Professional training establishes international uniform working methods with Siemens Teamcenter software

90 billion parts annually

Nexperia is a dedicated global leader in Discretes, Logic and MOSFETs. They became independent at the beginning of 2017. Focused on efficiency, Nexperia produces consistently reliable semiconductor components at high volume: more than 90 billion annually. Their extensive portfolio meets the stringent standards set by the automotive industry. And industryleading small packages, produced in their own manufacturing facilities, combine power and thermal efficiency with best-in-class quality levels. Built on over half a century of expertise, Nexperia has over 11,000 employees across Asia, Europe and the U.S. supporting customers globally.

Speed as a competitive advantage

Nexperia is active in the dynamic market of microscopically small parts (for example those used in mobile phones and tablets and the machines that produce them), with a continuous drive for innovation in production methods and materials.

These innovations occur so frequently that the company must continuously renew itself. “There is a beautiful field of tension between mechanics, dynamics, electronics and the accompanying software to deliver machines that are perfectly tuned,” says Theo ter Steeg, senior mechanical development engineer at Nexperia “Other companies apply the same tricks as we do, but we are faster than our competitors and that is why we are winning,”

Connecting people, processes and departments

Nexperia employs a staff of 40 in its Industrial Technology and Engineering Center (ITEC), the research and development department of the company located in The Netherlands. ITEC is responsible for making machines faster, cheaper and better. In its Hong Kong facility, a similar number of employees are involved in field engineering, supply chain and services operations for regional customers.

To maintain its competitive advantage, Nexperia adopted Teamcenter® software for product lifecycle management (PLM) from Siemens Digital Industries Software. With Teamcenter, Nexperia aimed to connect all of the departments, people and processes in both Nijmegen and Hong Kong with a single source of product information.

Uniform work methods

To derive more value from its PLM investment more quickly, Ter Steeg insisted on a powerful approach to the Teamcenter training. In the implementation of the software, Nexperia decided to adhere to established work processes within the company as thoroughly as possible.

With half of the Teamcenter users in Hong Kong and the other half in Nijmegen, standardized working methods were essential. The teams in both locations had not only to learn new functionality, but also to adopt and accept the system as a key business tool.

Customized training

Tom de Koning, a Siemens training advisor, worked with Ter Steeg to set up a training program. A critical element was adapting the training to match the Nexperia work processes as closely as possible. Ter Steeg and his colleagues attended standard Teamcenter training and devised a customized training program for the end-users. This approach gave Ter Steeg and his colleagues a complete overview of the possibilities.

The challenge for the end-user groups was to create a training program in two countries, Hong Kong and The Netherlands, and two groups of Teamcenter authors and consumers. The training had to be delivered in a Nexperia-specific Teamcenter environment and in a limited period of time.

Together with Siemens instructor Sander Neugebauer, the team decided which topics and activities had to be covered for the end-user training. That approach contributed to adapting the training to the specific needs of Nexperia. “We supplemented the standard teaching materials with additional materials, specifically created for Nexperia,” says Neugebauer. “That way the training perfectly matched what they wanted.”

Training in Nijmegen and Hong Kong

The training was delivered from the Netherlands, using a video connection between Nijmegen and Hong Kong. The participants could watch the demonstrations of the Siemens instructor, who in turn could view the participants on the other side of the world on his own monitor.

An additional advantage was that the Siemens instructor could clearly see the facial expressions of the participants during the explanations, and could react quickly if the participants seemed lost. This created a lot of interaction between the groups as they helped each other, and the teaching material proved to be effective. “If a Siemens instructor demonstrates something on a screen, it is easy for everyone to understand, but you can only really learn when you practice in assignments,” says Ter Steeg.

Training with video

Ter Steeg is convinced that the Siemens method of training with a video connection is enormously valuable for ITEC. “If people are not properly trained, it will result in a lot of questions and self-taught and wrong practices. We would then have paid a lot of learning costs in the first weeks and months. They would bombard us with questions and constantly contact the more skilled people, so those cannot get to their actual work. You really do not want those situations to occur.”

More than a license

After the training, both departments could work independently with Teamcenter. Ter Steeg looks back to these training sessions with much satisfaction. “Training is still an investment, so it has to work well and land well,” says Ter Steeg. Both locations were more than satisfied with the course and the ITEC employees were able to work confidently with Teamcenter immediately after the training, and therefore the user acceptance succeeded. “That is why we took a professional approach with Siemens,” Ter Steeg says. “It is not just about purchasing the licenses, because you can only truly use the software well if you have a proper foundation.”