SEMI today announced that Mark Durcan, CEO and a member of the Board of Directors of Micron Technology, is the recipient of its 2015 SEMI Outstanding EHS Achievement Award – Inspired by Akira Inoue. Durcan accepted his award for leadership at the Global Care Environmental, Health, and Safety (EHS) Lunch today at SEMICON West 2015 in San Francisco, Calif.

“SEMI is pleased to recognize Mark Durcan’s leadership in the global semiconductor industry,” said Denny McGuirk, president and CEO of SEMI.  “Micron has achieved significant corporate citizenship goals, and Mark has ensured their execution through leadership and strong governance practices. Most importantly, his focus and advocacy of sustainable manufacturing initiatives have resulted in significant positive impact to the global semiconductor manufacturing industry.”

“At Micron, we believe being a leader in memory involves conducting operations that lead our industry in environmental health and safety,” said Micron CEO Mark Durcan. “Micron’s vision is to create a work environment, business practices and memory products that contribute to the sustainable use of our planet’s resources. Memory makes megatrends like Big Data, mobility and the Internet of Things possible. We enable these trends with innovative memory technology that is produced with a commitment to global sustainability.”

Durcan’s leadership in EHS is particularly significant to the semiconductor industry given Micron’s global manufacturing facilities in the U.S., China, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan. His leadership extends beyond Micron’s facilities, influencing the broader semiconductor industry from his position as Board member of the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) in the U.S. and as a U.S. delegate at the World Semiconductor Council (WSC). Durcan collaborated with his SIA colleagues and members companies to pursue aggressive EHS objectives, even enlisting Micron’s staff to help lead SIA’s global EHS advocacy efforts.

Durcan’s leadership impact at Micron can be measured in four crucial areas that are in support of SEMI Award criteria:

• Occupational Safety and Health: Micron launched a global occupational health and safety system, first receiving OHSAS 18001 certification in 2004 for all of its global facilities and further deploying those systems to acquired facilities including Elpida in 2014. In addition, Micron’s Singapore site received the Workplace Safety and Health Performance Award from the Singapore Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) Council in 2012. At the Taichung, Taiwan site, the Micron EHS Team shared best practices for reducing occupational injuries and was recognized in 2012 by the local authorities at the Central Taiwan Science Park (CTSP).
• Environmental Management:  Micron implemented an environmental management system at its sole Boise, Idaho site in 1997 becoming one of the first companies in the U.S. to attain certification under ISO 14001.  Micron’s commitment was carried forward as a global system by deploying global ISO 14001 expectations for all of its worldwide facilities. At Micron’s headquarters in Boise, the City of Boise recognized Micron in 2011 for the best green commercial building project to reduce energy utilization.  In 2014, the headquarters location conserved 730 million gallons of water, recycled 104,761 pounds of integrated circuit trays and 1.4 million pounds of paper, plastic, cardboard and wood, and saved 10 million kWh of energy due to chilled water economizer and 7.5 million kWh due to energy efficiency.
• Water Conservation: Micron’s reclamation system is a model for water-use habits in the semiconductor industry. Examples of water reclamation at Micron include the site’s supply for fire suppression system back-up, landscape irrigation water, cooling towers, boiler water make-up, and tool cooling.
• Pollution Prevention: Micron is committed to reducing, reusing or recycling chemicals used in its manufacturing process. The company has achieved a 50 percent reduction in photolithography Spinfil chemical use, a reduction in hazardous waste, and an $800,000 reduction in annual material spend savings. Micron also developed a waste collection system that recovers chemicals used in the fabrication process. In turn, Micron ships used chemicals for reprocessing into other products such as a cleaning compound.

The “Outstanding EHS Achievement Award — Inspired by Akira Inoue” is sponsored by SEMI (www.semi.org). The award is named after the late Akira Inoue, past president of Tokyo Electron Limited and a strong advocate of EHS. Inoue also served on the SEMI Board of Directors. The award recognizes individuals in industry and academia who have made significant contributions by exercising leadership or demonstrating innovation in the development of processes, products or materials that reduce EHS impacts during semiconductor manufacturing. Past Award recipients include: Tzu-Yin Chiu (CEO, SMIC), Ajit Manocha (CEO, GLOBALFOUNDRIES), Dr. Morris Chang (chairman and CEO, TSMC), Dr. Jong-Kap Kim (chairman and CEO, Hynix Semiconductor), Atsutoshi Nishida (president and CEO, Toshiba), and other prominent industry leaders.