Case study — Semiconductor equipment
Wafer-tool frames built to print, 40 tools a year
A tool builder outsourced complete frame sets, machined and pre-assembled, to free its own floor.
The challenge
In-house machining capped tool output at 28/year; frames blocked the assembly floor for weeks before a tool could start build.
What we changed
Frame sets delivered pre-assembled with machined-on interfaces: 5-axis milling of datum features after stress relief, with dimensional reports linked to each tool serial number.
Results
- Tool output
- 28 → 41 / yr demo data
- Frame staging time
- 3 wk → 4 d demo data
- On-time frame delivery
- 97% demo data
We went from 28 tools a year to 41. Frame staging dropped from three weeks to four days, and the floor is finally clear for build.