Repair and Refurbishment in the Secondary Equipment Market
AESG operates primarily in the secondary equipment market of the semiconductor industry. The semiconductor industry is extremely volatile with no discernable cycles or seasonality. Capital spending is closely linked to the health of the industry because too little capital spending impedes production growth but too much of it leads to overcapacity and low prices. There is a significant market in used and refurbished equipment such as robot controllers, pre-aligners, pre-aligner controllers and wafer handling robots. The repair and service of secondary equipment is believed to be a $2 billion market and is estimated to grow to a $5 billion market by 2008 according to SEC/N. SEC/N is a non-profit organization formed to develop standards for the secondary equipment market. The major trend in the equipment repair market is toward outsourcing and cost reduction.
OEMs that deliver only marginal quality and very long lead times will gradually be replaced by those that offer additional features such as fast response time and expedited service. The trend in the semiconductor industry seems to be toward service centers that provide maintenance and service through one focal point for various makes and types of equipment. AESG, Inc. specializes in wafer handling refurbishment and wafer handling repair of equipment by PRI/Equipe, Brooks Automation and Kensington. Because of outsourcing, consumers expect high quality repairs and competitive pricing which AESG, Inc. can easily provide because of highly qualified technical specialists. AESG offer quick turnaround times for their robot repair services. AESG, Inc. wafer handling refurbishment and wafer handling repair is based on a meticulous system of checking and rechecking for quality. Sophisticated diagnostics are performed on pre-aligners controllers and wafer handling robots during the wafer handling repair and wafer handling refurbishment process to assure that any malfunctions are found, repaired and quality checked. During the quality control process the pre-aligner controllers and wafer handling robots are cycle tested for a minimum of 24 hours to assure that they will stand up to the rigors of processing in line. AESG offers superior technical expertise and expedited robot repair services. |
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