Lean Manufacturing Among Productivity Courses Preceding ISMI Symposium.

AUSTIN, Texas -- The rules and principles of lean manufacturing - one of this decade's hottest productivity trends - will be offered to semiconductor professionals during a week of courses and lectures surrounding the 4th Annual ISMI Symposium on Manufacturing Effectiveness in October.

Lean Methods in Semiconductor Manufacturing, a four-hour short course taught by Intel productivity expert Kurt Woolley, is one of a dozen advanced-learning courses being offered during ISMI Manufacturing Week, Oct. 22-25, which culminates in the ISMI Symposium on the final two days. Woolley, Lean Program Manager with Intel Corp., has had specialized training and direct application experience in lean manufacturing methods and lean thinking.

"This class will focus on semiconductor manufacturing and will use examples from the wafer manufacturing line to show how you can become more productive," said symposium chair Mike Schwartz. "It's just one of the many ways engineers can enhance their skill set during ISMI Manufacturing Week."

Other ISMI educational offerings include workshops in equipment chamber matching, predictive and preventative maintenance, second source parts, and environment/safety/health (ESH); and short courses exploring factory simulation and Understanding LEED[R] for high-tech facilities.

Following the courses and workshops, the ISMI Symposium on Manufacturing Effectiveness will provide the industry's most informative conference on high-level and practical issues in semiconductor productivity. This year's Symposium emphasizes "productivity in depth" -- with exclusive data to enhance attendees' engineering knowledge and bring cutting-edge benefits to their companies.

Symposium speakers will share information and methodologies for reducing manufacturing expenses in both existing and next-generation fabs through advances in equipment, process, resources, fab design, and manufacturing methods. Challenges will be addressed in several parallel sessions dealing with fab and equipment productivity, ESH, fab design, defect inspection, statistical methods, modeling and simulation, e-manufacturing, and lean manufacturing. Key offerings will include:

* A look at how statisticians can become better teachers by recognizing and responding to the learning styles of their students

* An experts panel discussion on trends in cost-effective fab design, as perceived by a blue-ribbon panel representing designers, builders, and factory owners

During the entire week, more than 30 companies will exhibit their leading-edge hardware, software, and consulting services aimed at productivity improvement.

Applied Materials and ATMI are providing executive-level sponsorships for the 2007 Symposium, with Semiconductor International and Solid State Technology serving as media sponsors. Other sponsors include Novellus, Tokyo Electron, and SEMI.

More information on the ISMI Symposium and ISMI Manufacturing Week is available at http://ismi.sematech.org/ismisymposium.

ISMI is a global alliance of the world's major semiconductor manufacturers, dedicated to reducing cost per wafer, and ultimately cost per die, through cooperative programs focused on manufacturing effectiveness. The consortium conducts programs in manufacturing infrastructure, methods, standards, and productivity, with the aim of reducing the costs of producing finished wafers and chips and driving solutions to major productivity challenges. ISMI is a wholly owned subsidiary of SEMATECH of Austin, TX. More information is available at http://ismi.sematech.org/corporate/index.htm.