Total quality manufacturing at the RIT integrated circuit factory

RIT has received a five year grant from IBM through an IBM Total Quality Management (TQM) Competition. Among the several projects funded by this grant is a project entitled "Six Sigma Process Capability in Student-Run Integrated Circuit Factory". The process capability baseline has been obtained from data collected for the past several years of student-run factory operation. A methodology to improve the quality of the student-run factory was implemented and is described in detail. The baseline study found that none of processes had process capability (Cpk) greater than one (3 sigma). However, action plans for improving these processes have been implemented and improvements have been measured. Today several processes show Cpk>1. The student run integrated circuit factory at RIT has made significant progress toward achieving six-sigma manufacturing goals.