Overcoming Environmental Challenges with Management of Change in R&D Facilities
Schiller, Dina; Subedar, Hanif ; Hawk , Nina
(Applied Materials, Santa Clara, CA)
In a dynamic, competitive research and development (R&D) facility like Applied Materials, there are frequent changes in processes being developed, most of which have never been tested. Applied Materials’ Environmental, Health and Safety (EH&S) performs a thorough evaluation of these ever-changing processes, which bring about a myriad of challenges, through our Management of Change (MoC) program. This paper focuses on environmental assessment and solutions to overcome these challenges in order to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements as well as worker’s safety, environmental protection and business operations continuity. Environmental assessment includes air emission calculation, process wastewater discharge analysis, hazardous waste treatment compatibility, and conformance with building occupancy classification. Lastly, case studies are given to illustrate how some of these environmental solutions are achieved.