“The addition of InfinityQS® to SanDisk’s existing system infrastructure gives us a significantly more responsive and effective production environment. InfinityQS has proven vital in resolving issues we didn’t even know we had.”
Didier Chavet, Regional CIOSanDisk
SanDisk’s rise to the top of the flash memory storage market is built on the company’s ability to deliver new and transformational digital experiences to users everywhere. As an innovator in product design, manufacturing, branding, and distribution, SanDisk has made quality the cornerstone of its operations.
SanDisk manufactures a diverse product portfolio that includes flash memory cards and embedded flash memory components used in consumer electronics such as smartphones, tablets, digital cameras, camcorders, and digital media players as well as enterprise solutions.
The challenge
As SanDisk’s product offerings have evolved, so has the need for a Statistical Process Control (SPC) platform that ensures consistent quality throughout every level of production. SanDisk required an SPC system that was flexible enough to analyze real-time process data over the full product range, and powerful enough to predict potential quality issues in order to prevent scrap and rework.
SanDisk’s factory Manufacturing Execution System (MES), Camstar Manufacturing, controls manufacturing business processes, but is not designed to perform granular real-time process data analysis at the shop floor level. To complete that loop, SanDisk chose InfinityQS® ProFicient™ SPC software to integrate real-time process data with Camstar Manufacturing and SanDisk’s factory Quality Management System (QMS), Camstar Quality.
The solution
As an integral component of SanDisk’s comprehensive quality solution, ProFicient collects process data and delivers real-time analysis to quality engineers, process engineers, and management.
When measured data begins to drift out of a statistically “normal” range, the Remote Alarm Monitoring Service (RAMS) automatically places a hold on the lot through its interface with Camstar Manufacturing, sends notifications, creates a quality incident through its interface with Camstar Quality, and creates reports for key quality personnel.
The automated solution provides a closed-loop approach, providing complete visibility and saving SanDisk’s quality and process control team valuable time, money, and resources. The system enables the team to react to every potential incident and control processes before a defective product is manufactured.
SanDisk is also using InfinityQS’s Data Management System (DMS) to consolidate and standardize process data. DMS integrates live data from serial devices, TCP/IP, and text data files into a single database for analysis and control.
- ProFicient prevented expense of “rip and replace” by easily integrating with existing MES solution.
- Off-the-shelf solution saved months of development that would have been needed for an in-house solution.
- Automation of alarms, holds, notifications, and reporting enables timely responses and prevents defects.
- Collection of data from disparate systems into a standardized, central repository enables delivery of real-time analysis to quality engineers, process engineers, and management.
- Access to complete data from all operations reveals previously unidentified issues – and opportunities.
The results
“The addition of InfinityQS Statistical Process Control Platform (SPC) to SanDisk’s existing system infrastructure gives us a significantly more responsive and effective production environment,” said Didier Chavet, Regional CIO for APAC at SanDisk.
“In this particular case, we believed in utilizing a “best of breed” methodology,” Chavet said. “Why should we take months to custom-design something in our MES system when a proven and more complete Statistical Process Control Platform software package already exists and can easily be integrated?”
Chavet confirms that investing in and implementing InfinityQS has already brought SanDisk immense benefits. “The software has allowed us to attain an ROI much more rapidly than if we had put in the time and money to customize our MES to do something that it was never originally designed to do,” he said.
He added, “No other system would allow us to integrate real-time process data from disparate systems into MES or launch automated alerts and actions to give our engineers intelligence and feedback. InfinityQS has proven vital in resolving issues we didn’t even know we had.”
“As a leading global brand in electronic data storage, SanDisk is acutely aware of the impact product quality has on their continued success,” said Mike Lyle, President and CEO of InfinityQS. “The speed of business demands that manufacturing quality to be smart, automated and mobile. SanDisk is now prepared to meet that demand.”