Hard machine down! Emergency in the semiconductor industry
A manufacturer of semiconductor devices (chips and wafers) based in Ireland faces a highly critical situation: Failure of a machine used in the cleanroom production causes the automated production line to come to a full stop. A spare part is urgently needed! But the item is not on stock – and only a supplier in Japan can manufacture the piece. The spare part has to be transported from Japan to Ireland as quickly as possible.
The challenge
In a fast-paced environment such as High-Tech & Semicon, machine failure is a worst-case scenario, resulting in production stand-still, losses in revenue and severe time pressure to resume production workflows. High-tech companies need high-performance solutions, so the manufacturer turns to time:matters, a logistics partner who is fast, flexible and in full control of the logistics process. time:matters is commissioned to ship the sensitive and high-value spare part urgently needed for semiconductor production from Japan to Ireland.
The transport
Booking procedures, shipment monitoring and client communication are handled expertly and professionally by the time:matters dedicated semiconductor desk in Amsterdam.
Day 0
The spare part is custom-made by a company based in Japan. As soon as quality checks are completed, a time:matters courier partner picks up the shipment at the supplier’s location. It is 18:50 PM Japanese Standard Time when the high-value component arrives at Tokio-Narita Airport (NRT). Swift export customs clearance follows, and the shipment leaves Japan with flight LH8385 to Frankfurt (FRA).
Day 1
Flight LH8385 is scheduled for arrival in Frankfurt at 06:20 AM. When the plane lands at 06:43 AM with a 23 minute delay, the time:matters Courier Terminal experts take over. Their superb handling expertise kicks in and (thanks to exlusive direct apron access) they manage to load the spare part tail-to-tail onto flight LH976, which departs just 32 minutes later (07:15 AM) to Dublin (DUB).
At 09:20 AM, a very happy customer receives the spare part and production restarts!
The result
time:matters achieves a total transportation time of less than 24 hours, from pickup in Japan to handover in Ireland. Our client’s comment: “Guys, you are amazing!”