Linx Consulting provides supply chain consulting services to help clients succeed. They have experience in the electronics, advanced materials, thin film processing and chemicals industries. Their services include quality system auditing, benchmarking, and excursion management to help clients qualify suppliers, assess strategic partnerships, and resolve issues that arise. Their goal is to enable high confidence decision making for clients through analyzing supply chain risks and capabilities.

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Linx Strategic Supply Chain Service
Overview Presentation
Linx Consulting

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Linx Consulting
1. We create knowledge and develop unique insights at the
intersection of electronic thin film processes and the chemicals
industry
2. We help our clients to succeed through our:
• Experience in global electronics and advanced materials and thin film
processing industries:
• Experience in the global chemicals industry
• Experience at Device Producers
• Experience at OEMs
• Global network and capabilities
• Advanced modeling capabilities
– Semi
– LCD
– Packaging
– PV
– Nano Technology
– Other
LINX CONSULTING

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Electronic Materials, 2012
0
20
40
60
80
100%
% total electronic materials
% total category ($Bn)
Semi
Photomasks
CSP
Spec. gases
Bulk gases
Deposition
CMP
PR ancillaries
Photoresist
Wafers
LCD
Other
Liquid crystals
LMF
Chemicals
Metalization
Resists
Gases
Substrates
Packaging
Gases & Chems
Die attach & underfill
Encapsulants
Ceramic package
Plastic Subs.
Frames & Wires
PCB
Substrates
Patterning
Metalization
Chems &
Gases
Solders
Other
Electrolytes
Cathodes/anodes
Solar
Wafers
Metals
Saw wire
Slurry
Pastes
Chemicals
Gases
Encapsulants
Backsheets
Glass substrates
Packaging
Other
Gases
Dep.
Substrates
Total = 122.8
Adv Batt
Separators
Compound/LED
SEE BEYOND THE HORIZON

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High Confidence Decision Support Services
PLANNING
Business Analysis
M&A / Due Diligence
Diversification / Expansion
Planning
IDEAS TO MARKET
IP Development
Value Chain Analysis
Technology Assessment and
Commercialization
OPERATIONS
Cost Benchmarking
Competitive Intelligence
COO Models and Assessment
Process Technology Assessment
MARKETING & SALES
Market Analysis/Monitoring
Market Forecasting and Modeling
Competitive Intelligence
Customer Perceptions
SINGLE CLIENT
SERVICES
LINX CONSULTING

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Industry Analysis Reports Offered
• CMP Technologies and Markets
• Advanced Thin Films for FEOL and BEOL Applications
• Emerging Materials Opportunities for Advanced Semiconductor Devices – Logic
• Emerging Materials Opportunities for Advanced Semiconductor Devices - Memory
• Advanced Cleaning and Surface Preparation: Technologies and Markets
• Advanced Patterning Forecasting
• Chemicals and Materials for TSV Applications
• Wafer Polishing Technologies and Markets
• Impact of 450mm Wafers on Processes and Materials
• Advanced Materials and Chemicals for Photovoltaic Cells and Modules
LINX CONSULTING

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What is Linx-Supply Chain Optimization
Linx is a leading industry consulting firm focused on helping our clients to succeed by overcoming the
challenges inherent in becoming or remaining a WORLD-CLASS advanced materials supplier. We
accomplish this through offering innovative insight and solutions to quality management systems
requirements, which drive changes that transform the perception of quality as a cost center to quality as a
differentiator, that customers are willing to pay for, and the company from a bulk vendor to a world-class
solutions provider
Linx Services Offered
• Quality system auditing or pre-audit assessment
• Supplier quality system benchmarking
• Quality/Product Management system set-up or augmentation
• Excursion management
Key Deliverables are enabling
• Enables executives to make informed decisions around product line management
• Enables end-users to assess and select strategic partners for next generation materials development.
• Is a critical component of due-diligence supporting M&A activities

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Supply-Chain Optimization Background
• Market trend is to push supplier quality into the supply chain
• End customers (End-user) are pushing suppliers to avoid costly firefighting by pre-emptively
qualifying the supply chain
• Some companies are developing collaborative programmes which are firewalled and
confidential
• Others are demanding more information with an expectation of supplier transparency for the
whole supply chain.
• Suppliers need to set up effective audit trails for all sub suppliers
• This may lie within the capability of large suppliers, but small and medium size suppliers
may not have the expertise to develop acceptable supply change qualification systems

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Incumbent Supplier Base is being Challenged
New material formulations being introduced
New suppliers bring innovation
Mature formulations used for new applications
Technology cycles are being compressed
New suppliers have a steep learning curve
End-users have limited process characterization resources
Hendry ISS 2013 Hendry ISS 2013

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New Materials are Increasing Rapidly
R² = 0.985
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
1990s 2000s 2010+
New Materials Required
New Devices and Architectures
The Quality Dilemma
1. New Materials are often found in /
required for the most critical applications
2. New materials lead to new value chains
3. New value chains lead to new sources
4. New sources are usually unqualified

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The Entire Value Chain is Being Challenged
End-Users
Need to have materials qualified
Need to track more of the supply chain
Need to control overheads
Handling many more materials
Prime Suppliers
Being held accountable for sub-supplier
systems
Do not have capabilities to track activities at
sub-suppliers
Sub-Suppliers
Original contracts did not call for stringent
quality processes
Do not sell directly to end-user – it is not our
problem
Do not know how to implement systems

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What is Needed?
Companies at all levels in the value chain need help in establishing and managing quality
systems and the impact of excursions. Linx Consulting offers solutions to all participants that
are designed to:
End-users Prime Suppliers Sub Suppliers
• Quality system auditing
• Excursion management
• Systemic Reporting tools.
• Quality system auditing or
pre-audit assessment
• Supplier quality system
benchmarking
• Quality/Product
Management system set-
up or augmentation
• Excursion management
• Identification of toll
manufacturers
• Quality system auditing or
pre-audit assessment
• Supplier quality system
benchmarking
• Quality/Product
Management system set-
up or augmentation
• Excursion management

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World Class Supply chain Management
“ Be Prepared for the Excursion ”
• Well controlled manufacturing
at the supplier leads to product
qualification
• Changed process at the sub-
supplier changes end product
performance
See Beyond The Horizon
Sourcing
Reaction
Purification
Packaging
Shipping
Receiving
Reaction
Formulation
Purification
Application Test
QC
Distillation
Shipping
QC
SupplierSub
Supplier
Sub
Supplier
Purification
New Requirement's
• Sub-supplier process mapping
during product development
• Beyond CofA material
fingerprinting
• Understand and Control
variation where possible

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What is happening today?
IC Manufacturers are making changes
• Focusing on formulation sub-suppliers
• Are evaluating strategic supplier readiness
• Imposed significant fines for quality manual violations
• Actively eliminating under performing suppliers
Suppliers need assistance to overcome barriers:
• Executive Sponsorship
– Assignment of talent and resources for change
– Commitment to attainment of quality goals
• Education
– Understanding WHAT and WHY
• Involvement
– All aspects of sales and operations are stakeholders for quality metrics
• Price
– End users need to pay for the appropriate level of testing and production capabilities

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Impact of Excursions
IMPACT to:
Raws Qualified Product On Wafer Packed Chips
Consumer
Product
Business
Operating capital
Good Will 1/∞
Technical
ID Root Cause
Recurrence of
Issue
Detection location

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Dollarized Impact of Supply Chain Excursion
High Volume manufacturer
• Delay of Ramp
– $2-10 B/ Yr
• Tools Idle or re-tasked for excursion support
– $¼M - 1.4M / day
• Additional Wafer Inspections
– Non-standard operations
– Additional tool capacity may be needed in
HVM operations
• Additional Incoming material screening
– Non-standard operations
– Additional capitol may be required needed for
HVM operations
• Additional Wafer inspections
– Non-standard operations
– External services $5K – $20K per week
• Task force Meeting
– 1 – 3x per day
– 1/wk Senior Management Reviews
Formulated Product Supplier
• Additional inspections mandated
– Operating margins reduced significantly
• Re-engagement of R&D staff
– R&D staff no longer available for other
development
– Other activities with end user suspended until
excursion is fixed
• New specification development
– $20K-$5M additional capital
• Expedited Logistics charges
– $2-$5K for Land Freight /sample
– $10-$20K for air freight / sample
• Task force meetings
– Will need 1 Full time TF manager
– 1-3x per day with end-user
– 1-2x per day internal
– VP of Operations/Business Expected to
attend
Excursions are expensive including direct and indirect costs

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Why Linx?
The advanced materials and tooling market is again evolving. New platform development is
costly and risky. End-users are identifying new strategic partners and suppliers who they can
rely on to help meet their business goals. Supply chain risk has been identified as a significant
vulnerability. In response to this, FABs are rethinking strategic partnerships to focus on suppliers
who have consistently met project deliverables and not slipped on manufacturing ramp
schedules.

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Engagement Models
• Client would like to buy from supplier but it is obvious that quality systems do not meet
standards
– Model: Linx service to perform client supplier initial gap assessment. Assessed
supplier then hires Linx to address gap areas and prep for qualification audit.
• Client is involved in acquisition of a target company and is completing “Due diligence”
– Model: Linx performs technical assessment of targets capability to meet proposed
industry technical deliverables. Client can use report as a component of due diligence.
• Client needs to know where critical supply chain baseline is
– Model: Linx performs baseline assessment on list of suppliers ranking them and
highlighting areas for improvement vs. industry normal.
• Client has a supplier management program but must complete detailed assessments
(AML?) in short time.
– Model: Linx supplements existing quality team to complete audits and establish
roadmaps for gap closure as an extension its own internal team.
• Client is small and does not have experienced people in place.
– Model: Linx acts as quality representative. Linx would be on retainer to the client and
on call with a specified number of hours per month.
External Disclosure Not Permitted

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Linx Service offering: Pre-Audit
Verification of systems and adherence to those systems is at the core in maintaining a culture of quality
and continuous improvement. Semiconductor manufacturers perform audits regular to asses the
readiness of their supplier base. These audits are invasive and the preparation for the audit can be a
daunting. Linx provides guidance and focus to have a successful customer audit.
Pre-Audit Program Deliverables
• Review of end-users audit forms and questions
• Completion of end-users pre-audit forms
• Analysis & prioritization of gaps needed to be addressed prior to actual customer audit
• Participation in the end-user audit if requested.
Pre-Audit Methodology
• Pre-Audit work will begin with a review of the pre-audit forms with the customer’s quality and
operations team leads to align on expectations.
• The level of involvement on completing the pre-audit questionnaires will depend on the scope
requested by the customer
• The completed questionnaire will be returned to the end-user after review by initial pre-audit team.
• A final document will be presented to the customer highlighting items (red flags) and mitigation
requirements if needed.

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Linx Service offering: Audit
Verification of systems and adherence to those systems is at the core in maintaining a culture of
quality and continuous improvement. Quality system auditing is a program for materials
manufacturers to asses its ability pilot and ramp new suppliers or materials.
Audit Program Deliverables
• Development of Customized Audit Templates
• Field Audits of Supplier and critical component suppliers
• Analysis & Recommended Prioritization of Needed Improvements
Methodology
• The assessment will begin with a questionnaire sent to the audit target from the customer.
• The on-site portion will consist of site inspections and detailed discussions of selected portions
of the assessment checklists.
• A final document will be presented to the customer highlighting key findings and any
recommended improvements.

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Linx Service offering: System Benchmarking
The advanced materials manufacture’s quality system strength is limited by the capability of its
suppliers. Advanced materials formulations are complex and many use components from a
variety of suppliers, typically not supplying solely to the electronics market. Periodically it is
advantageous for an end-user to asses the aggregate ranking of its supplier base. The
benchmarking program allows a customer to rank its overall supplier performance vs. best
known methods and suppliers not in the customers supply chain.
Benchmarking Program / Deliverables
• Development of Customized Benchmarking Templates and Focus Areas
• Development of Customized Audit Templates
• Field Audits of Suppliers
• Analysis and Comparison to Best Known Methods
Benchmarking Methodology
• The customer and Linx will agree on current supplier and extra-supplychain data sets
– Peer Benchmarking is also possible in this program
• The supplier audits will follow the standard audit methodology.
• A final document will be presented to the customer aggregating the data and presenting an
overall supply chain health, gaps and feedback from the participants concerning the
customers systems.

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Linx Service offering: Excursion Management
A materials development and integration program is inherently risky but the rewards for a successful ramp
are substantial. During the final selection process and high volume ramps end-users depend on their
materials suppliers to identify and eliminate material variation with minimal interruption or involvement from
the end users technical teams. Occasionally an interaction in the integrated process requires the end-user
to devote considerable resources to work with the supplier to contain, identify and systematize fixes for
deviations of form fit and function. This is impactive to suppliers and failure to manage this correctly sours
the relationship with the end-user resulting in loss of future business as well as disqualification for the
current process(es).
Excursion Management Program
• Define parameters required for excursion closure requirements
• Attend excursion task force meetings ( internal, end-user or both)
• Provide excursion management tools / techniques and guidance to customer excursion manager
• Final report will document root cause and suggested gap closure activities
Methodology
• Will join customer internal problem solving team
• Review data and evaluate completeness of data already gathered to identify problem
• Will review containment activities for effectiveness
• Once root cause is identified will work with customer team to implement fix.

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Linx-Supply Chain Service Provides Solutions
• Enables executives to make informed decisions around product line management
• Enables end-users to assess and select strategic partners for next generation materials development.
• Is a critical component of due-diligence supporting M&A activities