TSMC remotely collects real-time liquid data of waste treatment from vendors' tanks to track waste storage and processing conditions.
Handy Ko (right), Director of Material Supply Chain Management Division of TSMC, participates in EPA press conference to jointly promote the innovative process of waste clean-up management, hoping to improve industry standard.

TSMC’s First System of Waste Intelligent Fast Track (S.W.I.F.T) Increases Inspection Efficiency by 65 Times

Gary Chen
H.L. Yang
I.L. Chen
Che-Chia Kang

TSMC continues to strengthen the waste lifecycle management process, working with the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA), TSMC builds the industry's first automated waste disposal declaration platform, accompany it with an exclusive GPS-Satellite transportation fleet, that saves 90% of manual worktime and 240,000 sheets of paper per year and also partners with EPA to promote the process. To enhance and upgrade vendor’s sustainability, TSMC starts up S.W.I.F.T, System of Waste Intelligent Fast Track, assisting waste treatment vendors transformation, and using Artificial Intelligent technology instead of in-person on-site spot checks. As of November 2021, of waste treatment vendors have adopted this method and the trial results show the system not only can trace inbound waste but also outbound recycled product, increasing the number of waste storage and processing inspections by 65 times.

Introducing AIoT Remote Tracking to Fully Grasp Waste Movement

TSMC outsources more than 40,000 trips of waste clean-up each year. In the past, clean-up were tracked . To enhance efficiency, TSMC launched the S.W.I.F.T project in 2020, dividing waste treatment vendors into according to physical properties of waste and recycled products, selecting 1 or 2 vendors from each category to participate in trial, following Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA), at setting up cross-checking rules, incorporating Alot mechanism to automatically inspects TSMC’s waste clean-up vehicles entering/leaving the plant and notifies personnel to confirm or fix abnormality, fully grasp the waste treatment process.

TSMC’s System of Waste Intelligent Fast Track

Optimizing Three Major Processing Steps for Intelligent Waste Management

In addition to using S.W.I.F.T to enhance inspection efficiency of waste treatment plants, TSMC also introduces a cloud reporting platform for recycled product, requiring vendors to report on a case-by-case basis transport of recycled product to improve timeliness and transparency. Through diligently managing waste clean-up, treatment, and recycled product transport, TSMC has established an intelligent waste management system and will introduce S.W.I.F.T to all types of waste treatment vendors at the end of 2022, an annual saving of 13,000 man-hour is expected with the adoption of over 60 vendors in 2025. Waste treatment vendors are also encouraged to extend these practices to their partners to raise the overall standards of the industry and foster a responsible culture, moving toward to a sustainable environment.

S.W.I.F.T pioneers the application of AI to track waste treatment, and we hope to establish it as a benchmark to start a new era of sustainable resource management for enterprises.

- J.K. Lin, Senior Vice President of Information Technology and Materials Management & Risk Management at TSMC

TSMC Intelligent Waste Management Flow

Note: Before: conduct quarterly on-site audit, a total of 4 times a year; After: use inspection system audit once every work-day, that is 65 times of the original frequency (52*5 = 260 times / 4 times = 65)