Investigating Project Complexity at NXP Semiconductors B.V.

Abstract

In high-tech industries, projects play a central role in the development of new products and processes. Since these projects can be quite complex, it would be useful to look at where complexity in projects comes from and how these complexities influence these projects. The research project described in this thesis aims to increase the understanding of this topic in a company in the semiconductor industry, NXP Semiconductors. Products that are produced in the semiconductor industry play an increasingly important role in our lives. Products ranging from mobile telephones to cars to lighting are all equipped with semiconductor products and the performance of these products is steadily increasing with time. Therefore, the development of these products and the processes, which are needed to produce the products, are becoming more complex. The research project To describe the complexities that are encountered in the process engineering industry, a framework (the TOE framework, where TOE stands for Technical, Organizational and External) was developed earlier. The TOE framework consists of 47 elements (which are categorized into the three aforementioned categories) that describe aspects that can contribute to a project’s complexity. To understand the complexities that are encountered in the semiconductor industry, this research project has applied the TOE framework to this industry. The goal of this research project is twofold: firstly, it aims to understand where complexities in projects in the semiconductor industry come from; secondly, it would be useful for the company if the company would be able to understand which complexities could play a role in a future project and this could be used to come with the right measures to cope with these complexities. The main research question that this research project aims to answer is: What benefits does the application of the TOE framework provide for projects at NXP? This question is answered by doing a combination of desk research and case studies on projects in the company. In the desk research phase, the current practice related to development projects at NXP is investigated and a tool is described that calculates the design complexity of a new product design: Numetrics. Case studies To understand what complexities play a role in NXP projects, 16 projects have been investigated. The projects that are studied are from a wide variety of departments within NXP, but all projects (except for one) involve development of a new product or process. From each project, one person (the project manager) was interviewed. During the interviews, these project managers were asked to explain what the project entailed, which complexities were encountered during the projects, what influence these complexities had on the project and how the project managers coped with the complexities. The project managers were asked to indicate too which degree the complexities in the TOE were applicable to the project and if any complexities were missing in the framework. The complexities in the TOE framework that scored highest on the TOE scoring list are: - Involvement of different technical disciplines - Technical risks - High project schedule drive - Level of competition These high scoring complexities reflect the image that development projects in the semiconductor industry require multidisciplinary teams, that technical risks are often high (since it is not always known whether certain solutions will provide the required functionality), that there is high drive to develop new products quickly and that there is a high level of competition on the market. Next to the complexities that are directly related to the TOE framework, interviewees were also asked to share their views and experiences with the Numetrics system. A number of observations and recommendations with respect to this system are presented in this thesis. Adaptation and application of TOE From the original TOE framework, five elements were considered to be not applicable to the projects by the interviewees. These elements are not present the adapted version of the TOE framework for use at NXP. The interviewees also indicated that a number of complexities were missing or not precisely enough described in the TOE framework. In total 13 elements are added to the existing framework (4 technical, 5 organizational and 4 external elements). These adaptations lead to a new version of the TOE framework, that is modified to meet the situation at NXP. A preliminary version of a score chart is made, on which a project manager can indicate which complexities could be present in a project that is under planning. However, further research would be needed to successfully implement the application of TOE in practice. A possible way of applying TOE would be to use a similar approach that is taken by Numetrics – a tool that is currently being used at NXP to assess the design complexity of product developments. Since the relevance of Numetrics is limited to product development projects, the TOE approach would have an added value by also addressing other types of projects, such as process developments. Next to the version of TOE that is adapted to meet the needs of NXP, a suggestion is made for the inclusion of four new elements, which were the result of the case studies that were performed in this research project. Conclusions The research project shows that the possible application of the TOE framework could have benefits for NXP. As the case studies show, complexities can have a large influence on the project’s execution and success. Therefore, a tool that can assess the complexity and sources of complexity of multiple types of (development) projects would be of value to the company. Recommendations Towards the company, a number of recommendations are given. Firstly, although the BCaM framework is of much value to the company, one of the outcomes of the interviews was that the time between gates can be quite long. This can have a negative effect on the focus in the project team and including more steps into the system would increase the focus in the team. Secondly, we believe that the implementation of TOE in the planning phase of projects can add value by giving the project manager insight into the types of complexities that are expected to be encountered in the project under planning.