FebOperational Framework Customer Supply Chain – ASML

 Overview

Company Description

ASML is the world’s leading provider of lithography systems for the semiconductor industry. ASML designs, develops, integrates, markets, and services these advanced systems used by customers – the major global semiconductor manufacturers – to create chips that power a wide array of electronic, communications, and information technology products.

ASML’s corporate headquarters is in Veldhoven, the Netherlands. Manufacturing sites and research and development facilities are located in Connecticut, California, Taiwan, and the Netherlands. Technology development centers and training facilities are located in Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, Taiwan, and the United States. Overall, ASML has more than 70 locations in 16 countries. ASML is traded on Euronext Amsterdam and NASDAQ under the symbol ASML.

With over 60 facilities, the ASML organization is extensive, yet it is characterized by close cooperation — internally and with customers and suppliers worldwide. The structure reflects ASML’s business strategy based on technology leadership, customer focus, and operational excellence. Consequently, innovation tailored to the strategic business segments is at the organization’s heart. And this is backed up by comprehensive logistics and customer support.

Supply Chain Management (SCM) ensures material availability to ASML’s factories and customers. Any break in material availability can have an unacceptable impact on our customers. So SCM must proactively identify and solve potential issues by working closely with our technical departments and customers and actively managing an extensive supplier base. With over 500 highly educated and motivated people, SCM has contributed to ASML being named the “Best Factory” in the Netherlands.

Project Description

Within the Customer Supply Chain of ASML, we strive to have the right material availability to meet our Service Level Agreements (SLAs) – customer commitments – with customers against minimal costs. These SLAs differ per business line, machine type and Service Product. A certain service contract may be based on a certain metric, while the same service contract may contain a different metric for another customer or another machine type.

For the whole set of contracts and SLAs, we need to plan our stocking strategy 1-2 years in advance – the tactical planning. This assignment will focus on the step after that: the operational and executional level

Goals of the Project

At this moment, we have insight in our organizational layers on which we have organized our planning. We have worked on further clarifying our strategic and tactical level, but are missing a certain level of detail in our operational and executional level. Next to that, we want to have insight in the vertical integration of these layers.

• Research in how we steer on achieving SLAs: how do we operationally execute?
• Advise on where we can improve in order to align the way we steer with how we plan tactically and operationally, linked to how we eventually execute
• Insight in how we formulate requirements out of the operational execution for our dealmaking process

Deliverables

• Process framework of operational execution: how we operationally steer on achieving SLAs
• Document this process framework
• Overview of how we formulate requirements for dealmaking based on the operational execution (vertical integration)
• Presentation on the advice for improvements

Essential Student Knowledge

You are a MSc student, preferably with a background in Business Administration, Supply Chain or Logistics. This assignment will be more qualitatively focused. You are a strong conceptual thinker, have communicative skills, and a curious mindset. Out of this curiosity, you keep asking questions until you understand it.  

More information: escf@tue.nl