Brooks Software Continues Momentum in Discrete Manufacturing with New Flat Panel Display Customer Wins
Monday September 27, 9:48 am ET
Brooks' Real-Time Manufacturing Applications Win New Customers in Fast Growing Market
CHELMSFORD, Mass., Sept. 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Brooks Software, a division of Brooks Automation, Inc. (Nasdaq: BRKS - News), and a leading provider of real-time applications for enterprises with collaborative, complex manufacturing operations, today announced two recent multi-million dollar Manufacturing Execution System (MES) wins in the flat panel display (FPD) market: one at ChungHwa Picture Tubes (CPT), a leading Taiwanese FPD manufacturer, and the other at a Generation 5 FPD manufacturer also located in Taiwan. The recent orders demonstrate Brooks Software's continued momentum in delivering its real-time manufacturing applications to discrete manufacturers.
"There is growing market demand for real-time applications within discrete manufacturing," said Joe Bellini, senior vice-president of Brooks Software, a division of Brooks Automation. "Brooks' flexible and adaptive execution applications are an important component of our SenseDecideResond suite of manufacturing solutions that create a real-time environment reaching from the factory floor to enterprise-level business systems."
LCD Wins and Momentum
FPD manufacturing is a fast growing industry segment and an important component of Brooks Software's push into discrete, "high tech" industries with its real-time enterprise solutions. Over the last 12 months Brooks Software has:
Gained MES market share in the FPD industry, winning sixty percent of all MES opportunities with its FACTORYworks® and LCDworks(TM) MES solutions;
Signed a Letter-of-Intent with another large-scale LCD/FPD producer to develop the world's first real-time solution for a Generation 7 FPD manufacturing facility;
Successfully grown its geographic penetration with key implementations in the newer Generation 5 and Generation 6 plants in Taiwan;
Expanded its product footprint in this industry with recent deployments of Brooks' APF Real Time Dispatcher(TM) and Activity Manager(TM); and,
-- Continued to gain market share with its CLASS MCS(TM) 5 Material
Control System (MCS).
Brooks has previously announced over 20 major installations in FPD including such companies as AFPD, RiT Display, BOE-Hydis, and Unipac.
"To remain competitive in a hot and evolving market, FPD manufacturers such as CPT are investing in newer technologies and plants," said Bharat Nair, Industry Director for High Technology Markets for Brooks Software. "We are winning new MES customers and growing our marketshare because our solutions deliver out-of-the-box functionality that allows discrete manufacturers to quickly ramp up their facilities and operate at higher levels of productivity. Our solutions ultimately deliver a better utilization of assets, greater competitive advantage and increased profitability."
Demonstrating Success in Brooks' Real-Time Enterprise Initiative According to recent reports from industry analyst firms AMR Research, ARC and Dataquest/Gartner, Brooks Software is the largest supplier of execution applications to the discrete manufacturing industry. For the high tech market, an August 2004 Gartner report counsels that Brooks' MES solutions should be on manufacturers' shortlists.
Brooks' adaptive MES solutions deliver a wide range of functionality tailored to support the specific needs of discrete manufacturers, including full product and process traceability and collaborative and multi-site manufacturing. Its real-time execution software provides a common data model across all aspects of the discrete manufacturing cycle, including planning and scheduling, execution and WIP tracking, asset management, and tooling and container management.
Brooks recently announced its Real-Time Enterprise Initiative to help discrete manufacturers face growing business pressures from shrinking product lifecycles, collaborative business models, increasing regulatory requirements, and growing warranty/recall claims. Brooks worked with a range of discrete manufacturers in industries such as aerospace and defense, automotive, and high tech to extend the functionality of its real-time software applications to employ critical shop floor and supply chain data within broader strategic enterprise initiatives including supply chain execution, enterprise performance management, closed loop automation, and lean manufacturing.
"Brooks is uniquely positioned to support discrete manufacturers' drive to become more adaptive and responsive organizations," continued Bellini. "With increased visibility to critical product and process information delivered by MES applications like LCDworks, discrete manufacturers can make more informed business decisions in response to changing market dynamics resulting in improved operational performance and higher return on investment."
About FACTORYworks and LCDworks
Based on Brooks' FACTORYworks MES solution, LCDworks delivers real-time manufacturing execution functionality optimized for the flat panel industry including LCD (TFT, Color Filter, and Module Lines), OLED, and plasma display panel (PDP) manufacturing operations. LCDworks is a modular, easily configured MES system that enables manufacturers to quickly ramp up production and adapt to changing technologies and business conditions.
About ChungHwa Picture Tubes
CPT, a leading display component provider, started in the CRT market in 1971 and grew to become the primary force behind mass production of TFT and PDP products in Taiwan. CPT is headquartered in Taoyuan, Taiwan, with more than 20,000 employees worldwide. CPT's customers include the top three CRT providers for monitors and TV, as well as the top five TFT providers for notebooks, monitors, and TV. CPT provides the premium display components that deliver competitive advantage and extend the market leadership of globally- recognized brands and OEM companies.
About Brooks Software
Brooks' SenseDecideRespond(TM) manufacturing software solutions are the foundation for enterprise initiatives in supply chain execution, closed loop automation, lean manufacturing and enterprise performance management. Installed in numerous Fortune 500 manufacturers, Brooks Software delivers competitive advantage to aerospace & defense, automotive, high tech, life sciences and semiconductor manufacturers worldwide.
About Brooks Automation, Inc.
Brooks Automation (Nasdaq: BRKS - News) delivers automation solutions to the global semiconductor and related industries. The company provides hardware, factory and tool management software, and professional services to help manage every wafer, reticle, and data movement in the fab, improving throughput and yield while reducing cost and time to market. Brooks' products and capabilities are used in virtually every semiconductor fab in the world. For information, visit the company's web site at brooks.com.
"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: The foregoing discussion contains forward-looking statements related to future results and product capabilities and speaks only of Brooks Automation's expectations as of the date of this press release. The forward- looking statements involve several known and unknown risks and uncertainties including, without limitation, the continued success of Brooks Automation, Inc. (the "Company") in the marketplace, the Company's dependence on the cyclical semiconductor industry, the highly competitive nature and rapid technological change that characterize the industries in which the Company competes, the performance of the Company's products and services, and other risks and uncertainties described in the Company's reports and registration statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward- looking statements include statements concerning Brooks software products and their capabilities, the Company's software marketing capabilities and our ability to continue to expand our market focus in software. As a result, there can be no assurance that the Company's future results will not be materially different from those projected. The Company expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any such statement to reflect any change in the Company's expectations or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based.
All trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.
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Source: Brooks Automation, Inc. |
