The cost of ownership

IBM´s semiconductor manufacturing facility in Essex Junction, Vermont, uses a “cost-of-ownership” (COO) program to analyze every operation in its production lines. With a customized COO modeling program, we can determine the cost for each manufacturing operation. Pareto data analyses can highlight key areas where improvements can be most beneficial; the data gives the cost of various items, listed from the highest to lowest cost and the percentage value of each item. This modeling program has been vary helpful and enlightening. It not only identifies the major items significantly increasing costs, but also quantifies the impact each change or improvement will have on individual operations. The methodology of this program has enabled us to drive down the cast of our semiconductor products while maintaining a high degree of quality and reliability. Information obtained from the COO program is being used to select future products for the IBM Microelectronics product menu