The Players

Atlas Core of Engineers is an industrial-controls and automation firm with a focus on process-control systems in order to build complex systems and applications that have robust requirements for resiliency.

The semiconductor industry is a case in point. Atlas is working with a variety of semiconductor companies to stand up new facilities and retrofit brownfield installations to drive more automated operations and to shore up assets and industrial networks in support of greater resiliency and zero downtime.

“We specialize in customers that never turn off the plant and where interruptions are unacceptable,” said Ahmad Jodeh, owner and principal of Altas. “The semiconductor industry is very change-averse. Atlas is walking customers through how PROFINET works, what it offers, and proving out all of the bells and whistles that come with it.”

The Challenge

While PROFIBUS is well established in the semiconductor space, many of Atlas’ customers have struggled with limitations, including bandwidth constraints and difficulty troubleshooting networks and industrial-control devices effectively and efficiently. 

It can become difficult to adapt networks and modify automation infrastructure without interruption to operations and mission-critical systems—a downtime scenario that is unacceptable in the ultra-competitive world of semiconductor manufacturing. “Unless you are an extremely experienced engineer, modifying a PROFIBUS network without interrupting the business is stressful and delicate,” Jodeh explained. 

The specialized nature of working with PROFIBUS is another hurdle for manufacturers, given the shrinking talent pool. Long-time experts are aging out of the workforce, while younger automation engineers are not as familiar with the networking protocol.

Global industry forces create another wrinkle, added Jodeh. The semiconductor industry has always been a technology-leading, fast-paced business, yet the sector is experiencing even more high-stakes change and innovation as competition heats up on a global stage. China is shifting from a second-world economy into a first-world influence threatening Taiwan’s dominance in the semiconductor sector. 

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At the same time, U.S. manufacturers are stepping up plans and pouring billions of dollars into domestic chip research, development, and manufacturing in response to tax and financial incentives emanating from the CHIPS and Science Act, a federal law enacted in 2022. U.S. chip makers are also intent on building new domestic semiconductor infrastructure as they pull back from offshore outsourcing contracts and partnerships.

As they build out new U.S.-based facilities and retrofit existing brownfield infrastructure, summed Jodeh, all eyes are on leveraging the latest technologies to bolster new levels of automation efficiency. “Given that U.S. labor and materials costs are higher [than overseas], the push for automation capabilities is greater,” he said. “PROFINET is key to delivering greater capacity.”

The Solution

Semiconductor companies are making the leap to upgrade brownfield and greenfield installations to the PROFINET industrial networking protocol to achieve greater speed, precision, and resiliency in their automation environments, according to the Atlas rep. 

While fieldbus protocols like PROFIBUS have well-established media redundancy advantages, PROFINET offers device, controller and network redundancy to ensure high availability and reliability of industrial automation systems. Network redundancy, in particular, is a huge selling point among Atlas and its semiconductor base, as it enables Atlas to establish multiple ring topologies so there are alternative communication routes in case of network failures. Semiconductor manufacturers are also taking advantage of this capability by implementing redundant rings.

“When you consider the ability to have multiple paths and parallel networks, PROFINET stands alone,” Jodeh said. “The concern among customers has been that you can plug something in wrong and the entire network nosedives. Properly implemented PROFINET doesn't care if you have IP conflicts or inadvertent loops. It just keeps going. And with PROFINET, you can have multiple failures before anything goes offline, and with that robust reliability and redundancy comes confidence.”