to the introduction of a sophisticated integrated circuit product line.
Today, National Semiconductor is an acknowledged leader in the de-
sign and manufacture of analog and mixed signal semiconductor
products that provide access to the information highway.
3.2 The Problem
National has manufacturing sites around the globe. Its wafer fabrica-
tion facilities are located in Arlington, Texas; South Portland, Maine;
and Greenock, Scotland. Test and assembly sites are in Malacca,
Malaysia, and Singapore. From these sites, National ships hundreds of
millions of semiconductor components to thousands of customers
around the world. Out of all these shipments last year, customers re-
turned approximately 4,000 individual parts where verified failures
were analyz ...