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According to TSMC, approximately 410 suppliers to the company attended its seventh annual Supply Chain Management Forum, which had the theme of ‘Striving for Supply Chain Excellence’ and focused on new technology development, innovative cost reduction and supply chain efficiency. As part of the forum, TSMC announced its 2008 supplier awards which saw equipment honors for EBARA Corporation (CMP equipment), Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates (Ion Implanters), Hitachi Kokusai Electric (Thermal Furnaces) and Novellus Systems (CVD tools). Materials supply honors went to Tokyo Ohka Kogyo (TOK) for photoresists and Cabot Microelectronics for CMP pads and slurries.

“Under these difficult economic conditions, we want to maintain a reasonable cost structure and find innovative ways to identify and reduce redundancy while providing even more competitive process solutions to let customers migrate quickly and effectively to new technology nodes,” said Dr. Stephen Tso, TSMC’s Senior Vice President of Materials Management and Risk Management and Chief Information Officer. “This forum will not only continue to promote local production to improve cycle times and reduce manufacturing and transportation costs, it also aims to develop a complete supply chain management system to improve overall efficiency.”

“TSMC appreciates all the support suppliers have provided over the years, and this year’s awards give special recognition to the partners in materials and equipment whose achievements in quality, cost, delivery, service, technology, and safety can act as a role model to others in the industry,” added Dr. Tso.

This year’s forum also included sessions on equipment life cycle management, supplier performance management, upstream supply chain management and customer relationship management as well as discussions on environmental policies and practices.