With faster NPI and APQP, chipmakers can accelerate product development and elevate quality
In a survey* of semiconductor industry executives, leaders say that time-to-market is now one of the top items keeping them up at night. But we also know that quality is always on their mind. That’s why we found a way to improve both.
The semiconductor industry is driven by precision, innovation, quality, and efficiency in new product introduction (NPI). In a race against the clock, chipmakers must be enabled to accelerate long development cycles, while effectively managing the high costs, and technological complexity needed to meet the exacting specifications required of their final products.
In today’s rapidly-evolving market, chipmakers are rethinking their product development processes and systems, partners and technology. Impacted by powerful, complex forces reshaping the ecosystem, chipmakers often find themselves struggling to effectively manage critical steps at every product lifecycle stage.
Is there a solution that balances speed and quality?
By leveraging one collaborative platform that combines Integrated Product Lifecycle and Quality Management tools, semiconductor companies can optimize every lifecycle stage to deliver complex, high-quality products while streamlining their value chain.
To deliver the highest level of initial quality at the speed of business, chipmakers need the next-level efficiency of quality management systems (QMS) and Semiconductor Lifecycle Management (SLcM) solutions in a single, collaborative platform. This integrated solution changes the game.
Ensuring the rapid development and launch of successful semiconductor products
Speed is all about balance. Semiconductor companies must balance the competing priorities of faster time-to-market requirements and higher zero-defect thresholds. To do so, we must balance the combined strengths of faster NPI (New Product Introductions) and APQP (Advanced Product Quality Planning). Our faster NPI solution focuses on introducing a new product or process into production, while APQP is our structured methodology needed to ensure that the product meets the ultimate quality standard by designing and building in quality at every lifecycle stage throughout its development. Successful outcomes are dependent on whether the manufacturing processes can reliably produce the products in high volume with consistent quality.
Responding faster to customer demands
By adopting an APQP framework, semiconductor companies can systematically plan, develop and produce high-quality products to effectively manage risks and meet customer requirements. During the planning phase, a closed-loop quality solution manages critical planning tasks, including APQP, failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA). These enable you to understand and effectively evaluate risks and determine how pervasive they are across your organization, so you can mitigate and eliminate them.
Leveraging digital solutions to connect silos and collaborate seamlessly across disciplines
Using a Siemens Integrated Product Lifecycle and Quality Management solution, you can improve collaboration and supplier management program options throughout your global ecosystem. Brought together in one end-to-end digital platform by combining Integrated Product Lifecycle and Quality Management capabilities, semiconductor companies can achieve significant competitive advantages, including:
- Faster time-to-market
- Mitigating chip shortages and ensuring availability
- Improved, new innovation
With our closed-loop quality solution, you can also track supplier parts based on production part approval process (PPAP) requirements. This ensures that your supplier understands and fulfills the engineering design specifications and has the capabilities and resources necessary to achieve the specified production quality and rate. It turns guesswork into confidence.
By combining faster NPI and APQP, chipmakers can accelerate product development with fewer design re-spins and higher quality
So why wait any longer? The time is now to start leveraging native QMS tools on the SLcM platform to deliver the complex products your customers demand while streamlining your value chain for new levels of company performance.
References:
*Tech-Clarity survey of 277 semiconductor and high-tech professionals, reported by Julie Fraser, Vice President, Tech-Clarity in “Retool Semiconductor Innovation for Profit – A Lifecycle Approach for Smart Products and Devices” © Tech-Clarity, Inc., https://tech-clarity.com/semiconductor-innovation-for-profit/10280 , 2021
