Merck leads sustainable manufacturing, digital transformation
EMD Electronics Executive Director Safa Kutup Kurt, left, and Miriam Aclan, senior manager of FE Global Incoming & Supplier Quality Engineering at Micron Technology, give a presentation during a panel discussion for SEMICON West 2023 at Moscone Center in San Francisco, California. U.S. July 13 (local time). Courtesy of Merck
By Lee Kyung-min
Merck, a German multinational science and tech firm, held a discussion on sustainable manufacturing and digitization, according to the firm, Monday.
The discussion titled “Scaling End-to-End Advanced Predictive Manufacturing” was held July 13, as part of SEMICON West 2023 held at Moscone Center in San Francisco, California, from July 11 to 13 (local time).
Among over 100 attendees were speakers Dr. Safa Kutup Kurt, executive director and head of operations, digital solutions at EMD Electronics, a business of Merck KGaA Darmstadt, Germany. EMD stands for Emmanuel Merck Darmstadt. He provided insights into industry trends and innovations that can enhance quality and supply chain resilience, and Miriam Aclan, senior manager of FE Global Incoming & Supplier Quality Engineering at Micron Technology.
The event featured an array of presentations and discussions centering on themes of sustainable manufacturing and digitalization, including Merck co-presenting their Smart Data Collaboration solution with Micron Technology.
The solution showcased by these two technology heavyweights enables semiconductor suppliers and customers to collaborate in digitizing, aggregating, meshing, and analyzing enormous amounts of data from fab and material suppliers.
It offers a scalable and cutting-edge solution that helps drive efficiency and improve product quality across the board, seeking to meet the increasing demand for continually improving behaviors across the whole supply chain.
The attendees said, according to the firm, the event was a good chance to learn how Micron and EMD Electronics are standardizing their data sharing and analytics approach to realize benefits at scale, and their joint vision for the future of data collaboration in the semiconductor industry.
The discussion was a follow-up to the Micron-Merck presentation at Semicon West 2021 by Laura Matz, chief science and technology officer at Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, and Raj Narasimhan.
Narasimhan was at the time the corporate vice president in charge of global quality at Micron Technology and is now senior vice president and general manager of the computer and networking business unit.
The unit is titled “Creating a Data Ecosystem to Enable End-to-End Advanced Predictive Manufacturing ― From Material Supplier to Memory Device Maker.”
The attendees shared that quality is a cornerstone of technological leadership in the memory industry.
The exponential growth of quality control parameters and requirements increases complexity and cost pressures and requires a proactive partnership between device makers and material suppliers, they concluded.
According to Dr. Safa Kutup Kurt, successes over the last years have proven that a combination of a data sharing and analytics approach with material science and engineering-based expertise can help address this challenge.
“Past collaborations resulted in the reduction of taskforce resolution durations from months to weeks as well as significant yield improvements in the memory business,” he said “The analysis of combined data sets between chip makers and material suppliers enables optimizing for what it is all about ― electrical performance.”
Such digital solutions require efficient scaling, especially now, during the downturn in the chip market and resulting cost pressure across the industry, the official said.
“Micron and EMD Electronics are standardizing the end-to-end workflow from digitalization over data sharing to analysis and value creation,” he said.
“Their approach covers the assessment of digital opportunities, data capture and automation, process mapping and aggregation, data validation, analytics workflows and more.”
Merck says it is at the forefront of driving sustainability and innovation in the semiconductor industry.
A recently published white paper, titled “Investing in a Sustainable Semiconductor Future,” outlines the challenges and opportunities in the industry, including reducing waste, investing in renewable energy and improving energy efficiency.