The global supply chain is our new fab: Integration and automation challenges

The globalization of the world economy as well as progresses in information technology made global supply chains a new paradigm for high-tech and semiconductor manufacturers like Infineon Technologies. Consequently supply chain operational excellence has become a key competitive advantage. Along with it comes the need for an agile, adaptable, and aligned global manufacturing network for mastering the volatile market demand - known as the triple-A challenge. A high degree of integration and automation is required across all stages of the value chain: equipment, factory, and supply chain levels. In this paper we describe several factors from shop-floor to corporate level addressing this challenge, and we outline a successful example of frontend-backend integration.