Managing technology and innovation in electronics wafer fabrication with a TQM perspective

Summary form only given. A company´s manufacturing function can be used as a formidable competitive weapon if its capabilities are tuned to meet the firm´s strategic needs. In the electronics industry, wafer fabrication encompasses the manufacturing processes that create the tiny electronic circuits (or die) on the wafer surface. There is widespread outsourcing of manufacturing in this industry, and the manufacturing function is often viewed as a corporate millstone by top management who tend to overlook manufacturing´s ability to strengthen or weaken a company´s competitive ability. From the manufacturing perspective, technological innovation is generally incremental and continuous to minimize process disruption. This paper examines some of the contemporary world-class manufacturing practices that promote incremental innovation like concurrent engineering, design for manufacturing, value engineering, manufacturing policy deployment, root cause analysis, daily process management, total productive maintenance, continuous improvement, etc. Managing technology and innovation in manufacturing involves mediating between the external forces for change and the internal forces for stability. This calls for new managerial skills, techniques, styles and ways of thinking. The total quality management (TQM) perspective provides a format for such a change. TQM is a participative form of management with a strong customer satisfaction focus and emphasis on teamwork and management by fact. The implementation of TQM at ABC Corporation and the impact of such a program is discussed in detail