Case study: product management during shut down of a CMOS production fab

In order to meet the increasing demand of semiconductor devices with minimum incremental cost, a 125 mm CMOS fab was converted to a 150 mm power BiCMOS. This paper focuses on the challenges encountered and experience learned from the shutting down of the 125 mm production from the perspective of product management. Since the shut down of our fab involved multiple internal organizations, the teamwork of multiple individuals who did not report to the fab management team was needed. Because of the complexity of the conversion and the limited human and financial resources available, great resistance was experienced in shutting down of a profit-making factory even in an effort to increase profit in the long run. Thorough communication of our vision and obtaining management “buy-in”, we were able to win the team work of all the key players. The 125 mm fab provided semiconductor devices to four internal business organizations with over 60 business units. The next issue encountered was to decide which product to “keep” vs. to “kill”. With an approach that relied on communication, creativity, willingness to take calculated risk, the 125 mm production was shut down successfully on time within 12 month while die delivery impact to customer is minimized