Driving continuous quality improvement at Fairchild
| Date | 01 March 2005 |
| Published date | 01 March 2005 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/14754390580000600 |
| Pages | 8-9 |
| Author | Steve Willison |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour |
8Volume 4 Issue 3 March/April 2005
HR at WORK
,
Short case studies that demonstrate best practice in HR
Driving continuous quality
improvement at Fairchild
M
ost companies consider a
quality certification an arduous
requirement to conduct
business. But for US-based Fairchild
Semiconductor, it’s part of the constant
quality improvement ethos that keeps it
ahead of its competitors.
In 2003 the company achieved a new
certification, ISO/TS16949, which has
been put into effect by The
International Automotive Task Force
(IATF). It specifies the requirements for
the design, development, production,
installation and servicing of
automotive-related products, including
products supplied by Fairchild.
While still a quality standard, it has
been elevated to a “business
management” system with quality as its
main focus. Previously, well-trained
employees in critical areas of a plant’s
operation were thought to be all that
was necessary to meet goals set by
various quality standards, but
ISO/TS16949 recognizes that, in the
rapidly changing global economy,
employee motivation and
empowerment are just as important as
skilled labor.
A culture of empowerment
Fairchild Semiconductor’s facility in
Mountaintop, Pennsylvania, is the
longest continuously running
semiconductor company in the US. Its
open-door policy and commitment to
creating employee involvement and
empowerment opportunities have been
central to its longevity.
Mountaintop’s culture of employee
empowerment and responsibility was
already in place many years before the
ISO/TS16949 standard. It has survived
five changes in ownership because of
its culture. All these distinctive qualities
set the stage for the ISO/TS16949
certification.
“It isn't the HR or support staff who
know the most about the equipment,”
says Steve Willison, senior HR associate
at Fairchild’s Mountaintop facility, “it’s
the employees themselves. And if we
want people to come up with ideas for
improvement we must have a way to
recognize them for their
achievements.”
Introducing the standard
What differentiates the ISO/TS16949
standard is that it focuses on the whole
value chain including support services.
Fairchild, a key supplier to the
automotive industry, is one of the
earliest companies to be certified. In
January 2003 it received notification
about the certification and was audited
and certified in November of the same
year.
According to the standard, HR’s role
is to ensure that the organization “has
a process to motivate employees to
achieve quality objectives, to make
continual improvements, and to create
an environment to promote innovation
as well as having a process in place to
measure the extent to which personnel
are aware of the relevance and
importance of their activities.”
Built-In Quality
A key part of Fairchild’s commitment to
employee empowerment and
motivation is a program launched in
2000: Built-In-Quality (BIQ). The
companywide program has three goals:
•To align employees with one common
quality system throughout the
company.
•To drive improvement in everything
that we do.
•To ensure that products and services
meet or exceed our customers’ quality
and reliability expectations.
“The key to employee motivation
programs is that you must continuously
recreate them.” says Willison. “You
can’t stagnate on one system – you
must constantly improve.” This is why
Fairchild Semiconductor is a global leader
in producing high-performance
semiconductors to the
telecommunications, consumer,industrial,
personal computer,digital video and
automotive industries.
FAIRCHILD SEMICONDUCTOR
Steve Willison, senior HR associate at Fairchild Semiconductor, explains how the company’s drive for continuous
improvement led to the achievement of a new quality standard that keeps it one step ahead of the competition.
© Melcrum Publishing Ltd. 2005. For more information, go to www.melcrum.com or e-mail info@melcrum.com
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