1. Purpose and scope
Volume release turns a qualified, piloted technology into a product line serving several customers' products. Capacity is added by copying the qualified flow exactly to more tools and sites, each proved against the baseline before customer product runs on it. Substrates and materials, often the slowest items to scale, are secured with supply agreements and, where the risk is high, second sources.
Running at volume means keeping yield, quality and delivery on target while volume and the number of customer products grow. Every change, whether a new tool, a new site, a material from a second source or a cost reduction, goes through change control, is assessed against qualified results, and is notified to customers under their quality agreements. Periodically the business reviews whether to extend the technology with new options, reduce its cost, move it, or plan its successor.
In scope: the volume production release, the process control plan, production test release, capacity installs and site copies, supply agreements, yield and cost reporting, delivery performance, change notices and the technology refresh review. Out of scope: the end of the technology, which follows in Technology End of Life.
13 more sections for registered members.