Sphera > Case Studies > Semiconductor Manufacturer Reduces Product Defects and Lost Profits through Consistent Risk Assessment

Semiconductor Manufacturer Reduces Product Defects and Lost Profits through Consistent Risk Assessment

Customer Company Size

Large Corporate

Region

America
Asia
Europe

Country

Singapore
United States

Product

Quality Risk Management
Failure Modes and Effect Analysis (FMEA)
Global Context Matrix

Tech Stack

Risk Assessment Software
Centralized System

Implementation Scale

Enterprise-wide Deployment

Impact Metrics

Cost Savings
Productivity Improvements
Waste Reduction

Technology Category

Analytics & Modeling - Predictive Analytics

Applicable Industries

Semiconductors
Electronics

Applicable Functions

Quality Assurance
Product Research & Development

Use Cases

Predictive Quality Analytics
Manufacturing Process Simulation

Services

System Integration
Data Science Services

About The Customer

The customer is one of the world’s leading semiconductor manufacturing companies, with nearly 300 worldwide customers and 20,000 employees. The company manufactures microchips that are used in a wide variety of electronic devices, from automobiles to smartphones. The impact of a defective product can be extremely costly, ranging up to $1 billion. Therefore, the ability to identify, analyze and mitigate risks involved in product manufacturing is of the utmost importance. The company had a goal of zero defects and was in search of a better process to mitigate risks and deliver quality products to its customers.

The Challenge

The semiconductor manufacturer, with several business units spanning three continents, lacked a consistent process for managing risk related to the thousands of products it produces. Each business entity had its own homegrown solution, leading to inconsistency in information across the enterprise. The semiconductor business is complex due to the variety of products and the many risk analyses performed at various levels. An unmitigated risk at the smallest level could have a huge impact on something at a much higher level. The company needed a centralized operational risk management solution.

The Solution

The company partnered with Sphera to provide a consolidated operational risk management solution. Through a series of design sessions, Sphera was able to identify the nine interrelated factors involved in risk assessment analyses and map them into a global context matrix. The centralized system and context matrix solved the issue of information in silos. Now, the company can see the impact of the risk created by local process changes at any one of their manufacturing locations on a global level. The centralized process has helped the company dramatically reduce the number of risk analyses it undertakes, while improving the quality. The company now has a much stronger process for assessing risk and identifying defects before they become even more costly.

Operational Impact

The centralized risk assessment process helps the semiconductor manufacturer dramatically reduce lost profits associated with shipping defective products.
The centralized system and context matrix solved the issue of information in silos. Now, they can see the impact of the risk created by local process changes at any one of their manufacturing locations on a global level.
The centralized process has helped the company dramatically reduce the number of risk analyses it undertakes, while improving the quality.
The company now has a much stronger process for assessing risk and identifying defects before they become even more costly.

Quantitative Benefit

Reduced number of FMEAs from thousands to hundreds, enabling employees to focus on higher-value tasks
Potential for saving billions of dollars in lost profits due to product defects