Fully connected and controlled by artificial intelligence: one of the chip factories most modern in the world opened by the multinational Bosch a Dresden, right in the middle of the semiconductor crisis that has been weighing on the electronics market for months now. With approx 1 billion euro the new production facility is the largest single investment in Bosch's more than 130-year history. The high-tech facility was officially opened on Monday 7 June 2021 in the virtual presence of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, European Commission Vice President Margrethe Vestager and Saxon President Michael Kretschmer.
After comparing locations around the world, Bosch chose Dresden, Saxony for its pioneering wafer factory for the4.0 industry. The “Silicon Saxony” is the largest district in Europe for microelectronics and the fifth largest in the world. One in three chips made in Europe comes from this area.
I semiconductors, in the form of microchips, are present in all electronic devices such as smartphones, televisions, PCs, cars. So without them all technological devices could not work. And with the wafer factory, Bosch will respond to the growing demand for semiconductors by entering a market in a severe crisis.
When the pandemic broke out, companies thought that demand would decrease significantly and given the restrictions and quarantine they reduced their capacity, but the exact opposite happened, giving rise to the domino effect. Demand has increased, supply is insufficient to satisfy it and all related sectors have been affected, therefore automotive, telephony and PC, video games, industrial electronics, servers and so on. This shortage could represent the first real supply shock in several years, with high inflation and uncertain markets, and last for another two years.
And in this picture the Germany plays ahead, strengthening its position as a technology and business headquarters, opening one of the most advanced factories in the world: highly automated, fully connected machines and integrated processes, combined with artificial intelligence (AI) methods.
“The cutting-edge technology showcased at the new Dresden plant is a prime example of what European public and private actors can achieve when they join forces,” he said. Margrethe Vestager, Vice-President of the European Commission -. Semiconductors will help develop sectors such as transport, manufacturing, clean energy and healthcare, where Europe excels. It will also help to strengthen Europe's competitiveness as a cradle of cutting-edge innovations”.
“For Bosch, semiconductors are a key technology and it is strategically important to develop and produce them ourselves. In Dresden, with the help of artificial intelligence, we will take semiconductor manufacturing to the next level. This is our first AIoT factory: fully connected, data-driven and self-optimizing from the start,” he stressed. Volkmar Denner, CEO of Bosch.
Production in Dresden will start as early as July, six months earlier than expected. The semiconductors manufactured in the new factory will then be installed in Bosch power tools. For automotive customers, however, chip production will begin in September, three months ahead of schedule. The new factory represents an important element of the semiconductor production network. Already 250 people are working in the factory's 72 m700 surface area. This number will rise to around XNUMX when the construction works are completed.
“Thanks to the combination of artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things, we are creating the foundation for continuous improvement in data-driven manufacturing,” continued Denner. It means that all data created is collected in a central database. The result is that a mass of production data equivalent to approximately 500 pages of written text is generated every second (over 42 million pages in a single day). The data is evaluated using AI methods. In this process, self-optimizing algorithms learn to make predictions based on the data, enabling real-time analysis of maintenance production processes. For example, an AI algorithm can detect down to the smallest anomalies in products, visible on the surface of the wafer as specific error sequences, called signatures.
Bosch has been producing its own semiconductors since 1958, while special components not intended for commercial use have been produced at the Reutlingen plant since 1970. For its wafer factories in Reutlingen and Dresden alone, Bosch has invested over 2,5 billion since the manufacturing technology for 200mm was introduced in 2010.
There are actually two wafer factories: a real one and a digital one. In the course of construction, all parts of the factory and relevant building data were digitally recorded and displayed as a three-dimensional model. The digital factory is made up of about half a million objects 3D including: buildings and infrastructure, supply and disposal systems, cable ducts and ventilation systems, machinery and production lines. But what is the digital model for? It allows Bosch to simulate both process optimization plans and renovation work without intervening in ongoing activities.
Even maintenance interventions make use of high-tech, i.e. it will be possible to intervene on the machinery remotely. Thanks to the video camera integrated in the glasses, the images are transmitted remotely and the expert can instruct and guide the employee in Dresden step by step, obviously in real time, throughout the maintenance. This technology is especially essential for all the travel restrictions imposed by the pandemic from Covid-19.
