Case Studies > Praxair Employes NWA for Ultra-Pure Process Gas Customer Satisfication

Praxair Employes NWA for Ultra-Pure Process Gas Customer Satisfication

Customer Company Size

Large Corporate

Region

America
Europe
Asia

Country

United States
Belgium
Korea
Taiwan

Product

NWA Quality Analyst
Oracle Database

Tech Stack

SPC (Statistical Process Control)
Oracle Database
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)

Implementation Scale

Enterprise-wide Deployment

Impact Metrics

Cost Savings
Productivity Improvements
Customer Satisfaction
Waste Reduction

Technology Category

Analytics & Modeling - Predictive Analytics
Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Database Management & Storage
Functional Applications - Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP)

Applicable Industries

Semiconductors
Electronics

Applicable Functions

Quality Assurance
Process Manufacturing

Use Cases

Predictive Maintenance
Process Control & Optimization
Machine Condition Monitoring
Remote Asset Management

Services

System Integration
Data Science Services
Training

About The Customer

Praxair Electronics produces process and precursor gases used by the majority of semiconductor chip and solar cell manufacturers. The Praxair product line includes ammonia, silane, dichlorosilane, arsine, phospine dopant mixtures, inert gases, halocarbon etchant gases, and support products and services. As one of the top players in semiconductor industry gases and related services, Praxair ships high purity gas cylinders around the world to its customers. The data-management system at the Kingman, AZ plant was used as the benchmark model to apply the same methods to ramping up the Quality Analyst systems at other Praxair gas plants in Oevel, Belgium; Giheung and Tangjung, Korea; and Toufen, Taiwan. This global effort has resulted in highly successful customer retention and expanded global business. Praxair is dealing with over 7,000 products and tracking from one to twelve quality parameters per product.

The Challenge

Gas contamination and variation affect chip yield rates and the required reduction in impurity levels for successful chip production. Continuous Process Improvement (CPI) drives performance to meet the requirements. To meet their CPI goals, Praxair uses NWA Quality Analyst to drive control limits tighter and decrease variation. Business requirements are driving the move to less variation and higher process capability. Many customers are demanding tighter process control and “ship-to-control” capability. Vendors such as Praxair who actively use SPC and CPI can successfully negotiate specifications with regard to their actual process capability and guarantee they will be a capable supplier. Their production is at least three sigma level, and with the ongoing CPI program they have projects in place to improve process capability to meet the evolving business demands.

The Solution

Praxair has implemented NWA Quality Analyst to drive control limits tighter and decrease variation. The data-management system at the Kingman, AZ plant was used as the benchmark model to apply the same methods to ramping up the Quality Analyst systems at other Praxair gas plants in Oevel, Belgium; Giheung and Tangjung, Korea; and Toufen, Taiwan. This global effort has resulted in highly successful customer retention and expanded global business. In the lab, they have interfaced 45 instruments to automatically generate results that are passed into an Oracle database where they are used to generate Certificates of Analysis (COAs) and Electronic Data Interchange (EDI). Most customer electronic systems are set up to automatically decline or accept the lots based on this information. The Quality Analyst automated execution and database linkage produces near-real-time results. All laboratory data enters the Oracle database, and the continuing project is integrating production equipment data into the database. Machine measurement integration is rapidly leading to real-time, on-line process control. Since most failures develop gradually, using SPC detects trends long before they become problems. The engineers can predict vacuum pump and purification trap failures months before an out-of-specification excursion occurs.

Operational Impact

The process has eliminated many hours of work and substantially reduced variation and errors in the reports.
Praxair has saved one full-time-equivalent salary and overhead, freeing up the Quality Manager to actively lead CPI efforts.
The integration of 45 instruments in the lab to automatically generate results has streamlined the data collection process.
The automated execution and database linkage produce near-real-time results, enhancing the efficiency of quality control.
The system has worked flawlessly with no downtime for many years, ensuring consistent process gas quality.

Quantitative Benefit

Praxair has recaptured the equivalent of one Quality Manager salary and overhead.
The production is at least three sigma level.
Praxair is dealing with over 7,000 products and tracking from one to twelve quality parameters per product.