The Hidden Price of Rework: Why Process Fixes Beat Layoffs

Sean is pulled into an urgent meeting about layoffs but refuses to start with people. He walks leadership through a typical BEOL flow and shows how a tiny, 'normal' rework rate in lithography quietly drains nearly $840,000 a year. By translating a 1% rework rate into real dollars and comparing it to engineering headcount, Sean reframes cost reduction as a Quality problem, not an HR one, and argues for a focused rework-rate reduction program that fixes root causes instead of cutting staff.