A Study in Differences Between Medium and High Levels of Factory Automation in Selected Semiconductor Device Manufacturers

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Date
2007-04
Authors
Hamdan, Tahiruddin
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
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.
Description
Keywords
Differences , Factory Automation
Citation