ASML: How to become an innovation leader in the semiconductor industry at the cutting edge of engineering across backgrounds, skills and perspectives

ASML awarded with the Global KAIZEN? Award 4th Edition - Category MNC

From the Netherlands, ASML tackles some of the world’s toughest challenges by producing machines that create electronic chips, engaging in the vision: Together we make lithography better, faster and more precise. The Lean acceleration program was launched within the system performance department of the ASML Twinscan Factory to meet the high customer demand due to the global chip shortage. An aggressive target was set for the team to reduce cycle time by 50 percent.

Here’s what we can learn from the ASML case:

Quick Stats About the ASML project

Results were impressive and achieved within a short amount of time:

• Cycle time mean was reduced by 30%.
• Cycle time variation was reduced by 50%.
• High Natural team and leadership engagement focused on one goal.
• Many capabilities were built throughout the organization.

Consequently, many team members reported an increased level of work enjoyment and collaboration.

The ASML Twinscan Factory success journey in a nutshell

In order to realize the results, a program was set up consisting of six work streams:

• Two streams focusing on breakthroughs: (1) Realizing significant cycle time reduction by identifying and executing on breakthrough projects; (2) assessing the effectiveness of the organization in reaching the vision of “everybody improves every day”
• Three streams focusing on daily steering: (1) goal deployment in general; (2) improving the performance dialogue by growing the capability to define corrective and or preventive actions on deviations; (3) building additional leadership skills, e.g., in the area of coaching for problem-solving.
• One stream focusing on Continuous Improvement by enhancing the current way of working and making it easy to participate in general.

“When we started the Lean project, our main goal was to reduce the cycle time. Yet, the biggest change is difficult to catch in numbers: As a project team, our goal was to establish a mindset of helping each other within the natural team. With that in mind, the atmosphere really changed by caring for each other and getting the job done together as a team”, says Olaf van de Ven, Managing NXT System Performance and project sponsor.

Congratulations to the entire ASML team, including Steven Loyens , Hans de Bock , Jan Hof , Judith Smolders - Poppelaars , ilse van zanten , Olaf van de Ven , and Mark Immers !