Page Content Quality
Quality Management System
As part of our drive toward total customer satisfaction, we have developed a Total Quality Management System that provides strict policies and procedures on how our facilities, business processes and employees must operate, and extends these systems to our suppliers and subcontractors as well. Based upon industry-standard practices, these procedures guide manufacturing, customer support and response, performance monitoring, and records-keeping. The Spansion Quality Manual is the central policy document which specifies the key processes that govern our operations. These processes apply to Spansion worldwide.
Spansion Quality Management Board
Overseeing all of our reliability systems, the Spansion Quality Management Board (QMB) brings together executive representatives from each of our organizations on a regular basis. The council reviews quality systems and procedures, defines new policies and processes, works to resolve major issues and helps ensure the consistency of the Spansion quality management system worldwide.
Quality Infrastructure Processes
Quality Infrastructure Processes (Details)
- Certification
All of Spansion’s production facilities are certified to the demanding ISO/TS 16949:2009 global technical specification, ISO 9001:2008 quality standard, and the ISO 14001 environmental standard. Wafer fabrication foundries and package assembly and test subcontractors are also TS certified when necessary.
- Quality System Management
In accordance with ISO/TS 16949, Spansion management conducts Quality System Management Review (QSMR) meetings every six months to review all aspects of the Spansion Quality System. Members of the Spansion Quality Management Board, or their designees, attend the meetings, along with executives and representatives of affected support groups. Attendees of the QSMR meeting identify and assist in prioritizing opportunities for continual improvement in areas and operations deemed acceptable, while mandating corrective action for those rendered otherwise. The QMB will also meet at other times, as necessary, to address any time-critical issues. The QMB is the final authority with respect to prioritizing needed corrective action and continual improvement activities.
- Continual Improvement
Spansion’s continual improvement program is called “Kaizen+.” Kaizen+ is Spansion’s commitment to involve every employee in achieving profit, growth, and customer satisfaction. The program establishes a structure within each group, organization, or site that consists of a Kaizen+ committee, a Champion, and Kaizen+ Black, Brown, Green, and Yellow Belts. All Spansion employees are required to complete basic Kaizen+ training and become Yellow Belts who are familiar with fundamental problem solving methodologies such as 8D and PDCA, and continual improvement tools such as Pareto Analysis, Fishbone Diagrams, Why-Why Analysis, etc. Black, Brown, and Green Belt candidates receive more extensive training and lead continual improvement projects. Kaizen+ projects are reviewed and approved by management, and are carefully monitored for success by tracking quality, cost, delivery, performance, and/or service metrics. The results of Kaizen+ projects are implemented by changes to existing procedures or specifications, or by creation of entirely new processes. Project Sharing Conferences are held periodically to share Kaizen+ applications and accomplishments from many different operations throughout Spansion and ensure that best known improvement methods are shared company-wide.
- Documentation
Spansion has implemented comprehensive document management processes to ensure that current and correct documents are both available and utilized toward supporting the needs of the business. Data and information (i.e. records) are defined, managed, and retained in accordance with company requirements designed to satisfy statutory, regulatory, and customer requirements. To successfully say what you do, do what you say, and prove it, demands a flawless documentation system – like the one instituted at Spansion.
- Performance Monitoring and Audits
Someone once said, “If it’s worth doing, it’s worth measuring.” At Spansion, we measure the performance of every key process, especially those that are customer-facing. We rigorously monitor product quality and reliability to verify that processes are in place and repeatable. Metrics are a key aspect of continual improvement, especially those related to customer satisfaction.
- Device Analysis
Spansion operates Device Analysis (DA) Laboratories across the globe, with locations in the United States, Thailand, Malaysia, and Germany. Equipped with state-of-the-art tools and expertise in the latest techniques for fault isolation and verification, these labs support our customers and the engineering community by performing failure analysis. Failure analysis drives to root cause and corrective action for continual product improvement.
- Purchasing
Spansion has developed its World-Class Supplier (WCS) process to ensure that our manufacturing operations are provided with materials that adhere to our high standards of quality thereby allowing the company to master its commitment toward total customer satisfaction. Through this process, Spansion evaluates and selects new suppliers, as well as analyzes and monitors the performance of existing suppliers. With an emphasis on supplier quality processes and continual improvement measures, the WCS process remains the cornerstone of Spansion’s supplier partnering activities.
- Comprehensive Factory Quality Assurance Procedures
Virtually every process within Spansion has built-in quality requirements. State of the art controls using measurements from the process and the materials used in the manufacturing and shipping of our products ensure product meets rigorous requirements and satisfies customers. Statistical Process Management is used extensively throughout manufacturing to help ensure that abnormal process variation is identified as early as possible and eliminated at the point of origin to prevent quality issues. The use of Error Proofing, Automated Process Control, Fault Detection, and classical Statistical Process Control, is prevalent in all manufacturing areas.
- Foundry and Subcontractor Control
In addition to its in-house manufacturing facilities, Spansion also utilizes foundries and subcontractors for fabrication, assembly, and testing of Spansion products. Upon the product being introduced and qualified under the PLC/UMS process, it may be fabricated at a foundry where key performance indicators are monitored to maintain and improve the quality and reliability of products. Subcontractors are selected, evaluated and qualified in accordance with specified requirements. Baseline requirements are established for each of the qualified subcontractors and our WCS rating and ranking process is applied. All foundries and subcontractors must comply with the fundamental quality system requirements of ISO/TS 16949, and most are certified to this standard. All foundry and subcontractor partners must meet Spansion’s strict built-in quality requirements, and are expected to utilize state-of-the-art controls equivalent or better to those used by Spansion’s manufacturing facilities. Where necessary, Spansion freely shares its knowledge and experience to assist our partners in meeting our requirements.
- Procedures for Handling Nonconforming Product
Any product that does not conform to requirements (or is suspected of being nonconforming) is identified and controlled via Spansion’s formal Decision Record system. Appropriate corrective actions are undertaken by engineering and/or management to eliminate the cause of the nonconformity and to disposition the product accordingly.
- Preventive Action
Preventive actions may be proposed by any Spansion employee (to prevent the occurrence of nonconformities) and are reviewed by the appropriate Spansion authority. Preventive actions are tracked and periodically reported by the specification owner as well as by Spansion’s ACN (Advanced Change Notification) committee if major changes are proposed. They are summarized and reported at the appropriate QSMR meeting.
- Corrective Action
Corrective action may be proposed by any Spansion employee. Reporting may be informal and follow the same process as continual improvement activities. Formal corrective actions may be required by some specifications or procedures (such as responses to audit non-conformities). Where necessary, formal Corrective Action Requests (CARs) may be issued and must be handled per the process described in the Spansion Corrective Action System. Any Spansion personnel assigned a CAR by any other Spansion employee is obligated to respond to that CAR.
For more in-depth information on our total quality management system, please see the detailed guidelines contained in our Spansion Quality Manual.
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