The Expert's Panel

My personal favorite is the Applied 8100 series program where Applied came from zero in Etch and eighteen months later was number one. It kind of set the stage for the whole growth of the company. It was the first product that came out within two weeks of when it was supposed to. Everyone was tuned in and focused. Everyone knew what was supposed to happen. That's part of marketing's selling job - to make sure that everyone is tuned in. Marketing played the role of gatekeeper to make sure that everything that was on the critical path, happened.

I have four and they all have the same characteristics. The Applied Etcher program in the 80s, the Applied PVD program in the early 90s, the Mattson Stripper, and lots of products at KLA. I bring those up because they all have several characteristics that are interesting. The first one is that the entire management team was applications knowledgeable. Second, the company appreciated the need to meet market requirements, and third there was some kind of technology shift in the market place that provided opportunity. You can be the best marketer in the world, but if you are selling billiard balls, they are all round and have numbers on them - it is hard to distinguish you from anybody else. You've got to have opportunity. Otherwise, marketing is not going to get it done for you.

I have two. ASML Steppers because they defined a product that was to be smaller with higher productivity; they executed it and communicated it very well in the market place. My favorite is the Wizard product at KLA. I think they defined the application and use for the tool real well. I particularly liked the seminars that KLA used to do for Wizard on yield management where they had customers involved. There is nothing more effective than one customer talking to another and I think it was one of the best marketing tools I had every seen.