Company Profile
Company established in 1999
Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM)
200/300mm Semiconductor Equipment
Business Challenges
This OEM needed to provide its customer with a major redesign of its capital equipment without placing a significant burden on its current structure. This upgrade would ensure future visibility with name recognition on its current tool line.
Technical Challenges
To provide a first time major change to a legacy tool set without increasing its current head
count. The task was to complete 100 upgrades in a two year time span while keeping its customers’
costs in alignment.
NSTAR Solution
This company decided to outsource the project. However, they wanted to maintain the total
customer relationship. They estimated that, if the program was successful, they would have
the option to provide more than 100 upgrades throughout the US and Asia in a 24 month time
span. NSTAR would be the overall project labor supplier and would become the subject matter
experts on the legacy tool set.
Benefits
By having NSTAR provide the labor solutions, the cost would be maintained at a managed level,
and no additional manpower/head count would be added by the OEM. Customers are always asking
for additional work to be done while waiting on a project to be completed. By using the outsourced
labor solution, the OEM could control its manpower requirements by stating that the work was
outsourced to a specialized vendor. Any change orders would have to be performed on an upfront
materials and labor basis.
What this Means to NSTAR Clients
In house training is provided and cost sharing by the OEM and NSTAR together, resulting in buy‐in and cost‐sharing from both partners.
Longer assignment lengths allow NSTAR to provide corporate housing at a reduced cost.
NSTAR is able to provide other customer support for the OEM on a worldwide basis, due to being identified as the experts on the tool.
