LSI Logic`s Gresham Oregon semiconductor fabrication facility was

Helped LSI Logic Gresham cut schedule by 18 months to enable startup of semiconductor
fabrication. Result: won International FAB of the Year award, saved $1m/day.
LSI Logic's Gresham Oregon semiconductor fabrication facility was behind schedule. LSI envisioned the
$2 billion construction and manufacturing process start-up program as the first totally automated
(paperless) fabrication facility in the industry. The program involved constructing a facility, installing
semiconductor manufacturing “tools," developing and implementing an automated factory management
system, and starting up production of a new manufacturing process.
Due to construction delays and the expanding scope of the program, the LSI management team found
themselves 12 to 18 months behind schedule. Our consulting team estimated that the delay in starting up
the facility (i.e. making revenue generating chips) could have cost as much as $1,000,000 per day. By the
time that LSI engaged the our team, the facility construction was about 80% complete and the initial
manufacturing tools had started to arrive. With each tool costing between $2 million to $20 million, it was
critical that the installation and start-up of each tool be carefully orchestrated. The factory automation
system was being developed in parallel with the facilities program as well as a new manufacturing
process. The timing of the start-up of the Gresham facility was critical because of the orders already
booked in anticipation.
Before we became involved, the program lacked a single program manager and integrated core team
responsible for the overall program goal—to start manufacturing at a certain point in time.
Over a nine-month time frame, we formed a program level core team composed of each of the project
managers of the major elements of the program. A program manager and deputy program manager were
appointed and then empowered to manage across the functional groups working on the program. An
executive steering committee was established to provide “fast provisioning” in the form of money,
resources, and decision-making (when needed) whenever schedule acceleration was needed.
We developed an integrated schedule with the core team that tied all aspects of the program together so
that the team could see the implications of each part on the whole. Detailed near-term schedules were
developed for each project that outlined each specific task, duration, owner, resources, and
dependencies. For example, the tool schedule included over 7,000 tasks which described the installation,
start-up, and integration of over 200 manufacturing tools. A process was set up to update these schedules
every week and transfer the information to the core team's high-level schedule. Then once a week the
core team met and looked at alternative approaches to accelerating the schedule. Using the high-level
schedule as their model and the current updated information to keep it realistic, the core team gradually
found strategic opportunities to accelerate the schedule. First a few days were pulled-in, and then months
at a time. For the first time the team had the tool and process with which to manage the critical
“interfaces” between functional elements and had the ability to look ahead and solve problems before
they happened.
Most of the lost time was gained back, allowing the Gresham facility to come on line ahead of schedule.
Even more important, the facility went on to win a series of awards for quality and efficiency and
significantly contributed to LSI's profitability success.
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