People And Stories: Ambitious Projects

In an increasingly competitive and growing market, engineering must constantly find new ways to innovate to remain efficient. With Exyte’s commitment to bringing the future of technology to life, the company is leading the way through its expertise to realize large scale projects across the globe.

In Northern Europe, nestled amongst green landscapes and rugged terrain lies a massive and impressive semiconductor wafer fabrication facility, situated on a 360-acre site. Exyte began the expansion of the multibillion-dollar project end of 2018 with the end result being one of the most cutting-edge manufacturing sites in the world. The fab produces silicon microprocessors that power the technology and devices people use every day including computer, smartphones and data centers.

Gavin Francis standing in a well-lit environment, wearing a dark suit jacket over a white shirt, smiling at the camera.

Paving the way for the future with the successful completion of Exyte’s biggest ever project

“This was Exyte’s largest project in its history,” begins Project Director Gavin Francis. Bringing more than three decades of experience to the role, he was responsible for overseeing the delivery of the fab and all the elements that must tie into this such as planning, scheduling, and progress management to ensure quality and excellence. Francis says what defined this project as a flagship for Exyte was the project team’s ability and proficiency across all disciplines. “This project provided us the frame to demonstrate our ability to deliver a world-class project. It was successful because of the dexterity and drive of our entire team,” adds Francis. “This project establishes a firm foundation for an exciting future.”

Alan Cassidy, standing outdoors, wearing a dark sweater and a collared shirt underneath. He is looking directly at the camera with a subtle smile.

“Exyte had the opportunity to grow and continue to develop its skillset.”

During the project’s life cycle Alan Cassidy, the site’s Project Manager, could be found onsite overseeing the construction and project execution. With a keen eye for detail Cassidy used his 25 years of experience in the semiconductor industry to ensure the project utilized innovation and the best expertise. The result: A facility that truly encompasses the future of technology.

“The semiconductor industry has experienced unprecedented growth in the last ten years. This meant Exyte had the opportunity to grow and continue to develop its skillset, and team alongside that," says Cassidy. He explains that securing the best talent, alongside building solid processes and procedures, is a necessity for future project success and Exyte’s commitment to providing the best possible solutions for both the company and its clients.

Arend Suhr, wearing safety gear including a hard hat, safety glasses, and gloves, is holding a pen and notebook, appearing to take notes while working outdoors.

Design and engineering innovation paved the way to fast-track project delivery

But the success doesn’t stop in Europe. Across continents in Asia, Exyte also saw the successful handover of a large-scale facility that produces 3D-NAND memory chips (a type of flash memory technology used in solid-state drives (SSDs) and other storage devices) both on time and ahead of budget. The huge project covered an area of 150,000 square meters, the same size as 21 football fields. Due to Exyte’s extensive experience in building fabs of this nature, the company was chosen as the project’s EPC contractor.

To deliver the project in the most efficient way possible, Exyte utilized Building Information Modelling (BIM) to help accelerate the building process from concept design to the project handover. Arend Suhr, the project’s Design Manager, explains that the BIM software enabled a reliable way to measure progress and detect flaws in the design. To optimize efficiency on a project of this size, Exyte used a combination of BIM and laser scanning, allowing the onsite team to access and scan the installations and overlay the design model, which shows any issues and how they need to be fixed. Suhr says, “The knowledge to really understand this technology allowed all disciplines involved to input their design data for their respective systems into the 3D model and share information with one another.”

Puay Meng Goh, wearing safety gear including a hard hat, protective glasses, and gloves, stands confidently with his arms crossed, smiling during work at an outdoor industrial site.

Bringing eighteen years of knowledge and experience to projects

In Singapore Exyte is building another facility which produces some of the most advanced memory chips on the market. Puay Meng Goh, the Project Manager is responsible for ensuring engineering efficiency and excellence from the project’s conceptual design to handover. He believes Exyte is the perfect partner for clients due to the wide variety of skillsets and expertise the company has across its global team.

“Exyte has an impressive and diverse workforce to execute these projects, comprising engineering, commercial, and procurement teams, along with highly skilled project and construction teams that include planning, environmental, health and safety (EHS), quality assurance and control as well as site supervision.”

Not only that, what sets Exyte apart from its competitors is its global reach. “We are equipped to take on any project because of the experienced regional teams we have across Europe, Asia, and the US. We have the extensive local supply chain network and comprehensive experience working with the local authorities for all permitting requirements,” Goh says. In his eyes, in conjunction with Exyte’s skillsets and knowledge, “we have pushed boundaries on fast-track deliveries and set the standards for our clients worldwide, again demonstrating why Exyte is the industry leader in the semiconductor industry.”