SECTION INTRODUCTION: Manufacturing, Systems & Software

Overheard at a technical conference: “The nice thing about standards is … that there are so many to choose from.” With both semiconductor processes and electronics assembly under one roof, PV manufacturers have an interesting challenge in deciding which standards, material handling systems and software to use. Whether it’s GEM/SECS or OPC, conveyors or robots, MES or SCADA, PCs or PLCs, the decisions are primarily influenced by an individual’s past experience, product price, supplier reputation and referrals from other manufacturers. Of course, some competition between suppliers is necessary to drive innovation and keep cost low. However, since PV manufacturers don’t talk publicly about their supplier and product selections, we are likely developing too many overlapping solutions to the same problems.
In this first issue of Future Photovoltaics, it is my privilege to introduce two articles that describe opportunities and strategies that will lead to more functional and economical systems and automation for PV manufacturing.

In “Accelerating the Movement to Grid Parity in Photovoltaic Manufacturing,” Alan Levine recommends the cost of ownership (COO) model, discrete-event simulation, factory physics and other standards used in semiconductor and flat panel display (FPD) manufacturing for PV. Although PV factories with typical single-product lines seem less complex today, the PV industry will likely evolve to multi-product lines with many of the same requirements as these similar industries.

In “PV Manufacturing System Standards at the Crossroads: A Future Retrospective,” Alan Weber reviews the “good, bad and ugly” history of the development of various automation standards for semiconductor manufacturing. He proposes that PV manufacturers have a unique opportunity to leverage the benefits and avoid the pitfalls from this past experience as they adopt standards for their factories.

While it is probably too early for competitive PV manufacturers to collaborate directly on manufacturing systems today, eventually we will realize that we are protecting many of the same secrets and begin to consolidate the duplicate components into more functional and reliable systems. Future Photovoltaics is one forum in which we can begin this discovery.
We look forward to your opinions on these topics and suggestions for future articles.

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