Taylor, the start-up that makes microelectronics simple, choose HI to improve their reliability

Taylor  is a spin-off from Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) and was founded in 2017. Taylor develops and supplies microelectronics for the solar PV industry. Our embedded microelectronics simplifies system design and installation, while lowering total system cost by 15%. Independent cell-string control prevents hotspots and increases the yield of solar systems, whilst decreasing cabling and installation cost. Taylor supplies microelectronics tailored to solar module manufacturers, optimizing integrated product performance and supply chain.

Taylor is a young company operating in an international high-volume market. It is, therefore, our philosophy to be a strong connector and integrator of technology throughout the value chain. At the same time, we work in close partnerships with knowledge institutes integrating new concepts (i.e. Solliance, Imec, TNO, TU/e, RWTH Aachen).

As we are approaching market introduction in the coming year, we are transitioning more and more from a technology-focused team to a product-focused team. In the solar PV industry, reliability and design for manufacturing are of extreme importance (also in collaboration with our suppliers and clients). As a start-up, the last thing you want is to reinvent the wheel. It is, therefore, crucial for us to translate existing industry experience and processes into our product (e.g. automotive, semiconductor). Luckily the Brainport region gives a lot of opportunities to do so, as high-tech industry experience and strong (local) collaboration are in the DNA of the Brainport region.

Already knowing Holland Innovative from our network, we approached them to explore setting up some interactive sessions to learn from their extensive experience and knowledge on reliability and quality for high-tech products. In addition to it being a “sanity check” on our current way of working with our partners, we also wanted to get a fresh perspective on how other industries and companies approach this topic. We were very happy with the tailored approach of Holland Innovative, as each type of product and each type of company requires a different approach to learning. The dynamics in a young start-up are of course something different from a large established multi-national.

Panel – junctionbox

Together with Coen Smits, who is an expert on reliability, we set out three workshops for our engineering team:

– critical to quality flowdown
– FMEA analyses
– reliability statistics

The inherent goal was not necessarily to create a complete new process and system architecture, but to get a better understanding of the concepts applied and see where we could improve our current way of working. Organized in three quick-paced days, we were able to get a much better understanding of design for reliability and manufacturing. Especially the open discussion on these topics within the team created better alignment on the goals and challenges that lie ahead.

Our team would like to thank Holland Innovative, and specifically Coen Smits, for their contribution to our company and very pleasant collaboration.