Teradyne Jaguar Project 
Table of Contents
Executive Summary 2
Background 3
Teradyne 3
The Semiconductor Industry 3
Teradyne Culture 4
Jaguar Project 4
Situational Analysis 5
Project Retrospective 6
Lack of Experience 6
Poor quality 6
Late action 6
Escalation of Commitment 6
Project Management tools usage 6
What should have been done? 6
Way to move forward 7
Executive Summary
Background
Teradyne
Teradyne is a 45 year old corporation specialized in testing equipment for transistors and other electrical components of the semiconductor industry. The company was founded in 1960 by two MIT graduates with a vision to bring a line of reliable, fast testing equipment to the industry. As the complexity and volume of components manufactured by their customers increased, so did Teradyne’s investment in research and development. By 2004 Teradyne had five business units, including semiconductor test, assembly test, broadband test, connection systems, and diagnostic solutions. Semiconductor test remained the largest business operation for the company, producing just under two thirds of annual revenue in 2004. The company had six major engineering operations across the United States, with three of those facilities housing manufacturing operations. Teradyne had also dispersed across the globe with smaller engineering operations set up in Japan, China, and Germany.
The Semiconductor Industry
Semiconductors cover a very broad range of devices which can be classified by 2 main categories: memory, and system on chip. Each type of device performs a different task in an electronic system, with its own set of complex manipulations that it performs on the electrical signals that come as inputs. As semiconductors grew over the years to become smaller and more powerful, minor flaws in the production process could prevent an entire device from functioning correctly. This resulted in a high demand for testing equipment that could determine if a component was functional or not. This simple idea is quite a
Executive Summary 2
Background 3
Teradyne 3
The Semiconductor Industry 3
Teradyne Culture 4
Jaguar Project 4
Situational Analysis 5
Project Retrospective 6
Lack of Experience 6
Poor quality 6
Late action 6
Escalation of Commitment 6
Project Management tools usage 6
What should have been done? 6
Way to move forward 7
Executive Summary
Background
Teradyne
Teradyne is a 45 year old corporation specialized in testing equipment for transistors and other electrical components of the semiconductor industry. The company was founded in 1960 by two MIT graduates with a vision to bring a line of reliable, fast testing equipment to the industry. As the complexity and volume of components manufactured by their customers increased, so did Teradyne’s investment in research and development. By 2004 Teradyne had five business units, including semiconductor test, assembly test, broadband test, connection systems, and diagnostic solutions. Semiconductor test remained the largest business operation for the company, producing just under two thirds of annual revenue in 2004. The company had six major engineering operations across the United States, with three of those facilities housing manufacturing operations. Teradyne had also dispersed across the globe with smaller engineering operations set up in Japan, China, and Germany.
The Semiconductor Industry
Semiconductors cover a very broad range of devices which can be classified by 2 main categories: memory, and system on chip. Each type of device performs a different task in an electronic system, with its own set of complex manipulations that it performs on the electrical signals that come as inputs. As semiconductors grew over the years to become smaller and more powerful, minor flaws in the production process could prevent an entire device from functioning correctly. This resulted in a high demand for testing equipment that could determine if a component was functional or not. This simple idea is quite a