IMPLEMENTATION
Implementation of Autonomous Maintenance began at the
end of 2000. At that time, ANADIGICS sent nine managers
from all areas within Operations to attend a week long
training course in Atlanta. The Atlanta training covered the
theoretical training and was followed up by an additional
week of practical training viewing TPM sites in Japan. The
highlight of the training was the trip to Japan, which not only
showed everyone best practices in TPM award winning
factories, but also gave everyone an exposure to a culture that
not only minimizes waste and loss but is founded on
precision, consistency and reliability. At the conclusion of the
training, ANADIGICS had nine JIPM certified instructors in
place.
Following the training, a plan was developed to begin
implementation of AM. The plan began with two
management “Pilot” teams implementing AM on two tools.
One team was from the Wafer Fabrication area, and one from
the Final Test area, with members taken from the certified
instructors and other managers within Operations. Team size
for all teams is usually greater than eight people and less than
twelve. The goal for the “pilot” teams was not only to
complete the AM process on the two dedicated tools, but to
develop the AM process for other teams to follow and to help
develop leaders to lead subsequent teams. The teams began in
January of 2001 meeting for five hours per week, and by the
end of August 2001 both teams had reached their goal of
completing the first three steps of Autonomous Maintenance.
The additional goal of creating a document or AM workbook
followed within the next five months. The need to develop
such a document arose from the difficulty in translating the
original JIPM Manual [1] into a process that could be used in
semiconductor manufacturing. The resulting document
created by ANADIGICS was our attempt to develop an easily
understood, step-by-step manual complete with Tips, Hints,
Pictures and Examples of teams work. The balance was to
create a document that was easy to understand while losing
none of the “purity” of the original JIPM Manual. At that
point, two new teams began the process over again on a new
piece of equipment. The team membership this time included
operators to allow the process to become truly autonomous.
Following the second group of teams, another two were
begun. During this phase a JIPM consultancy visit was
arranged and the message from the consultant was clear- not
100% of tools, but 100% of every individual within
Operations.
A plan was put in place that would effectively implement
the 100% Operations goal. While initially attempting to plan
a “big bang” of seventeen teams all starting at the same time,
a sense of realism set in leading us to plan for a phased start
over three quarters. The goal therefore would be to have
100% of all Operations people involved in TPM within nine
months. In addition, the phased start allows the existing
infrastructure to better support the teams. The meeting time
was also reduced to two-and-a-half hours per week, meaning
the process would now take sixteen months to complete
instead of eight. A steep production ramp has put a temporary
hold on teams beginning in some areas, while other teams are
starting as planned. All existing teams have continued to
meet.