We will  explain you a bit about what each value stream is all about and how our employees are experiencing this innovative new way of working. Here we speak with Ingo Weiske, group lead product sustaining & NPI at IDE, about working within the value stream Lithography. 

I am responsible for technology as a part of our value stream team. This involves: 

• Understanding technology challenges in our production process. Since we have a wide range of products in the value stream, including ambient isolation systems, a robotic end-effector, and a service lifting tool, this is extremely multifaceted. 

• Understanding and dealing with customer complaints, supporting root cause analysis, and working on mitigations  

• Bringing issues from our value stream into the R&D department and setting up teams that work on the challenges. 

We are working very closely as a team. Working in the value stream and sitting together in one office makes a lot of things much easier. For example, I can discuss and solve quality issues immediately with my colleague from QA, and we can involve the colleague from planning to understand the logistical impact without setting up a meeting and checking everyone’s agendas and so on. 
Working here is also much more focused than before when I was working in the R&D department, and we are dealing with more customers, different issues, and different teams.  

The biggest challenge is disentangling ourselves from previous roles, so that we can have the capacity for our new tasks. We need to transfer our knowledge to the colleagues that take over our old roles. While on the one hand this is a challenge, on the other hand, we know that we will master it. 

IDE has always been about team spirit. It is not always easy, and there is always quite a challenge in front of you, but you can rely on your colleagues. The tasks are different every day, which keeps the work interesting, even after working here for years. 

Our team provides technologically complex products to a demanding customer. This involves interesting tasks with new challenges every day. As a part of the team, you get to see and experience how your work is connected to the other aspects of our value stream (e.g. quality, logistics, sales, production, purchasing, engineering) and how it impacts our performance towards the customer.