How this idea improved efficiency of WD plants

Shreyas Budgur | PRINCIPAL ENGINEER, WESTERN DIGITAL
I started my career at Western Digital India as a new college grad in 2015. I stepped straight into the complex semiconductor product engineering domain. Learning the mechanics of how these complex feats of engineering, much smaller than a human nail – with features barely visible under the most powerful microscopes – are made in millions each day, continues to fascinate me to this day.

Welcoming culture is a must
Manufacturing Nand flash memory and products such as USB drives and SSDs is an extremely complex process. The variables are immense. As engineers, working through these unique challenges requires us to constantly innovate.

Great innovation needs an even greater ecosystem to support it. At Western Digital, we are fortunate to be surrounded by an extremely collaborative, talented and supportive team that transcends borders, cultures, and languages to work together and make it happen. Every idea, no matter who came up with it, is given a space to be discussed, tried and tested.

A few years ago, we were working on improving the manufacturing process for our retail products (USB flash drives, SD cards, mi croSD cards, SSDs, etc). As a young engineer experimenting with statistical methods like regression analysis, I suggested a crazy idea (crazy at the time), for a new testing method by running a mathematical model. This might have just turned out to be another drawing board idea in most places looking at the scale of work required. However, my team members and my manager, Prasad Sandireddy, saw beyond the initial hurdles of the time and felt that this idea could be transformative.

Collaboration fuels innovation
While it is important to have great ideas, ideas can never flourish and turn into tangible solutions in isolation. Collaboration helps unlock new possibilities and spurs innovation. In this case, the effort extended to collaboration across our teams in India, US, Japan, and China covering diverse areas.

This finally resulted in the redesign of our test and manufacturing processes using advanced AI and ML algorithms. ML was used to predict which die meets our required specifications, and this helped make our manufacturing process more efficient and ultimately resulted in a faster cycle time. The new testing method played an instrumental role in our manufacturing facilities in Shanghai, China, and Penang, Malaysia being recognized as Global Lighthouses by the World Economic Forum in 2022 and 2023, respectively.

Believe in your idea
At times, our confidence wavers, particularly when we’re presenting an idea for the first time, especially when the room is brimming with intelligent and experienced people. But to succeed it is important that we overcome our insecurities and believe in ourselves. However, here also, company culture plays a vital role. As a new college graduate, I was not afraid of being mocked for sharing my idea.

Many ideas go onto the drawing board, but making sure they see the light of day is in our hands. The most common mistake that we tend to make is to give up before we have even tried. My advice to all budding innovators is that if you believe in your idea, give it your best shot.


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