1999 May 07 120
Philips Semiconductors
Quality General
QUALITY
Total Quality Management
Philips Semiconductors is a Quality Company, aiming
towards one ultimate standard, that of Business
Excellence. The tool we use in striving towards this goal is
our Total Quality Management (TQM) system. The TQM is
described in our Quality manuals, and is summarized in
the following paragraphs. The Philips Business Excellence
Programme as part of TQM follows the European
Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) model. The
EFQM award is on the level of the Malcolm Baldridge
award.
QUALITY ASSURANCE
Quality Assurance (QA) is based on ISO 9000 standards
and customer standards such as QS-9000. Our factories
are certified to ISO 9000 and QS-9000 by external
inspectorates. Sales organizations and headquarters are
also certified to ISO 9000. The products of Philips
Semiconductors are in conformance with the requirements
of international standards.
PARTNERSHIPS WITH CUSTOMERS
Partnerships with customers include Process Quality
measurement co-operation (using PPM), design-in
agreements, ship-to-stock, just-in-time, sharing
technology roadmaps, a change notification programme,
self-qualification programmes and application support.
PARTNERSHIPS WITH SUPPLIERS
Our suppliers are certified to ISO 9000 and participate in
ship-to-stock programmes. Key-suppliers receive support
and feedback through our Supplier Quality System (SQS)
audits.
CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT PROGRAMME
The continuous improvement programme incorporates
continuous process and system improvement, design
improvement, complete use of statistical process control,
and logistics improvement, driven by key performance
indicators. To encourage improvement in teamwork a very
popular Quality Improvement Competition is held yearly.
With a large number of improvement teams participating,
opportunities arise for the sharing of successful
improvement ideas.
Advanced quality planning
During the design and development of new products and
processes, quality is built-in by advanced quality planning.
By means of failure-mode-and-effect analysis the critical
parameters of a process are identified. Procedures are
then laid down to ensure the highest level of performance
for these parameters. The capability of process steps is
also planned in this phase in preparation for production
under statistical process control.
Quality network
Product quality is the responsibility of the Business Lines,
with their Quality and Reliability (Q&R) departments
operating in a supportive and controlling manner. The
sales organization has Quality Managers who respond to
any quality matters raised by customers. Customer
complaints are then handled by direct contact between
Sales Quality and the relevant Q&R department. General
quality requirements are covered by a divisional Quality
department.
Product conformance
The assurance of product conformance is an integral part
of our Quality Assurance practice. This is achieved by:
•In-line Quality Assurance to monitor process
reproducibility during manufacture. Equipment
performance and process steps are under statistical
process control.
•Acceptance tests on finished products to verify
conformance with the device specification. The test
results are used for Quality feedback and corrective
actions. Periodic sample inspections to monitor and
measure the conformance of products are increasingly
being replaced by continuous in-line monitoring.
•Qualification tests.
The inspection and test requirements are detailed in the
General Quality Specifications in the SNW-FQ-611 series.
Product reliability
Highly accelerated tests are implemented to evaluate and
monitor product reliability. Rejects from reliability tests are
subjected to failure analysis, so that improvements may be
made. This analysis also extends to product related
customer complaints.
Customer response
Our quality improvement depends on working together
with our customer. We need our customer’s input, and we
therefore invite constructive comments on all aspects of
our performance. For all such matters, please contact your
local Philips Semiconductors sales representative.
