A Study in Differences Between Medium and High Levels of Factory Automation in Selected Semiconductor Device Manufacturers
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Date
2007-04
Authors
Hamdan, Tahiruddin
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Abstract
Although the migration of new investments to regions with labour-cost advantage is more
prevalent amongst labour-intensive manufacturing companies, it is a matter of time before
competition intensifies even for technology-based manufacturers. Rapid economic growth in
certain geographies like China, India and Vietnam make it difficult to resist relocating
manufacturing activities closer to those regions. This research attempts to uncover ways of
improving the competitive edge of semiconductor device manufacturing companies based in
Malaysia through the use of higher degree of mechanization in the form of factory
automation in their day-to-day operations. This project is an exploratory study on whether
there are significant differences in the context of certain major variables (Management,
Technical and External) between semiconductor manufacturers with high and medium levels
of factory automation. This study involved conductirg a survey amQng thirteen senior
management staff representing thirteen different companies involved in semiconductor
device manufacturing, respectively. Results obtained from this sample of thirteen
respondents (28% of the total population), indicate that from the seven dependent variables,
only 'Government Incentives' is perceived differently by the two categories of companies.
Whereby, those adopting higher levels of automation seem to have benefited more from
government allocated incentives compared to those in the medium category. The significant
contextual differences among the variables may also explain the automation-levels adopted
by a company and the results of this study is beneficial for semiconductor manufacturers to
identify key areas to focus on in efforts to enhance operational productivity through higher
levels of factory automation.
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Keywords
Differences , Factory Automation