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

Edit This Case Study Record

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

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

Sphera

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
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. Read More
About 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. Read More
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. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

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

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.

About 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.

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.

Impact #1	The centralized risk assessment process helps the semiconductor manufacturer dramatically reduce lost profits associated with shipping defective products.
Impact #2	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.
Impact #3	The centralized process has helped the company dramatically reduce the number of risk analyses it undertakes, while improving the quality.

Impact #1

The centralized risk assessment process helps the semiconductor manufacturer dramatically reduce lost profits associated with shipping defective products.

Impact #2

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.

Impact #3

The centralized process has helped the company dramatically reduce the number of risk analyses it undertakes, while improving the quality.

Benefit #1	Reduced number of FMEAs from thousands to hundreds, enabling employees to focus on higher-value tasks
Benefit #2	Potential for saving billions of dollars in lost profits due to product defects

Benefit #1

Reduced number of FMEAs from thousands to hundreds, enabling employees to focus on higher-value tasks

Benefit #2

Potential for saving billions of dollars in lost profits due to product defects

Download PDF Version

Overview

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

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit