We help clients improve productivity, optimize new product introductions, estimate the fab construction cost for front-end semiconductor fabs, and keep pace with Moore’s Law.
The foundry landscape is a diverse segment of the semiconductor value chain. Some are global giants, with billions of dollars in annual revenue, while others focus on narrower specialty products, such as automotive chip sets or the processors that run consumer-electronics products.
All foundries struggle with cost-effective manufacturing at the edge of what is physically possible. The massive complexity of modern semiconductors makes it a constant challenge to keep cost, quality and manufacturing cycle times in line.
We help foundries reconfigure fab-floor processes to increase throughput and reduce cycle times. We go beyond lean methodologies and work with our clients to address the real sources of waste: complexity and variability on the fab floor. Another key part of our work is in crafting new product introductions that maximize impact, including ramping up production to meet demand in the crucial first months in the marketplace.
Our specialists blend hands-on technical expertise drawn from work on fab floors with rigorous business training. Through additional resources, such as our perspective on the future of Moore’s Law or the proprietary current and near-term business climate index for the semiconductor industry, we can offer clients unmatched insights for overcoming any challenge a foundry may face.
Examples of our work
- We helped a foundry client with a long-term manufacturing-transformation program, moving beyond lean methodologies to get at the sources of complexity and variability that might snarl the production process. This work yielded a double-digit improvement in productivity and a significant reduction in manufacturing cycle times.
- We developed a strategy for fab automation for another client, so that it could improve production across a range of products with greatly reduced downtime and fewer manual changeovers.
- We helped another foundry client ramp up production of its first product on a new node. Based on our recommendations, the client was able to accelerate its launch timeline by 4 to 6 months. Furthermore, chip volumes were in position to meet full customer demands within the first 3 months of production.
