Synopsis: This is an early example of what has come to be called an "extranet," a networked solution that extends across multiple corporation boundaries. The purpose of an extranet is to forge a team of people who, despite working for disparate organizations, must effectively communicate, collaborate and coordinate to solve a tough business problem or achieve a common objective.
Deep Woods Technology's unique skills in bridging cultural differences was a significant contribution to the on-going success of the project.
A very large semiconductor manufacturer, anticipating huge growth in demand, foresaw the need to build many more fabrication facilities ("fabs"), worldwide in coming years. The risks were high: Each new building costs over $1 Billion, and takes 18-24 months to complete. Much of the uncertainty is in the thousands of engineering changes that had to be approved in a necessarily complex, delay-prone process. They needed to tighten the links between their own manufacturing plant and process design professionals, and the experts at the construction contractors.
Semiconductor manufacturing is a specialized art, and each company has secrets to the "recipe" they hold as significant competitive advantage. The technology had to be accessible at dozens of worldwide locations, but offer virtually impregnable security.
Each approval cycle for a simple engineering change might conceivable engage dozens of people, in a variety of geographic locations, some of whom spent most of their time traveling. Yet, it was this natural separation of the requisite professionals that was the source of most delays. We had to provide for quick, spontaneous communications among members of an ad hoc team, assembled for the purposes of each change that became significant through understanding of its implications.
It's hard to imagine two groups with more divergent corporate cultures:
| Semiconductor companies are managed for speed. Product life cycles range from 9 to
18 months; decisions are made in an instant, and reversed later in light of new
information. There is little outside influence on decisions taken, and few are exposed
outside the company, so a culture of secrecy evolves. Many decisions are made based on
"gut" feelings of respected experts. Employees are hired for the
long-term, and there is widespread recognition of the organizational knowledge carried in
the "guts" of those experts. |
| Construction companies are managed for control and consistency. Product life cycles range from 20 to 50 years. Every decision has multiple incidental consequences, usually related to some regulatory or other governmental approving body. Mistakes in judgement can cost millions, so everything is documented. A few key employees are long-term; most are hired or contracted for each specific project. |
Building a system that would work smoothly with information flowing back-and-forth between these cultures was recognized early as a key risk element for the entire project.
The system was build in Lotus Notes. Notes was selected for three key reasons:
| Security: Virtually air-tight. Access was limited to people
with true need to be involved in the system (about 250 people in each contractor, and
about 500 in the semiconductor firm). Access to individual documents was restricted
to an even smaller subset of the people working on a specific project, depending on their
expertise and need-to-know. All databases were encrypted to prevent information
exposure in the event of computer theft. |
| Mobility: Virtual freedom. While most professional users
were located on specific job sites throughout the world, about 10% of the population
(especially within the semiconductor company) were frequent travelers carrying their
expertise from site to site. They had habitually used laptop computers for corporate
e-mail and local document storage. Notes' ability to offer easy access from hotel
rooms in high-tech and developing countries allowed economical and user-friendly access to
information on-demand. |
| RAD: (Rapid Application Development). The intrinsic workflow abilities meant Notes could manage all the information flow for each multi-step approval cycle. Furthermore, because of the intrinsic database and programming tools, building complex workflow sequences (e.g., accounting for alternative paths in the event of non-response, or because of vacation schedules) was easy. Finally, because programs and data are integrated within Notes, distributing and maintaining software upgrades never required end-user involvement. |
The key objectives of the project were met in a single construction project (as a pilot), for approximately $500,000. That cost included software development, and build-out of the Notes infrastructure at both companies. The entire project, from inception to first delivery of pilot functionality was five months.
Estimated return for first project: $10 Million. Despite their original resistance to control, the construction company estimated they completed the building approximately ten days ahead of schedule. Since a typical semiconductor fab pumps out about $1 Million/day in gross margin, and the semiconductor company finishes one new factory a year, that amounts to a $10 Million/year savings.
The project has since become a full-time project, over multiple sites, and a full-time team of four developers and a manager working on system enhancements and improvements.
| We collaborated with the semiconductor firm to devise and structure the solution, |
| Made the management presentations that got it funded, |
| Managed the project from inception to first delivery, |
| Hired and managed the software developer, and -- most significantly -- |
| Resolved the major cultural conflicts between the semiconductor and construction firms that would've undermined (or even scuttled) the project. |