Innodisk, a provider of industrial embedded flash and memory solutions, has inaugurated a new R&D and manufacturing center in a science park in Taiwan's northeastern county of Yilan, with its focus on developing industrial control solutions integrating software, firmware and hardware, according to company chairman Randy Chien.
Chien said that the center features a situation analysis room maintaining real-time connections with all the branch offices of Innodisk to simultaneously monitor production data and order fulfillment situations. In addition, the center is installed with a fast production line shift system that can help boost production efficiency by 60%. And a comprehensive anti-material error system with smart data analysis is also incorporated to prevent wrong material feeding and partly realize smart manufacturing.
Chien stressed that the company's Yilan complex will have 170-180 R&D engineers by the end of 2018, and will gradually expand the number to 300-400 in the near future to enhance the development of industrial control solutions involving AI and IoT applications.
Besides strengthening its software platform and applying smart design systems into its SSD products, Innodisk will continue expanding its re-investments in AI, automotive electronics, 5G and cloud service sectors, according to Chien.
He said Innodisk will move to carry out trial incorporation of 3D NAND into industrial control solutions in the second half of 2018, adding that 2D NAND will remain the mainstream memory for such solutions throughout the year.
Innodisk has reported consolidated revenues of NT$2.01 billion (US$67.23 million) for the first quarter of 2018, up 9.4% sequentially and 43.4% on year, with gross margin reaching 26.0%. The company expects stable revenues and profits to pick up quarter by quarter in the year.
Innodisk chairman Randy Chien
Photo: Shihmin Fu, Digitimes, May 2018
Article translated by Willis Ke
