Article Abstract

	Title:	Focus groups: impact of quality and process capability factors on the silicon wafer slicing process
	Author:	Chin-Tsai Lin, Che-Wei Chang, Chie-Bein Chen
	Address:	Graduate Institute of Management Science, Ming Chuan University, 250 Chung Shan North Rd., Sec. 5, Taipei, Taiwan. ' Graduate Institute of Management Science, Ming Chuan University, 250 Chung Shan North Rd., Sec. 5, Taipei, Taiwan. ' Graduate Institute of International Business, National Dong Hwa University, 1, Sec. 2, Da Hsueh Rd., Shou-Feng, Hualien, Taiwan
	Journal:	International Journal of Manufacturing Technology and Management 2004 - Vol. 6, No.1/2  pp. 171 - 184
	Abstract:	Silicon wafer slicing is a highly complex manufacturing process, complicating efforts to monitor individual product type process stability and quality control effectively. Specifically, silicon wafer slicing involves multiple quality characteristics that occur synchronously. However, quantitative methods, such as process capability indices (PCIs) and statistical process control (SPC) charts, for monitoring slicing problems are limited. Therefore, this study presents a focus group procedure that explores engineering knowledge and expertise. Organisations can use focus groups to create knowledge of stable processes, optimal settings and quality control. Interactive discussions indicate that focus groups can improve productivity and decision making effectiveness either by accelerating the decision making or by increasing decision quality. Moreover, the proposed procedure enables an engineer to rapidly adjust a manufacturing system to eliminate problems related to slicing process instability phenomena and improve slicing quality and process capability. Finally, the SPC chart and the exponential weighted moving average (EWMA) control chart are presented to demonstrate and verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed methods.
	Keywords:	EWMA control chart; focus groups; multiple quality characteristics; process capability; silicon wafer manufacturing; silicon wafer slicing; SPC; statistical process control.
	DOI:	10.1504/IJMTM.2004.004513
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