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Lean Manufacturing Comes to the Flash Memory Supply Chain
December 31, 1969 |Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
By Mark Edelsward
Using lean manufacturing principles in flash memory device production can provide a crucial advantage in today's time and cost-sensitive market.
The time required for the industry's supply chain to develop, manufacture and program a product has become a key economic force. Because technology changes quickly and competitors are alert to follow the lead of a successful product, its market demand generally rises steeply, then is likely to fall sharply. This creates a triangular life cycle (Figure 1) so OEMs increasingly add new features via firmware to extend product life. For example, by programming additional features, a new cell phone model can be introduced without changing the hardware. The result is a series of triangle-shaped life cycles that extend revenue. Using lean manufacturing techniques in the form of network-connected and in-line programming systems when producing flash memory devices can eliminate waste and increase revenue within these cycles.
Figure 1. The product lifecycle generally follows a steep rise in demand followed by an equally sharp decline, creating a triangular revenue model.
A Bumpy RideIn an ideal world, the value flows smoothly and predictably from the flash vendor to the end user through the supply chain (Figure 2). In real life, however, disruptions appear. Foremost are the changes that the OEM makes to the firmware to add new feature sets or to customize for a specific market or customer. Additionally, algorithm changes come from the device's vendor, who in a similar fashion constantly upgrades the technology of its products to preserve margins. Parts substitutions, for reasons of lower cost or availability, require algorithm changes as well.
Figure 2. The flash memory device's supply chain where disruptions (upgradings) are typical before it reaches the end user.
With lean manufacturing, these interruptions introduce waste into the supply stream. Waste is defined as anything other than the minimal resources needed to add value to the product. Every time firmware changes, an inventory of programmed devices must be reworked, adding time and cost. Manufacturers must stop work on the running job and send devices, including those they have in inventory, back to the programming center for rework. At each step, purchase orders must be sent, inventory managed, and production equipment stopped and reset.
Waste also enters the supply chain in communicating about firmware changes. Labor is wasted in coordinating the latest configurations among partners, some of whom may be located offshore. Although software designers develop firmware on a small manual flash programming system, it must be reconfigured for an automated programmer; sometimes errors occur in the reconfiguration or from using an outdated algorithm. Additionally, time is wasted waiting for the information to be sent and downloaded.
Waste has dramatic implications, particularly for the contract manufacturer (CM). Firmware changes while good for the OEM are bad for the assembler. A change in the firmware adds extra steps to the manufacturing process that stand in the way of this key business driver. Whereas such changes help OEMs when new, higher-valued products are shipping, they actually lose revenue and market share every day there is a delay in getting the product to market a delay on the critical rising slope of the product lifecycle triangle.
Perhaps the most concrete example of waste is the inventory that builds up along the supply chain whenever a costly change in software is introduced. While standard components depreciate at 25 percent annually, a flash device containing product features with a three-month lifespan loses intellectual property value at a rate of 400 percent annually.
Thinking LeanA lean manufacturing enterprise uses the least amount of resources, including inventory, time, labor, equipment and floor space. It eliminates wasted steps, gaining the ability to do things for one's customers that the competitors cannot afford to perform. To apply lean manufacturing principles to the flash supply chain, every step of manufacturing must be examined to determine if it adds value for the customer (Table 1).
According to lean manufacturing principles, the ideal value stream contains only the steps that add value to the customer and performs them only when the customer wants the product. For example, the programming center adds value when it programs customer-desired features into the flash memory. But no value is added for receiving and inventorying the devices or for any rework.
Building the inventory or products at the exact time and rate needed to match customer demand (TAKT time) is known as a pull system of inventory management an important lean manufacturing tenet. Customers may suddenly want a new product feature set when the manufacturer and programming center is busy turning out the old feature set. Ideal lean manufacturing means accommodating new firmware as soon as it is known and requested instead of reworking the outdated flash code.
Lean TechnologyFortunately, new technologies are available that avoid much of the waste resulting from frequently evolving flash firmware. Now, in-line systems can program flash devices at the point of placement and network-connected programmers can streamline communication across the chain.
In-line automated programming systems have emerged during the last two years. By programming devices at the placement machine, no inventory of pre-programmed devices is required. When a firmware change is dictated, there is no inventory that must be reworked. Further, only one part number is required for raw devices instead of multiple p/ns for pre-programmed devices.
There are other advantages: no floor space is wasted because in-line programming systems are sufficiently compact to mount to the side of surface mount assembly machines. Defects resulting from bad devices are eliminated because the programmer tests each device before placement. Thus, programming so close to the end of the manufacturing process allows for "last-stage" customization more closely matching production with changing customer needs.
In-line programming at the point of pick-and-place activity is as close as possible to the "ideal" model, i.e., if the machine stops for any reason, so does the programmer. There is no excess inventory, devices can be manufactured at a pace that matches customer demand and there is no delay from ordering pre-programmed devices. Using this approach, many fewer manufacturing steps are required (Table 2).
Manual AlternativeIn-line programming is not the only new technology that can be applied to the flash supply chain to make it leaner. New manual programming systems accessing the Internet permit software designers to communicate firmware changes to supply-chain partners quickly. High-speed automated programming systems have had network capability for years; however, intellectual property now also can flow securely and electronically from the software designer's desk to the shop floor.
Figure 3. When equipment at each end of the supply chain uses compatible systems, programming data can be shared from a central database.
Network-connected programmers provide many opportunities to attack waste. If the programming equipment at each end of the supply chain uses compatible systems, there is no need to reconfigure the programming data as it moves from the designer to the factory floor, reducing the risk of error (Figure 3). Programming data can be posted electronically to a shared database, making it accessible immediately and reducing programming-equipment reset time from hours to minutes. Because there is a single database, control of programming data and updated algorithms are assured and centralized. Finally, process-control software makes it easy to publish the status of programming processes and key production statistics.
ConclusionThe "connected" strategy described supports recent changes in electronics manufacturing as companies establish worldwide virtual organizations. Engineering, research and development, and sales and marketing functions can be in multiple locations thousands of miles apart. Manufacturing may be performed by OEM factories, partners and CMs spread across four continents all building the same hardware but with variable firmware to meet local market needs.
Network-connected and in-line programming systems are effective tools for lean manufacturing of flash-based products. By speeding time-to-market and making manufacturing more productive, they also support the key business missions of the partners in the flash-memory supply chain.
Mark Edelsward is director of strategic alliances at Data I/O Corp., 10525 Willows Rd. N.E., Box 97046, Redmond, WA 98073-9746; (425) 881-6444; Fax: (425) 882-1043; E-mail: edelsward@data-io.com.