be composed of many Local Control Modules connected to a single Central Control Module. A configuration and runtime database and a variable number of GUIs will also be connected to the CCM.