KLA-Tencor

San Jose, CA (Bay Area)
$2.7 billion market leader in semiconductor manufacturing equipment

Uses SyncDev and M&A product by product.

A major chip manufacturer was angry when KT showed them their completed third-generation inspection system that spots microscopic flaws on wafers. “How dare you design without us, especially when it’s missing a critical feature, off-line setup” The customer barred KT as punishment.

KT’s new President invited PMDI to present SyncDev to his business unit managers and VPs. The inspection system GM decided to use SyncDev for his fourth-generation product as a two-year program to develop new hardware and to advance the software.

PMDI visited Development in Israel in October to socialize SyncDev. The kickoff was early November and included the product GM, two Israeli engineering managers, applications, and a software designer who would also run the demo with the Validation Prototype. 

The first wave of meetings was with five US customers the week before Thanksgiving. On Monday in San Jose, UltraTech Stepper asked, “Where’s the off-line setup.”  That night they flew to Boise, ID and the next morning 17 people at Micron asked the same question. They took a red-eye to JFK and Wednesday morning a commuter to Burlington, VT. There, IBM asked, “Where’s off-line setup?” 

Leaving IBM, the Israeli managers argued in the van. “Listen,” said Mark, the Product Manager. “Before they couldn’t do off-line setup. Now they’re arguing about how to do it.”

The team should have changed their spec before the next wave, but didn’t. They went to another division of IBM. “Gentlemen, this meeting is over. We don’t want to hear about your technology or product roadmap. Nothing,” IBM said, after 30 minutes. The team packed up and left.

At dinner the team started over, deferring the new hardware change and concentrating on off-line setup, i.e., the Minimum Viable Product™.  From that point forward, things went well as they visited customers in China, Japan, and Korea.

By February, the team had validated a new spec and returned to IBM where they presented their plan for the product they wanted. “We don’t like where you are but we like where you’re going,” an IBM manager said. The meeting resulted in IBM buying two more units of the current product that they didn’t like. When the new product was released IBM replaced all seven of their old units with new ones. The microprocessor manufacturer resumed buying again. Two years later KT’s inspection unit had advanced its market share from 40 percent to 70 percent and put seven of twelve competitors out of business.