Entrepreneurial Marketing

CHAPTER 17The Post‐Operational Excellence: Balancing Rigidity and Flexibility

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), a manufacturing company that focuses on producing semiconductors according to the designs requested by its customers, has an operating approach known as the TSMC way. It consists of two main aspects. First, TSMC allocates an order volume from its 1,000 customers to all its factories to achieve a specific level of efficiency (use of scale). Second, TSMC operates using a unique modular design in producing these orders. This enables the company to dynamically allocate its production capacity to meet these orders.¹

In addition, TSMC has a cyber shuttle, a design verification and testing tool for chips that can accommodate customers' sudden needs. Through the TSMC way, the company can fulfill emergency orders while still adhering to rigid manufacturing operational principles. It operates on the principle of intelligent manufacturing. This is a machine learning‐assisted manufacturing process applied to optimize quality, productivity, efficiency, and operating flexibility, maximize cost‐effectiveness, and accelerate overall innovation.² As a result, TSMC can respond to a wide variety of market demands and very diverse product requirements for customers worldwide.³

Due to its ability to balance rigid processes with the flexibility that customers demand and increasingly need, TSMC has become the world's largest semiconductor manufacturer. It plays a vital ...