Posted on Tue, Jan 12, 2010 @ 12:39 PM
Leading Solar Power Innovator to Deploy Camstar's SolarSuiteTM to Achieve Dramatic Cost Reduction Goals and Support Future Technology Improvements
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (January 12, 2010) - Camstar Systems, Inc. announced today that SpectraWatt, Inc., a manufacturer of advanced silicon photovoltaic cells for the solar industry, has selected Camstar's SolarSuiteTM, configured for the Solar industry on the Camstar Enterprise Platform, to support its manufacturing and quality goals into the future.
"SpectraWatt is focusing on innovative solar cell technologies that will dramatically reduce the cost of solar energy generation in the future," said Rick Haug, COO of SpectraWatt. "We needed a proven solution that is flexible enough to adapt quickly to our changing technologies and drive rapid quality improvements. Camstar's long track record of customer success and their deep understanding of the solar industry were key aspects that set them apart in the market. They have been a great company to work with."
"We were impressed with Camstar's rapid implementation times, and the ease of use of their application," said Bruce Reedy, MES/ERP Engineer for SpectraWatt. "The ease of integration with our other business and automation systems was also a key factor in our decision."
"We are delighted to partner with SpectraWatt in their mission to drive down the cost of solar energy generation," said Jason Adams, Vice President of Sales for Camstar. "Our seamless Enterprise Platform for manufacturing execution, quality management and manufacturing intelligence is able to model the entire solar supply chain from ingot to wafer to cell to module to system - making Camstar a strategic fit for our growing base of top solar manufacturers and key solar innovators like SpectraWatt. The system collects and analyzes large volumes of data being generated by automated tools, prompting immediate action for rapid process improvement and increased equipment efficiency - driving real, measurable quality improvements faster."
About SpectraWatt
SpectraWatt is a manufacturer and supplier of photovoltaic cells for the solar industry. In addition to focusing on advanced solar cell technologies, SpectraWatt concentrates on improvements in current manufacturing processes and capabilities to reduce the cost of photovoltaic energy generation. Its mission is to deliver solar energy at grid parity through product and manufacturing technology innovation. Investors include Intel Capital, Cogentrix Energy, PCG Clean Energy and Technology Fund and Solon SE.
About Camstar Systems, Inc.
Camstar is a leading innovator of software solutions that advance product quality in the manufacturing industry, enabling its customers to deliver the highest quality products on time, the first time, every time. The Camstar Enterprise Platform advances product quality throughout the product lifecycle, from design to planning to supply to manufacturing to customer product experience - all in a closed-loop learning process that allows future products to be designed better and manufacturing processes to be leaner and more efficient.
Camstar is the largest in its market, providing solutions for manufacturing execution, process planning, enterprise quality management and manufacturing intelligence. For over 20 years, Camstar has served hundreds of satisfied customers worldwide, including Abbott, AMD, Amkor, Arcelor, Beijing SE Potevio Mobile Communications, BIOTRONIK, Boston Scientific, Canadian Solar, CIBA Vision, Emcore, Hitachi, IBM, Kodak, Life Technologies, Luvata, MiaSole, Noven Pharmaceutical, NXP, Q-Cells, Roche, SanDisk, Xilinx, Zeiss, and ZOLL.
For more information, visit http://www.camstar.com/
Posted on Wed, Dec 09, 2009 @ 12:34 PM
Newest Release Delivers Key Advancements in Closed-loop Quality Process for Global Discrete, Batch and Hybrid Operations
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (December 9, 2009) - Camstar Systems, Inc., the leading provider of Enterprise Platform solutions to Advance Product Quality, announced today that it has released Camstar Enterprise PlatformTM 4.5 for general availability. Enhancements in version 4.5 - driven in collaboration with leading manufacturers using the Platform - include expanded enterprise-caliber capabilities for global enterprises with multiple manufacturing locations and outsourced operations. Version 4.5 augments the Platform's configurability and usability to allow users to quickly adopt the solution with minimal training - even where complex manufacturing and processes span discrete, batch and hybrid operations.
Customers adopting the Camstar Enterprise Platform have quickly achieved dramatic results. A top life sciences manufacturer using Camstar ManufacturingTM in its discrete manufacturing area recently deployed Camstar Weigh and DispenseTM 4.5 to standardize on the Camstar Enterprise Platform across its batch reagent and discrete operations. The company reports that full traceability from finished product back to raw material enables easier root cause analysis across multiple batches and devices.
A leading global high-tech manufacturer that expanded its Camstar Manufacturing solution with Camstar QualityTM completed the deployment 12 weeks from start to finish. As a result, the company reports it has increased output while decreasing the rate of occurrence of quality incidents.
"The new release is a leap forward toward Camstar's strategic vision of a comprehensive platform to Advance Product Quality for the Enterprise," said Karim Lokas, Vice President of Product Strategy and Marketing for Camstar. "The high level of excitement by new and existing customers who plan to deploy 4.5 underscores the value Camstar is delivering through its continuous investment in R&D. The enterprise-caliber technology and usability make it possible for leading manufacturers to quickly realize benefits across their global operations."
To learn more about the version 4.5 of Camstar's Enterprise Platform for Advancing Product Quality and to register to view the Official 4.5 Launch Event, visit www.camstar.info/45demorequest-website.
About Camstar Systems, Inc.
Camstar is a leading innovator of software solutions that advance product quality in the manufacturing industry, enabling its customers to deliver the highest quality products on time, the first time, every time. The Camstar Enterprise Platform advances product quality throughout the product lifecycle, from design to planning to supply to manufacturing to customer product experience - all in a closed-loop learning process that allows future products to be designed better and manufacturing processes to be leaner and more efficient.
Camstar is the largest in its market, including solutions for manufacturing execution, process planning, enterprise quality management and manufacturing intelligence. For over 25 years, Camstar has served hundreds of satisfied customers worldwide, including Abbott, AMD, Amkor, Arcelor, Beijing SE Potevio Mobile Communications, BIOTRONIK, Boston Scientific, Canadian Solar, CIBA Vision, Emcore, Hitachi, IBM, Kodak, Life Technologies, Luvata, MiaSole, Noven Pharmaceutical, NXP, Q-Cells, Roche, SanDisk, Xilinx, Zeiss and ZOLL. For more information, please visit http://www.camstar.com/.
Posted on Wed, Nov 11, 2009 @ 12:32 PM
Camstar's Manufacturing Platform to Support Commercialization, Production Volume and Quality Enforcement
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (November 11, 2009) - Camstar Systems, Inc. announced today that Pacific Biosciences, a leader in the development of a transformative Single Molecule Real Time (SMRTTM) DNA sequencing platform, has selected the Camstar ManufacturingTM enterprise software platform to enable its critical transition from product development to high-volume production, and to ensure consistent top product quality.
As an industry innovator, Pacific Biosciences is growing rapidly, and the scalable manufacturing platform will enable the company to shorten time-to-volume and rapidly develop, roll out and enforce best practices across new production lines and plants.
"Pacific Biosciences is committed to delivering innovative products with the highest price performance in the industry," said Bruce Leisz, Vice President of Operations and Program Management for Pacific Biosciences. "Camstar's manufacturing execution platform will provide visibility and consistent control over our expanding manufacturing processes and resources. Access to a rich set of intelligence about our processes accelerates our ability to continuously innovate and improve."
"Camstar is seeing rapid adoption of our solutions across the most innovative Diagnostics and Biotechnology industries," said Jason Adams, Camstar's Vice President of Sales for North America and Europe. "As companies commercialize their breakthrough products, they realize that achieving consistently high product quality in the midst of highly complex processes requires a comprehensive platform for manufacturing execution and quality."
See Camstar's Enterprise Platform for Advancing Product Quality, configured specifically for Biotechnology.
About Pacific Biosciences
Pacific Biosciences' mission is to transform the way humankind acquires processes and interprets data from living systems. The company has developed a disruptive technology platform for the real-time detection of biological events at single molecule resolution. Single Molecule Real Time (SMRTTM) Biology promises to revolutionize the life sciences by revealing the underlying networks that define living systems. The first application for the SMRT Biology platform is a paradigm changing approach to DNA sequencing. The SMRT Sequencing System will ultimately make it possible to sequence individual genomes as part of routine medical care. DNA sequencing is expected to be the first of many transformative SMRT Biology applications that will benefit society by driving radical advances in fields such as personalized medicine, agriculture, clean energy, and global health.
About Camstar Systems, Inc.
Camstar is the largest innovator of software solutions that advance product quality, including manufacturing execution, process planning, enterprise quality management, and manufacturing intelligence. Camstar serves hundreds of satisfied customers worldwide, including Abbott, AMD, Amkor, Arcelor, Beijing SE PMC, BIOTRONIK, Boston Scientific, Canadian Solar, Emcore, Hitachi, IBM, Kodak, Life Technologies, MiaSole, NXP, Q-Cells, Roche, SanDisk, Xilinx and Zeiss.
For more information, please visit http://www.camstar.com/.
Posted on Tue, Oct 20, 2009 @ 12:16 PM
Largest Global Solar Cell Manufacturer Selects Camstar's SolarSuiteTM to Lower Cost per Watt and Drive Quality Output
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (October 20, 2009) - Camstar Systems, Inc. announced today that Q-Cells SE (QCE; ISIN DE0005558662), the world's largest solar cell manufacturer, has selected Camstar's SolarSuiteTM, configured for the Solar industry on the Camstar Enterprise Platform, to drive down cost per watt through improved process quality and cell efficiency.
Q-Cells will deploy the solution in two new production lines in Bitterfeld-Thalheim, Germany, and in its new factory in Malaysia where production will exceed 300MW (peak) by the end of 2010.
Q-Cells selected SolarSuite over competing options for its strong "out-of-the-box" functionality that is designed specifically for and widely used by Camstar's global customers in the Solar and Semiconductor industries. In addition, in Q-Cells' environment of rapid process improvement and frequent tool upgrades, the unique flexibility of Camstar's platform enables rapid adaptation, global control and change enforcement - all critical to support Q-Cells' growth and quality goals.
"We are very pleased to be a strategic partner for Q-Cells as they create the most modern, fully automated solar cell production lines in the world," said Robert Rudder, Senior Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing for Camstar. "We have made significant investment in our enterprise platform as a seamless foundation for manufacturing execution, quality management and manufacturing intelligence. That technology is delivering the ability not only to collect large volumes of data from automated tools, but to quickly analyze and immediately act upon that data for process improvement and increased equipment efficiency - driving real, measurable quality improvements faster."
Learn more about Camstar's SolarSuite in a live Webcast on November 5, 2009.
About Q-Cells Founded in 1999, Q-Cells SE is today one of the world's biggest manufacturers of solar cells. In 2008 the company, which currently employs around 2,400 staff, produced mono- and multicrystalline solar cells with expected total power of 570 Megawatt peak (MWp) and supplied them to solar module producers around the world. More than 250 scientists and engineers at Q-Cells are working on further developing the technology in order to attain the company's objective of rapidly and permanently reducing the cost of photovoltaic and making the technology affordable and competitive. As well as core business activities, since mid-2008 several Q-Cells SE subsidiaries have been producing photovoltaic modules on the basis of various thin-film technologies. Q-Cells SE is building a production plant in Malaysia, has branches in Hong Kong, China and Japan, is quoted on the Frankfurt stock exchange (QCE; WKN 555866) and is listed in the German technology index, TecDAX. For more information, visit http://www.q-cells.com/.
About Camstar Systems, Inc. Camstar is a leading innovator of software solutions that advance product quality in the manufacturing industry, enabling its customers to deliver the highest quality products on time, the first time, every time. The Camstar Enterprise Platform advances product quality throughout the product lifecycle, from design to planning to supply to manufacturing to customer product experience - all in a closed-loop learning process that allows future products to be designed better and manufacturing processes to be leaner and more efficient.
Camstar is the largest in its market, including solutions for manufacturing execution, process planning, enterprise quality management, and manufacturing intelligence. For over 20 years, Camstar has served hundreds of satisfied customers worldwide, including Abbott, AMD, Amkor, Arcelor, Beijing SE Potevio Mobile Communications, BIOTRONIK, Boston Scientific, Canadian Solar, CIBA Vision, Emcore, Hitachi, IBM, Kodak, Life Technologies, Luvata, MiaSole, Noven Pharmaceutical, NXP, Pacific Biosciences, Q-Cells, Roche, SanDisk, Xilinx, Zeiss, and ZOLL.
Posted on Wed, Oct 07, 2009 @ 12:12 PM
Leading Global Manufacturer Expands Camstar Platform's Manufacturing Execution with Quality Management
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (October 7, 2009) - Camstar, the leading provider of Enterprise Platform solutions to Advance Product Quality, today announced that the latest deployment of its Quality Management solution was completed in 12 weeks from start to finish, returning unprecedented time-to-value relative to competitive solutions in the industry. The deployment occurred at one of Camstar's global manufacturing customers, which expanded its Camstar ManufacturingTM (Manufacturing Execution System) solution through the addition of Camstar QualityTM, creating a closed-loop learning environment for continuous improvement.
Camstar Quality replaces the manufacturer's current mix of paper-based and semi-automated quality systems at their primary factory. The new platform provides a single, global system to manage all of the factory's quality incidents including quality deviation notices and their corrective and preventive actions (CAPAs). It enables rapid identification, containment, risk assessment, and corrective and preventive action methods to minimize the scope, impact and number of product quality issues.
"Ours is a growing and innovative company, and this puts pressure on operations to increase output without increasing the number of quality incidents," said the manufacturer's CIO. "We were pleased that in such a short time, Camstar's Platform replaces paper-based systems, seamlessly integrates Manufacturing and Quality, and enables us to quickly solve quality issues when they arise with more effective root-cause analysis and corrective measures."
"Camstar Quality's exceptional usability, configurability and intuitive modeling enable rapid deployment and accelerate time to value," said Reda Bensaid, Managing Director of Camstar Quality. "The solution is quickly yielding results for our customers, and Camstar will continue its intense focus on exceeding customer expectations for advancing product quality in the High Tech, Solar and Life Sciences industries."
About Camstar Systems, Inc.
Camstar is a leading innovator of manufacturing software solutions that advance product quality, enabling its customers to deliver the highest quality products on time, the first time, every time. The Camstar Enterprise Platform advances product quality throughout the product lifecycle, from design to planning to supply to manufacturing to customer product experience - all in a closed-loop learning process that allows future products to be designed better and manufacturing processes to be leaner and more efficient.
Camstar is the largest in its market, providing enterprise solutions for manufacturing execution systems, process planning, quality management, and manufacturing intelligence. For over 25 years, Camstar has served hundreds of satisfied customers worldwide, including Boston Scientific, Kodak, Carl Zeiss, Life Technologies, Beijing SE Potevio Mobile Communications, ZOLL, CIBA Vision, AMD, BIOTRONIK, Hitachi, IBM and Eagle Test.
To register for a demonstration of Camstar's next-generation CAPA solution, please visit www.camstar.info/capasolution.
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Posted on Thu, Jan 08, 2009 @ 03:40 PM
Seamless Platform for Quality Management, Manufacturing Execution and Intelligence Enjoying Rapid Adoption across Industries
Charlotte, NC - December 18, 2008 - Camstar, the leading provider of Enterprise Manufacturing and Quality Execution solutions, today announced the general availability of version 4.3 of its Enterprise Platform.
Camstar's Enterprise Platform unifies Quality Management, Manufacturing Execution and Intelligence into a seamless platform for advancing product quality across the supply chain.
"With version 4.3 we continue our mission of enabling manufacturers to deliver the highest quality products on time, the first time to meet market demand," said Karim Lokas, Camstar's Vice President of Product Strategy. "Camstar's platform offers a fundamentally different approach to quality management - a comprehensive platform that provides global control and visibility over production with built-in quality processes that function as intended - to prevent quality issues from occurring. Manufacturing leaders are shifting away from compliance-focused procedural quality to more global, business-driven quality initiatives that impact final product quality, performance, safety and reliability."
Scott Toney, Camstar's President and CEO adds, "A focus on product quality is the top priority for businesses across industries, which is why this platform is proving so strategic to our customers. High product quality leads to leaner operations, higher customer satisfaction, higher market share and less risk of brand damage from product recalls - that is what will define the leaders, especially in the current economic climate."
Manufacturers are choosing Camstar's platform because it includes robust Non-Conformance Management, CAPA Management and Complaint Management that interoperate tightly with manufacturing functions. Coupling these capabilities with improved performance and monitoring reports, analyses, KPIs and dashboards to support manufacturing and quality processes is another compelling benefit for manufacturers.
Version 4.3 became available for general release on November 21, 2008. The concept of Advancing Product Quality and how it is enabled by version 4.3 of Camstar's platform are discussed in the on-demand webinar "Changing the Game: The New Model for Quality-Driven Manufacturing Performance." That presentation may be viewed at www.camstar.com/change-the-game.
About Camstar Systems, Inc.
Camstar's Enterprise Manufacturing Execution, Quality and Intelligence platform enables "Closed-Loop Quality Execution," the end-to-end business process that surrounds manufacturing and quality operations. Camstar's unparalleled solution optimizes the innovation and risk equation by monitoring and controlling global manufacturing and quality, and by delivering process interoperability and best practices. The result is shorter time-to-market and time-to-volume, the highest quality products, and leaner, more efficient operations.
Designed for ultimate configurability and built on a service-oriented architecture, Camstar's comprehensive solution set includes industry-specific, out-of-the-box applications and a proven implementation methodology that ensures successful deployment and rapid time to benefit. More than 100 leading companies, including Boston Scientific, Zeiss, Life Technologies, ZOLL, CIBA Vision, BIOTRONIK, Stirling Medical Innovations, IBM, Hitachi, AMD, IBM, Kodak, Eagle Test and Sony Ericsson BMC rely on Camstar as a trusted software partner.
For more information, please visit http://www.camstar.com/.
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Media Contacts:
Chris Parsons, Camstar Systems, Inc.
cparsons@camstar.com
(704) 227-6617
Posted on Mon, Nov 17, 2008 @ 03:44 PM
Industry Experts Present How Winning Solar Manufacturers Use Manufacturing and Quality Execution Systems to Deliver Maximum Output and Profit Per Line
Charlotte, NC - November 17, 2008 - Camstar Systems, Inc. today announced that it will host a Solar Industry webinar titled "Reduce Your Cost Per Watt - Rapidly and Reliably". The webinar will be held December 4, 2008 at 1:00 pm EST.
"The winners in Solar manufacturing will effectively produce products with a low cost per watt," said Karim Lokas, Vice President of Product Strategy for Camstar. "The keys to their market leadership and nearly unlimited growth are speed of innovation and the ability to increase production volume while delivering top quality."
In the webinar, industry experts will discuss how top solar manufacturers are embracing an enterprise manufacturing and quality execution platform to maximize output and profit from every production line. They will describe how manufacturers can deliver real-time feedback of product performance to engineering and R&D for effective process and technology improvement; and the platform approach helps manufacturers ensure process consistency, predictability and output across the entire value chain.
Guest speakers from Emcore Photovoltaics, a Camstar customer, will share how manufacturing and quality systems have helped them improve essential business processes:
- Scaling volume without compromising quality
- Detecting issues early and rapidly determining root cause
- Reducing field failures with preventive, predictive, proactive quality
- Enforcing best known methods (BKMs)
- Increasing overall equipment uptime and utilization
- Automating data acquisition and process control
The webinar is open to professionals involved in photovoltaic manufacturing and related industries. There is no cost to attend, but registration is required. Those interested can register online at www.camstar.com/cost-per-watt.html .
About Camstar Systems, Inc.
Camstar's Enterprise Manufacturing Execution, Quality and Intelligence platform enables "Closed-Loop Quality Execution," the end-to-end business process that surrounds manufacturing and quality operations. Camstar's unparalleled solution optimizes the innovation and risk equation by monitoring and controlling global manufacturing and quality, and by delivering process interoperability and best practices. The result is shorter time-to-market and time-to-volume, the highest quality products, and leaner, more efficient operations.
Designed for ultimate configurability and built on a service-oriented architecture, Camstar's comprehensive solution set includes industry-specific, out-of-the-box applications and a proven implementation methodology that ensures successful deployment and rapid time to benefit. More than 100 leading companies, including Boston Scientific, Zeiss, Applied Biosystems, ZOLL, CIBA Vision, BIOTRONIK, Stirling Medical Innovations, IBM, Hitachi, AMD, IBM, Kodak and Sony Ericsson BMC rely on Camstar as a trusted software partner.
For more information, please visit http://www.camstar.com/.
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Media Contacts:
Chris Parsons, Camstar Systems, Inc.
cparsons@camstar.com
(704) 227-6617
Posted on Wed, Nov 12, 2008 @ 03:49 PM
Adams Brings a Deep Knowledge of the User Community and Business Issues Facing the Manufacturing Industry
Charlotte, NC - November 12, 2008 - Camstar, the leading provider of Enterprise Manufacturing and Quality Execution solutions, today announced that Jason Adams, Vice President of Sales, North America and Europe, has been named to the Board of Directors for the Manufacturing Enterprise Solutions Association (MESA) International. MESA is a community of manufacturing end users, systems integrators, hardware and software suppliers, industry analysts and consultants.
Adams has extensive Life Sciences and High Tech manufacturing experience and has been a thought leader at Camstar for more than 15 years. Jason's deep understanding of the manufacturing community and business issues facing Life Sciences and High Tech Industries will greatly assist MESA in guiding new topic areas, programs and informational materials.
"Jason Adams' experience and expertise in ‘Next Generation' Manufacturing and Quality aligns very well to MESA's strategic initiative for Quality and Regulatory Compliance," said John Dyck, MESA Board Chairman from Rockwell Automation. "We expect that he will take an active leadership position in helping to educate end users and the industry as a whole in this key area."
Adams will leverage the relationships he has cultivated over many years to encourage end user involvement and ultimately drive new membership to the organization. He will also bring new opportunities to MESA through his extensive experience in defining and penetrating new markets, and will help further define and position the future of strategic Manufacturing, Quality and Intelligence solutions in the context of the global enterprise.
"MESA International is an outstanding organization that has exhibited its thought leadership time and time again through its numerous conferences, research and publications," said Adams. "Camstar has long been an active member of MESA, and we are pleased to expand the relationship through this appointment."
About MESA International
MESA is an association of manufacturers/producers, solution providers and industry professionals, promoting innovation and best practices sharing, with a goal of delivering valuable knowledge around operations-centric enterprise solutions. MESA defines industry standard methodologies and approaches that allow manufacturers/producers to bridge execution excellence with enterprise level requirements. MESA's industry events, symposiums and publications help cultivate understanding, analysis and the exchange of strategies and innovation to achieve manufacturing leadership. For more information, please visit: http://www.mesa.org/.
About Camstar Systems, Inc.
Camstar's Enterprise Manufacturing Execution, Quality and Intelligence platform enables "Closed-Loop Quality Execution," the end-to-end business process that surrounds manufacturing and quality operations. Camstar's unparalleled solution optimizes the innovation and risk equation by monitoring and controlling global manufacturing and quality, and by delivering process interoperability and best practices. The result is shorter time-to-market and time-to-volume, the highest quality products, and leaner, more efficient operations.
Designed for ultimate configurability and built on a service-oriented architecture, Camstar's comprehensive solution set includes industry-specific, out-of-the-box applications and a proven implementation methodology that ensures successful deployment and rapid time to benefit. More than 100 leading companies, including Boston Scientific, Zeiss, Applied Biosystems, ZOLL, CIBA Vision, BIOTRONIK, Stirling Medical Innovations, IBM, Hitachi, AMD, IBM, Kodak and Sony Ericsson BMC rely on Camstar as a trusted software partner.
For more information, please visit http://www.camstarsystems.cn/ or http://www.camstar.com/.
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Media Contacts:
Chris Parsons, Camstar Systems, Inc.
cparsons@camstar.com
(704) 227-6617