The lithography systems of ASML are very expensive and it speaks for itself that it is very costly when a system worth millions of euros is down for too long. Therefore ASML promises its customers, chip producers, to repair the system as fast as possible if it should go down. When ASML gets a hardware error from a customer, one of the many steps is that they will send service parts and tools so the local Customer Service Engineer can fix the problem. For some of these tools it is decided that they are packed together in a kit, a case which is specially protected against damage and contamination. “It is easier for the engineers to have just one case with tools and parts to take to the customer. They don’t have time to pick the stuff they need, they need to act quickly. It is also easier for the warehouse to ship one package to a Customer Service Engineer or directly to the customer. On the one hand it can be handy to find extra tools and parts in the kit, but on the other hand, the tools and parts are very expensive. Which means an extra investment, so you don’t want to put too much in the kit. It’s a trade-off situation”, Chen explains.

And that’s why Chen works on redefining what tools are needed in such a kit. Chen: “To do that, I had several interviews with people from different departments at ASML, like the CS Engineers and people from logistics. I wanted to integrate their perspectives. Furthermore I needed to investigate the function and price of each tool to find a good combination. It’s not just one tool kit; there are different kits for different modules of a machine. The work we are doing now will be implemented for a new machine line.”

Chen got her Bachelor’s degree of Industrial Engineering in Taiwan. After that she worked at Garmin for several years, a company which produces GPS systems. “I found out that a lot of decisions were made on the basis of personal experience and varied accordingly. I wanted to use a more technical way of decision-making, by doing operational research and developing decision-making models. To be able to do that, I needed to learn more about it first.” Therefore Chen took a Master’s degree in Industrial Systems Engineering in North Carolina State University in the United States and afterwards in 2007 she went back to Taiwan.

Good reputation
At that time ASML built the ASML center of Excellence in Taiwan to support the Asian customers. “I found out that they had a co-working program with Eindhoven University of Technology. It’s a five-year program, in which people study LMS for two years and then work at ASML for three additional years. I joined this program because ASML has a good reputation in Taiwan. Besides that, TU/e has a good reputation in Logistics. Finally I think it is a good idea that a company invests in an employee this way”, says Chen.

In the LMS program she did two logistic quick scans of two or three months at a company. “The first Quick Scan I did for ASML. I made a high-level business analysis for integration of service part and fields upgrade planning. The other one I did for Philips. This scan was done to make a decision model for block production to facilitate the response of fluctuated market demand.”

“We also attend Master courses for expanding our academic knowledge. And we have special workshops for the LMS students. And the major project is this in-company design project”, Chen explains. In general those projects are aimed at the analysis and redesign of a logistics network or a supply chain planning structure.

Chen will finish the LMS program at the end of September. “I think it is a very interesting program. It combines the academic and practical real business experience. It gives you a good idea how you can use your university knowledge in a company.”/.

See also:
http://www.3tu.nl/en/education/sai/programmes/lms/program_lms/.