Silicon Valley Nation
Silicon Valley Nation: Maxim confronts new challenges
Brian Fuller
11/27/2012 2:45 PM EST
"Big D, little a"
As for "Big D, little a," Doluca points to the company's recently released Zeus platform. Zeus is a smart meter SoC for embedded smart grid equipment that needs to measure and to communicate securely. A built-in cryptographic module secures communication; a secure bootloader prevents unauthorized firmware modification; and tamper detection assures providers that any attempts to physically attack the meter will be detected, recorded, and reported.
"It's got a very accurate front end for analog measurements and feeds it to a powerful microcontroller that can do all the calculations. It has a processor to handle communications protocols. Do it does measurement, handles communications needs, and, something unique to Maxim, it provides anti-tampering security," he said.
Manufacturing shift
The challenge for any corporate transformation is to expand into new areas without neglecting what you got here. In Maxim's case, this means traditional analog "building-block" or "catalog" parts and the manufacturing capability that supports that.
"Customers aren't looking for the highest integrated products if they don't have performance," Doluca said. "They still want the level of performance they're going to get by buying these discrete components."
Over the past several years, the company has evolved its manufacturing strategy with this in mind. First, it hired Vivek Jain away from his job running Intel's Technology Development and Manufacturing facility in Santa Clara. Jain embarked on a strategy of moving a chunk of Maxim's manufacturing into foundries (on both 200- and 300-mm wafers), while keeping its own fabs for products targeting less-volatile markets.
"When you get into a high-integration product area, especially markets like mobility that are quite volatile...we realized we needed a more flexible manufacturing model," Doluca said. Maxim, by shifting some products there, they could better hit customer supply dates.
"Our lead times have shortened. We were able to meet our committed dates a lot better than in the past," he said.
This has gone a long way toward healing an old Achilles' heel at Maxim: customer support. "Maxim did not have a good reputation for supporting customers logistically," Doluca said. "We've improved dramatically."
Additionally, Doluca and team tightened its supply chain, inking a 2008 deal with Avnet to make the giant distributor a key partner to service and support the longtail customer base.
Since then, Maxim's found 5,000 new customers it "didn't know about," Doluca said.
Next: Acquisition binge
As for "Big D, little a," Doluca points to the company's recently released Zeus platform. Zeus is a smart meter SoC for embedded smart grid equipment that needs to measure and to communicate securely. A built-in cryptographic module secures communication; a secure bootloader prevents unauthorized firmware modification; and tamper detection assures providers that any attempts to physically attack the meter will be detected, recorded, and reported.
"It's got a very accurate front end for analog measurements and feeds it to a powerful microcontroller that can do all the calculations. It has a processor to handle communications protocols. Do it does measurement, handles communications needs, and, something unique to Maxim, it provides anti-tampering security," he said.
Manufacturing shift
The challenge for any corporate transformation is to expand into new areas without neglecting what you got here. In Maxim's case, this means traditional analog "building-block" or "catalog" parts and the manufacturing capability that supports that.
"Customers aren't looking for the highest integrated products if they don't have performance," Doluca said. "They still want the level of performance they're going to get by buying these discrete components."
Over the past several years, the company has evolved its manufacturing strategy with this in mind. First, it hired Vivek Jain away from his job running Intel's Technology Development and Manufacturing facility in Santa Clara. Jain embarked on a strategy of moving a chunk of Maxim's manufacturing into foundries (on both 200- and 300-mm wafers), while keeping its own fabs for products targeting less-volatile markets.
"When you get into a high-integration product area, especially markets like mobility that are quite volatile...we realized we needed a more flexible manufacturing model," Doluca said. Maxim, by shifting some products there, they could better hit customer supply dates.
"Our lead times have shortened. We were able to meet our committed dates a lot better than in the past," he said.
This has gone a long way toward healing an old Achilles' heel at Maxim: customer support. "Maxim did not have a good reputation for supporting customers logistically," Doluca said. "We've improved dramatically."
Additionally, Doluca and team tightened its supply chain, inking a 2008 deal with Avnet to make the giant distributor a key partner to service and support the longtail customer base.
Since then, Maxim's found 5,000 new customers it "didn't know about," Doluca said.
Next: Acquisition binge
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truekop
11/27/2012 8:23 PM EST
"Maxim shares have begun to outperform some key competitors." I dont think that is the case.
Atleast a cursory look at yahoo finance comparing Maxim, LTC and ADI for the past year it shows equal or slightly weaker performance of the Maxim stock...thus depending on when you start the comparison the results will change :)
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danlutes
11/28/2012 6:00 PM EST
"Before 2007, Maxim had done almost no acquisitions, save for acquiring a Tektronix wafer fab. It preferred to build everything in house. "
What about Dallas Semiconductor in 2001 for $2.5 Billion in stock?
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Brian Fuller2
11/29/2012 11:41 AM EST
@truekop and @danlutes... points well taken. I should have altered the phrasing a bit, especially on point #2 (a focus on ramping of acquisitions in the past five years)...
Thanks for commenting!
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Bob109
11/29/2012 12:11 PM EST
The problem I have always had with Maxim is getting any production parts at all. Parts were always available for prototyping but when it came time for production the parts were never available. Designing a Maxim part into a design was the equivalent to cutting you own throat.
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Andy P
12/18/2012 2:38 PM EST
"Designing a Maxim part into a design was the equivalent to cutting you own throat."
Exactly. Maxim is blackballed by any company that's not ordering 100k parts a month.
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Frank DeFelice
12/4/2012 7:24 PM EST
Never base your design on parts not in production. You're asking for trouble. If you need prototype parts to tweak your design, you're asking for trouble. Never promise more than you can deliver.
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Andy P
12/18/2012 2:40 PM EST
"Never base your design on parts not in production. You're asking for trouble. If you need prototype parts to tweak your design, you're asking for trouble. Never promise more than you can deliver."
Maxim's problem has always been that they have a lot of devices listed as "in production," yet you can't actually order them in anything but huge quantities.
This is why we always get purchasing to confirm availability of anything before it gets designed in, but one can also use the old rule of thumb: "don't design with it if you can't buy it from DigiKey or Mouser."
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