Terepac, Rockwell Automation to deliver micro circuits, support Internet of Things

Rockwell Automation boosts Terepac micro circuit production for Internet-enabling small devices.

By Mark T. Hoske June 15, 2012

Terepac Corp., manufacturer of tiny digital electronics, and Rockwell Automation announced a June 11 agreement whereby “Terepac can produce large volumes of its micro circuits for the ‘Internet of Things,’ uniquely identifiable objects and their virtual representations in an Internet-like structure that requires radio frequency identification (RFID) as a prerequisite.” Based on the agreement, “Rockwell Automation will support the infrastructure that Terepac uses for its proprietary process, enabling it to miniaturize significantly more circuits than its current capability.”

"Terepac is using its unique technology to produce very small circuits," said Sujeet Chand, senior vice president and chief technology officer, Rockwell Automation. Chand said Rockwell has an opportunity to "help Terepac scale its breakthrough technology and advance microelectronics."

Details or terms of the agreement were not disclosed, said a Rockwell Automation spokesperson.

In April, Terepac announced its TereTag. The tag, embedded in a host, helps Internet-enable the connected device to “identify, communicate, and operate with more security and efficiency,” Terepac said.

"Giving an electronic voice to an almost limitless number and type of objects can result in unprecedented gains in efficiency, insight, and organizational change," said Terepac CEO Ric Asselstine. "From health conditions to energy efficiency to more optimized industrial processes, we are learning the potential advances made possible by applying this technology.”

According to Terepac Corp., it “has developed a breakthrough semiconductor packaging and assembly method to allow effective handling and packaging of the tiniest imaginable chips, objects, and electronic components, at its limit to the nanometer scale. As a result, sophisticated microelectronics can be printed on flexible substrates at a fraction of the size and cost of conventional methods. Entire structures with microprocessors, memory, and sensors can be reduced to less than a millimeter square, thinner than paper, and flexible enough to bend around a pencil, with no sacrifice in performance.”

Terepac Corporation is privately held with headquarters in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. Rockwell Automation Inc. said it is the world’s largest company dedicated to industrial automation and information, and makes its customers more productive and the world more sustainable. Headquartered in Milwaukee, Wis., Rockwell Automation employs about 21,000 people serving customers in more than 80 countries.

www.terepac.com 

www.rockwellautomation.com 

– Edited by Mark T. Hoske, content manager CFE Media, Control Engineering, Plant Engineering, and Consulting-Specifying Engineer, mhoske@cfemedia.com.

https://www.controleng.com/machinecontrol


Author Bio: Mark Hoske has been Control Engineering editor/content manager since 1994 and in a leadership role since 1999, covering all major areas: control systems, networking and information systems, control equipment and energy, and system integration, everything that comprises or facilitates the control loop. He has been writing about technology since 1987, writing professionally since 1982, and has a Bachelor of Science in Journalism degree from UW-Madison.