Yield and productivity improvements

© John Glenning 2014

Process Yield and Productivity Improvement Strategy

John Glenning

September 1, 2014


SAFETY:

“Safety First”

Safety is everybody's job

Try to eliminate at least 1 safety issue a week. In one year, you will have eliminated over 50 potential safety issues

A Safety issue could be the water that is on the floor that could be a slip hazard or a sharp corner on a machine that could be a scrap hazard.

Look for loose wires, unsupported pipes, open cutting blades, unsupported cabinets, etc… and fix them



YIELDS VS DEFECTS

Do not focus on the yield. Yield is an “effect”, not a “cause”

If you reduce/eliminate defects, yields will eventually improve

Most defect inspections are “first defect found” and that is labelled the cause of the defective product

First defect found does not find the most common defect. It finds the easiest defect to inspect for.



YIELD VS DEFECTS-UNLAYERING THE PRODUCT

If a part has one defect or 100 defects, the part is defective

Count all the defects and their numbers.

Focus on the top total defect category and eliminate that defect category. This is the shortest path to yield improvement.

Then continue on the next top defect

Keep doing this and yields will increase



“THE LOW HANGING FRUIT”

The “Low Hanging Fruit” is where you have problems that are obvious and quick and easy to solve. Solve these first.

Top of the list is the Equipment operating improperly and is not it being properly maintained. Next on the list is Handling Damage.

You have made the product correctly and then damaged the product. Work with the Operations Team to understand why handling is important and how they should be handling the product(s)

Use the Operators for ideas or observations. They are on the “front lines” and know what is happening.



Understand your chemistries

Identified the chemistry conditions that give consistently stable product (find the “flat spots” on the curve)

Understand how the chemistries are controlled

Consider using Redundant Sensors

Redundant sensors are early warning signs of problems

If both sensors are tracking in the same directions, you could have a process, equipment or chemistry problem

If both sensors are tracking in different directions or magnitude, you have a sensor problem



OPTIMIZING YOUR PROCESSES

1. Start Out small. 2. Use the Operators to help identify key variables. They know what are

important.3. Run DOEs (Design of Experiments)4. Identify key process variables through Regression Analysis5. Follow up with a “Method of Steepest Assent” experiments6. Keep running this until product yields start to increase7. This is your new processing conditions8. Consider Repeating this cycle



ATTAINMENT

Attainment is the point in process improvement, where it does not make economic sense for the business to improve the Process

Here, the cost of the improvement is greater than the additional revenue to the business

A first sign of Attainment is key metrics (like yield) have topped off

In and of itself, yield topping off does not necessary mean you have reach Attainment

On the other hand, if yields, as an example, are at 95% and you are seeing no further improvements, it is a reasonable assumption that you have reached Attainment



ATTAINMENT

Attainment may include the following:

On-Time Delivery to CommitManufacturing Cycle TimeTime to Make ChangeoversYieldIncoming Supplier QualityThroughputCapacity UtilizationEquipment EffectivenessSchedulingWIP Inventory/TurnsPlanned vs. Unplanned MaintenanceNew Product IntroductionEnergy CostOn-Time delivery



CRITICAL SPARES LIST

Lean Theory says that you keep what you need in the plant for immediate needs. This can breakdown if unexpected problems suddenly occur, like unexpected equipment failure or a problem with a key supplier.

Critical Spares list includes:1. Machine1. Module in machine2. Location in the module3. Number needed4. Supplier5. Lead time6. Minimum inventory7. Part number8. Cost



THE VISUAL FACTORY

You should be able to quickly look around and quickly assess if there are problems on the floor

Things to look for:

1. Inventory of spare parts vs reorder point 2. Inventory of raw material vs reorder point3. Inventory of chemicals vs reorder point 4. What products are where in production5. High Price Spares vs unplanned downtime-Business Decision



NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT:

The regular introduction of new and upgraded products is critical for any business to keep growing and expanding.

Always be in close contact with you customers to understand their needs and wants.

Always be in close contact with you suppliers to understand future needs

This gives the business time to plan what is needed for the future.



DON’T LISTEN TO WHAT THEY SAY, LISTEN TO THE WORDS THEY CHOOSE:

An Engineer’s people skills, often are more important than their technical skills.

It is important to listen to the people on the floor. They will tell you what is going on in a “folksy way”. Ask opened questions. You can get a lot of good information.

Share credit generously. Everyone wants to be a part of successes.



END OF PRESENTATION

Engineering

Yield and productivity improvements