Werner Bergholz

Professor of Electrical Engineering International University Bremen

Quality Function Deployment as a Tool to Improve the Development of Standards

BIOGRAPHY Werner Bergholz received his Diploma and Doctor degree in physics from the University of Goettingen in Germany. He joined the Siemens Semiconductor (today Infineon Technologies) in 1985 as the head of a defect and contamination analysis lab. Following positions in process technology, silicon substrate procurement Quality Management / Business Excellence he accepted a professorship of Electrical Engineering at the International University Bremen in 2002. He is Co-chairman of the SEMI Europe Regional Standards Committee and Silicon Wafer Technical Committee and a consultant in Semiconductor Technology and Quality Management. ABSTRACT 1. Introduction and objective of paper During the last 2 decades, in large parts of the manufacturing industry (automotive, electronics,...) the quality function deployment (QFD) technique has been applied to the development, manufacturing and servicing of products. Quantum leap improvements of more than a factor of 2 have been achieved with respect to: reduction of development times painless transition from development to production (in terms of necessary changes to make the product fit for production) time for production ramp up service and user friendliness (measured for instance by the number of customer complaints and emergency actions like call back of cars from the consumers)

This methodology is obviously not limited to manufacturing, but can be and has been successfully adopted by the service industry. It is the purpose of this paper to analyse if and how the QFD technique can by applied to identify and implement improvements in the standards development process. 2. Essentials of QFD Users and customers of products or services usually have fairly good ideas as to what they expect: A car should not rust, should start in all weather conditions, should be economically on petrol, be versatile in the arrangements of seats, etc. Until the QFD principles were developed, it was fairly normal that new products would be developed after the likes, dislikes and technical ideas of the developers, with not enough attention paid to the production process, servicing and last but not least to the real expectations of the customers. A famous example is the Ford Edsel model of the 1950s, of which only a few 100 were sold, contrary to the millions which had been anticipated. The starting point of QFD is a matrix-based technique to transform the customer demands and expectations (which will have been thoroughly researched) in 1 to 6 consecutive steps into the language of technology and into a carefully selected concept for the development and implementation of the new product or service. This includes, if appropriate, new technologies, new ways of production, etc. , supported by regular feedback cycles to verify that the project is still in time and on track. 3. Application to standards development The existing standards development process will be examined according to the QFD principles. New concepts and ideas will be examined: How standards can be developed more along the expectations of the users How the development of standards can be accelerated How necessary changes can be implemented How the quality of the standards can be improved in terms of fewer mistakes and ambiguities and in terms of making standards more robust against the rough environment of the semiconductor industry

In conclusion, the expected improvements and changes in the key processes for standards development will be reviewed, including an estimate of the required time to the start of a pilot project and its implementation. CONTACT INFORMATION International University Bremen Campus Ring 1 D-28759 Bremen Germany Tel: +49 421 2003111 w.bergholz@iu-bremen.de www.iu-bremen.de CO-AUTHORS Bettina Weiss, Director, Int'l Standards & MEMS, SEMI

Standards Key Building Blocks to the Semiconductor Industrys Success

Future Applications - Future Standards

SEMI Standards and Quality Function Deployment

Werner Bergholz, IUB and Bettina Weiss, SEMI

Standards & QFD

Increasing need for early introduction of standards!
Future Applications Future Standards Early standards development saves a lot of money and speeds up the ramp process Having standards available when they are needed allows the industry to be better prepared

From lab to Fab

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Standards & QFD

Outline:
The need for Improvement for making standards What is Quality Function Deployment ? How QFD can be harnessed for the development of SEMI Standards Ideas for Improvements Summary
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Standards & QFD

The Need for Improving Standards Development:
Only 100 out of >600 SEMI Standards used regularly Not the right standards? Shortage of volunteers, lack of allocation of resources and company commitment to them by member companies Benefits of standards not there or not perceived ! It takes > 500 days (on average) to create a standard Process too slow? Or volunteer time too precious? Cost of standards program (too) high Process too expensive / too cumbersome?
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Standards & QFD

Conclusion:
Standard has to meet user expectations better Standard development process must speed up, especially for urgently needed projects, e.g. software Standard development process must be more efficient

All at the same time !

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Standards & QFD

=

The Magic Triangle of Quality:

Fit for the purpose = Quality

Cost / right Price

On time delivery
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Standards & QFD

How can this magic goal be reached ?
Since the 80s: Quality Function Deployment Used for manufacturing products Used for providing a service

Must be applicable to the development of Standards,

too!

Standards & QFD

Outline:
The need for Improvement for making standards What is Quality Function Deployment ? How QFD be harnessed for the development of SEMI Standards? Ideas for Improvements Summary

Standards & QFD

What is QFD? An Example
1980s Competition Honda Kawasaki for #1 motorcycle manufacturer Strategy Kawasaki: Increase in capacity economy of scale advantage Strategy Honda: Quality Function Deployment

And the winner was.......

Standards & QFD

Honda! QFD in 4 steps (simplified):

1. Find out what the customer really wants
(e.g. high mileage low consumption, efficient engine,...)

(not what the engineers think he wants or what would be nice to have)

2. Translate this into technical = corporate language 3. Develop several concepts and consider
cost, robustness of product against production, environment and user variation speed of development, production and service in a cross functional team

4. Consensus on the best concept and implement by concurrent engineering (i.e. order production and service tools in good time)
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Standards & QFD

Result:
Honda had 100 new models (in a modular concept) in 18 months By QFD

Customers loved and bought Hondas models, because:

They were exactly what they wanted Kawasakis models looked old and outdated

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Standards & QFD

QFD
Is used in the motorcycle, car, electronics, other industries Has led to
1. > 50% reduction of development times and development cost 2. Cost decrease of production: development cost 10% of total cost, but determines 90% of the cost 3. Better products to meet customers expectations = higher Quality

The magic triangle fulfilled!

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QFD other examples:

Komatsu introduced 11 new products in 2.5 years Caterpillar only 1 2 per year Xerox recaptured large market share from Canon by
introducing QFD

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Standards & QFD

QFD Definition 1:
A methodology designed to ensure that
all major requirements of customers are identified and subsequently met or exceeded through the resulting design of the product and its manufacturing ( + servicing)

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Standards & QFD

QFD Definition 2:
a set of communication and translation tools for making quality customer-driven it translates the voice of the customer into the relevant characteristics of the product, parts, and process. QFD tries to eliminate the gap between what the customer wants in a new product, and what the product is capable of delivering
Quotes from : Encyclopedia of Production and Manufacturing Management - ISBN 0792386302
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Standards & QFD

Outline:
The need for Improvement for making standards What is Quality Function Deployment ? How QFD be harnessed for the development of SEMI Standards? Ideas for Improvements Summary

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Standards & QFD

Application of QFD towards SEMI Standards Development:
QFD has worked wonders for the production and
service industry

It has to be useful for SEMI Standards as well!

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Standards & QFD

QFD in SEMI Standards A Step-by-Step Adaptation:
1. Find out what the customer really wants: 2. Translate this into technical = corporate language 3. Develop several concepts and consider
cost, robustness of product against production, environment and user variation speed of development, production and service in a cross functional team

4. Consensus on the best concept and implement by concurrent engineering (i.e. order production and service tools in good time)
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Standards & QFD 1. Find out what the customer really wants :
Customer
SEMI Member companies, device manufacturers, service providers, others Top management decision on requirements, resources (i.e. sending volunteers) Engineers decision on using and implementing the Standard
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Standards & QFD

Customer Requirement:
General: High quality Standard: - Correct, accurate and state-of-the-art technical content - Easy to understand, correct, unambiguous wording with no room for interpretation - Timely

- Benefit: Saves time and money for suppliers, IC

manufacturers, end users!
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Customer Requirements:

Specific Standards / Examples:

- 300mm wafers(strong drive by IC manufacturers!) - MEMS Standards - Standard for wafer re-inscription for test and assembly - Cleaning efficiency standard
............

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Standards & QFD

2. Translate into Technical / Corporate Language + 3 and 4 :
Which technical committee (s)
300mm wafer MEMS Si wafer committee new MEMS committee, strong links to several other committees, e.g. Si wafer!

Wafer re-inscription Si wafer or traceability committee? Cleaning efficiency Si wafer, chemical, other?

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Workflow:
Identify requirements and key stakeholders, bring them into Task Force Work out draft in Task Force in several iterations Report to technical committee decision to put up for vote Positive Vote: QM procedure to ensure that procedure was correct Publication of standard

Complication: Cross functional standards Change of workflow? (simpler and faster?)

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Standards & QFD

Which region?
A particular region can be the leader But: consensus has to be reached quickly, so involvement of the other regions at an early stage is critical

Which document type?

Full Standard can it be derived from an existing one? Subordinate document?- less work, all relevant information in one place Terminology document Guideline? quicker to reach consensus Proposed Standard only needs committee approval, can be published quickly and developed further at a later stage
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Which QM procedure (Global Audit and Review Subcommittee)

Previously: Procedural Review per region Difficulty: how to improve quality and speed of review and at the same time improve efficiency?

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Standards & QFD

How is customer informed about a new standard
Best: involve him from the beginning (concurrent engineering!) Announcement on website Press Release Most importantly: The customer not familiar with SEMI Standards should be offered a guidance how to apply the Standards to maximum benefit (application notes, as you would receive for novel devices)

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Evaluation of the Performance of the Product
How much is it used (frequency, percentage of potential users) Evaluation of the benefits Evaluation of problems

For a car or airline flight this is regularly done to improve further For standards still underdeveloped!
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Standards & QFD

Outline:
The need for Improvement for making standards What is Quality Function Deployment ? How QFD be harnessed for the development of SEMI Standards? Ideas for Improvements Summary

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Standards & QFD

Ideas for Improvements from QFD :
1. Systematic Customer Communication via several channels:
ITRS roadmap (1-way) Fab Managers Forum (2-way) This conference! (2-way) SEMI Standards technical committees and publications SEMI press releases, articles about new SEMI Standards, their application and impact Communication of highly ranked SNARF and alerting the industry of upcoming requirements Call for Participation Active communication of the measured benefits of

standards!

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Standards & QFD

2. Optimize the committee structure and procedures:
Make sure that engineers from user companies are involved from the beginning Adapt creation process to the increased need for interdisciplinary standards (such as cleaning efficiency) matrix principle? Adopt to globalization: improved cooperation and information exchange between all regions Improve technical support: virtual meetings, support with language problems Create a standards roadmap per technical committee
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3. Improved information of users / customers:
More effective alert of potential users that new Standard is available Easier access to new Standard Advice on how to implement and benefit from the Standard Develop a systematic approach to regularly monitor the
Use of standards Measure the benefit of standards Obtain customer feedback including complaints to continuously improve quality and relevance Benchmark against other Standards Development Organizations
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Standards & QFD

Summary
QFD is a systematic way of improving products and services for the customer
Magic Quality triangle

QFD can be used to generate fresh ideas on how to

- Improve communication with companies more volunteers - Speed up Standards development - Better marketing of standard by improving the visibility of the benefits
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