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Silicon wafer slicing manufacturing process exhibits several characteristics. They are: (1) the product type is small batch production, (2) saw cutting must be very precise, (3) the process run time is long, and (4) inspecting samples is difficult. Furthermore, the process involves several synchronously occurred multiple quality characteristics, such as thickness (THK), bow and warp, which must be closely monitored and controlled. Synchronously monitoring multiple quality characteristics is more expensive than monitoring a single quality characteristic in the manufacturing process. The sizes of inspected samples in the existing process are difficult to maintain the quality control chart. Grey situation decision method is used to screen the worst quality control chart. Grey situation decision method is used to screen the worst quality characteristic from the synchronously occurred multiple quality characteristics to monitor the process. Finally, a case study is presented to demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of proposed decision method. The exponential weighted moving average (EWMA) control chart is used to verify that the process quality is more reliable.

In the Theory of Continuous Competitiveness (CC) presented in Chapter 1, two necessary conditions for CC are: (1) technology transfer (Techtransfer) and (2) recipient‐initiated modification of transferred technology (Modifications). Public statements by the Prime Minister of Malaysia and the Deputy Prime Minister confirm that the two necessary conditions are virtually absent, making it necessary for CC to be achieved in other ways. To provide a macro‐perspective, we identify numerical measures of importance of Electrical & Electronic (E&E) [Industry] to the nation. E&E, the single largest foreign exchange earner, earned 66.0 percent of the export earnings from manufactured goods in 1995. Electronic components earned 42.86 percent, consumer electronics 25.9, and industrial electronics 31.95 percent of E&E exports in 1995. To improve CC, the 1995 share of global exports of semiconductors (9.7%) and consumer electronics (27.9%) should be enhanced. E&E should increase its share of the major markets: Asia, USA, and Europe. We develop three original measures of Export Productivity: (1) per unit of Capital Investment, (2) per unit of Import Input, and (3) per unit of Raw Material Input. Where should capital investment be made to boost E&E exports? In consumer electronics which yield 2.95 times as much exports share as electronic components; and in industrial electronics with a yield of 2.35 times. In 1995, E&E output was RM 71 million, but exports were RM 85 million. We attribute to the Assembly Technology contribution of Multi‐national Corporations (MNCs) the majority, if not all, of the RM 14 billion. Southeast Asia's first fully integrated silicon manufacturing facility, expected to start production in Malaysia in 1998, is estimated to increase the value‐added from the current 8% for Assembly to 35% for Fabrication.

Semiconductor manufacturing industry requires highly accurate robot operation with short install/setup downtime.

We develop a fast, low cost and easy‐to‐operate calibration system for wafer‐handling robots. The system is defined by a fixture and a simple compensation algorithm. Given robot repeatability, end effector uncertainties, and the tolerance requirements of wafer placement points, we derive fixture design and placement specifications based on a statistical tolerance model.

By employing the fixture‐based calibration, we successfully relax the tolerance requirement of the end effector by 20 times.

Semiconductor manufacturing requires fast and easy‐to‐operate calibration systems for wafer‐handling robots. In this paper, we describe a new methodology to solve this problem using fixtures. We develop fixture design criteria and a simple compensate algorithm to satisfy calibration requirements. We also verify our approach by a physical example.

The purpose of this study is to propose an innovative methodology in solving the lean production design from semiconductor crystal-ingot pulling manufacturing which is an important industry. Due to the complexity of the system, it is computationally prohibited by an analytical approach; thus, simulation optimization is adopted for this study.

Four control factors that affect the system’s performance, including the pulling strategy, machine limitations, dispatching rules and batch-size control, are identified to generate the future-state value stream mapping. Taguchi two-step procedure and simulation optimization are used to determine the optimal parameter values for a robust system.

The proposed methodology improved the system performances by 6.42 and 12.02 per cent for service level and throughput, respectively.

This study does not investigate operations management issues such as setup reduction, demand forecasting and layout design.

A real-world crystal-ingot pulling manufacturing factory was used for the case study. The results are promising and are readily applied to other industrial applications.

The improved performances, service level and throughout rate, can result in an improved customer satisfaction level and a reduced resources consumption, respectively.

The proposed methodology innovatively solved a practical application and the results are promising.

Emiratisation, dual bottom-line, destination policy making and strategic development, ecosystem perspective and human capital.

This case is suitable for undergraduate and postgraduate students studying policy; strategy and human resources. Practitioners from the human resource industry, government sector and destination marketing may also benefit from the case.

ATIC is an investment company with a dual bottom line mandate. This means besides the financial objective it has for its investors (which is largely the Government of Abu Dhabi), it must contribute to socio-economic objectives outlined by the Abu Dhabi Vision 2030. For this perspective, ATIC had developed a unique approach looking at the “Ecosystem” perspective. Some key areas are destination development as an advanced technology hub and human capital development or “Emiratisation”. All these are key to long-term success of the country as the Middle East North Africa region has one of the youngest populations and an increasing unemployment rate. Most government organizations are saturated and it is vital that nationals start working and performing in the private sector. This case outlines the plans and efforts of ATIC towards those goals.

Management of “Emiratisation” at policy and implementation; scenario planning and strategy management especially looking at advanced technology sector; organizational values – development and implementation at recruitment and marketing; destination marketing and policy looking at the case of Abu Dhabi, stakeholder management.

Teaching notes.

Uzbekistan easily gets 300 days of sunshine a year, and is a natural choice for development of solar technologies and their implementation. Central Asia is working together to solve critical water problems including contamination and dry wells. This chapter addresses the need to find solutions for rural populations living in the shadow of the Aral Sea disaster, with poor quality drinking water and limited infrastructure. With assistance from generous government funding, the Institute for Solar Energy is developing new point-based solar desalinization and pumping technologies. Preliminary designs are promising and government support for raw materials mining and wafer production are growing. Domestic R&D and production ensures cost-effective dissemination options. The Institute houses both research and project management for all solar technologies and expects to field test prototypes within 2–3 years. Solar energy is a growing sector in the economy of Uzbekistan.

Microcontact printing is a process used to print high‐resolution protein arrays for biosensors. The paper aims to investigate using these techniques to print electrically conductive fine line structures for electroluminescent (E/L) light sources.

The viability of using microcontact printing as a process for electronics fabrication is investigated. Polydimethylsiloxane stamps inked with alkanethiol compounds form self‐assembled monolayers on substrate surfaces, acting as the resist to subsequent etching processes. The printed lines are characterized with regard to their performance as high‐electric field generators in electroluminescent displays.

It has been demonstrated that microcontact printing is a cheap, repeatable process for fabricating electronic devices. The results demonstrate the viability of the process to fabricate electric field generator structures for E/L light sources with reduced driving voltages.

The paper demonstrates that microcontact printing can produce electrically conductive fine‐line structures with high resolution, confirming its viability in printed electronics manufacture.

In the era of dramatic developments in technology worldwide, the relative competitiveness of a corporation/country over time has to be continuously calibrated and pro‐actively protected. Here, for the first time, we develop two sufficient conditions, and 12 necessary conditions of continuous competitiveness (CC): the ratio of value‐added per unit of currency of OUR product (service) to THEIR product (service). In Chapter 1, we apply CC to three corporations (IBM, CEC, API) and to three countries (Japan, Taiwan, Korea). At a time when IBM enjoyed 80 percent of the market, it decided to commit 83 percent of the next four years' TOTAL SALES to build a new generation of computers on the unproven technology of integrated circuits to assure IBM's continuous competitiveness. To the same end, Japan pro‐actively selected the growth industry of each decade beginning in the '50s (computers), and nurtured it, taxing other industries. The first year in which the US trade with the Pacific exceeded that of the Atlantic, 1982, is the benchmark of a study of competitiveness of two countries of comparable population and exports, Korea and Taiwan. If Taiwan exports rose in volume but lost in profitability, Taiwan needs to make better products cheaper and faster. If the required technology advances are not fully available domestically, they need to be imported: Which is the rationale of technology transfer (techtransfer). Techtransfer can meet one of the necessary conditions of CC, viz., the desired technological progression‐from linear extensions of performance characteristics along the same curve, to quantum jumps from one technology curve to another. The techtransfer over two decades from IBM‐Taiwan to Taiwan Manufacturers as a whole progressed from components to complete product: Which could be considered at best as linear extensions of performance characteristics. For a country like Taiwan, whose trade (i.e. exports + imports) is as much as 94.8% of GNP, and which does not have a highly developed R&D base, techtransfer is a prime means of upgrading the technology. We will examine two Taiwan corporations which expanded exports through techtransfer: one, a Taiwan components manufacturer; and two, a Taiwan power supply manufacturer. As vendors to IBM, they aggressively pursued techtransfer from IBM. These empirical applications set the stage to examine Malaysian experience of E&E in Chapter 2.