EXPERIENCES IN EXECUTING PRODUCTIVITY IMPROVEMENT PROGRAMS IN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING

摘要

Since 1981, the author has executed various programs to improve productivity in a variety of scenarios and companies. This began as a challenge to improve photolithography throughput, but soon enlarged to include improving the overall productivity of an industry-leading DRAM manufacturing facility. Metrics had to be created and tracked; the process flow analyzed for possibilities; opportunities prioritized; plans developed, approved, and executed; and results tracked and measured. At the end of the program productivity showed an 8X improvement. The same approach was attempted at another facility, but failed to even start due to fundamental organizational roadblocks.