Skill strengthening for Intel manufacturing supervisors

UNIVERSITÉ LIBRE DE BRUXELLES






MBQPM4

DO HOANG TRAM

SKILL STRENGTHENING FOR
INTEL MANUFACTURING
SUPERVISORS


MASTER FINAL PROJECT

MASTER IN BUSINESS QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT



Tutor’s name: Dr Jacques Martin

Ho Chi Minh City
(2014)
i

STATEMENT OF AUTHENTICATION

The project entitled “SKILL STRENGTHENING FOR INTEL MANUFACTURING
SUPERVISORS” is my own work. All tables and figures are created by the author unless
otherwise specified and the data used in the research are sourced from the Intel Vietnam
manufacturing data. The arguments and opinions are solely from the author’s point of view
and are not the official position of Intel Corporation or Vietnam Assembly and Test.

Ho Chi Minh City, 06/2014

Do Hoang Tram

ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First, , I would like to give my greatest appreciation to my thesis tutor, Dr. Jacques
Martin, for his expertise in guiding me to select the right research’s analytical
framework and for his continuous coaching to make the flow of the research smooth.

Second, I would like to thank the Intel manufacturing management for their precious
time during the interviews and surveys.

Third, I would like to thanks the untiring support of my family.

Most of all, I thank God for His goodness in giving me strength to pursue this program.

Do Hoang Tram

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

STATEMENT OF AUTHENTICATION i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS … ii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .vi
LIST OF FIGURES vii
LIST OF TABLES .vii

INTRODUCTION 1
1.1. Problem Statement 1
1.2. Scope and Delimitation 1

PART I: RESEARCH OBJECTIVES AND BACKGROUND 2

Chapter 1: Methodology and Design 3
1.1. Research Question 3
1.2. Objectives 3
1.3. Research Methodology 3
1.4. Research Method 3
1.5. Research Design 4

Chapter 2: External and Internal Environments Linkages 6
2.1. Technological Business Environment 6

2.2. Vietnam Assembly and Test Organization 6
2.3. Manufacturing Operations 8
2.4. Roles of the Manufacturing Supervisors 9

PART II: THE COLLEGE OF SUPERVISORS:
ACHIEVING THE EXPECTED RESULTS 11

Chapter 1: College of Supervisors Program Overview 12
1.1. Organization of College of Supervisors Program 12
1.2. Program Objectives, Outputs and Expected Results 13
iv

1.3. Curriculum 14
1.4. Training Methodology 16

Chapter 2: Output Indicators 17
2.1. Safety Output Indicators 17
2.2. Quality Output Indicators 17
2.3. Productivity Output Indicators 18
2.4. Controls Output Indicators 18
2.5. Lean Output Indicators 19
2.6. Cycle Time Output Indicators 19

PART III: PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS AND IMPROVEMENT
OF COLLEGE OF SUPERVISORS PROGRAM 21

Chapter 1: Measurement of College of Supervisors Program 22
1.1. College of Supervisor Objectives versus the Result Measurement 22
1.2. Roles of Manufacturing Supervisors Measurement 23
1.3. College of Supervisor Organization Measurement 24

1.4. Curriculum Measurement 25
1.5. Training Methodology Measurement 26
1.6. Safety Output Measurement 27
1.7. Quality Output Measurement 28
1.8. Productivity Output Measurement 29
1.9. Controls Output Measurement 30
1.10. Lean Output Measurement 31
1.11. Cycle Time Output Measurement 32

Chapter 2: Discussion and Analysis of College of Supervisors Program 33

Chapter 3: Improvements for College of Supervisors Program 45
3.1. Objective as Against the Expected Results Continuous Improvement 45
3.2. Roles of the Manufacturing Supervisor Continuous Improvement 46
3.3. Curriculum Continuous Improvement 47
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3.4. Training Methodology Continuous Improvement 49
3.5. Safety Continuous Improvement 51
3.6. Quality Continuous Improvement 52
3.7. Controls Continuous Improvement 52
3.8. Lean Continuous Improvement 53
3.9. Cycle Time Continuous Improvement 53

CONCLUSION 55

LIST OF REFERENCES 56
APPENDIX 1: Management Feedback Survey 58
APPENDIX 2: Manager Feedback Tool Questions 59
APPENDIX 3: Program Assessment Form 60

vi

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS


BAM – Ball Attach Module
CAM - Chipset Attach Module
COS - College of Supervisors
CPU - Central Processor Unit
DM - Department Manager
EHS - Environmental Health and Safety
FM - Factory Manager
EOC – Emergency Operations Center
ERT - Emergency Response Team
FUR - Found Unit Report
GM - General Manager
HRD - Human Resource Department
INTC – Intel Corporation
MMS - Manufacturing Management System
MRB - Material Review Board
MUR - Missing Unit Report
ODM – Original Design Manufacture
OEM – Original Equipment Manufacturer
PC - Personal Computer
PTR - Problem Tracking Report
RIMS - Reject Inventory Management System
SoC - System-on-Chips
TPT – Through Put Time

USB - Universal Serial Bus
VNAT - Vietnam Assembly and Test
WS - Workstream System
vii

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Analytical Framework 4
Figure 2: Vietnam Assembly and Test Organization 7
Figure 3: Factory Organization 7
Figure 4: Manufacturing Operation Process Flow 8
Figure 5: COS Organization 12
Figure 6: COS Program Framework 14
Figure 7: College of Supervisors Curriculum Overview 16
Figure 8: Management Feedback 23
Figure 9: COS Program Assessment Results 25
Figure 10: Safety Output Indicators 27
Figure 11: Quality Output Indicators 28
Figure 12: Productivity Output Indicators 29
Figure 13: Controls Output Indicators 30
Figure 14: Lean Output Indicators 31
Figure 15: Cycle Time Output Indicators 32
Figure 16: VNAT Safety Management System 38
Figure 17: Proposed Supervisor Framework for Continuous Learning and Development 46
Figure 18: Proposed COS Curriculum 49


LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: COS Curriculum Overview 15

Table 2: Output Indicators 13
Table 3: Result of the Manager’s Feedback Tool 20
Table 4: Summary of Findings on COS Program .44
Table 5: Proposed Correction for the Questions on Program Assessment Form .50
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INTRODUCTION

1.1. Problem Statement

The manufacturing supervisors are the front line supervisors of the factory. They are
the cutting edge of Intel manufacturing operation which is the core business of the
Vietnam Assembly and Test (VNAT). VNAT hiring strategy is to source candidates
from the pool of recent college graduates with and without technical background. They
are required to take a unique tailor-made program called College of Supervisors (COS)
to develop them to become competent supervisors in Vietnam’s manufacturing
environment.

There are some doubts about the relevance and effectiveness of the program for the
manufacturing supervisors to become word class in leading their manufacturing
technicians towards flawless line execution. With that, this research attempts to re-
examine the relevance of the program based on its objectives, training process, outputs
and the expected results. This is because the supervisor’s skills are directly the result of
the training process.

1.2. Scope and Delimitation

The research covers the COS Program in VNAT facility only. Being the youngest
manufacturing site of Intel Corporation (INTC), VNAT has not yet achieved the

required institutional maturity and competency as compared to the older sites like
Malaysia, China and Costa Rica to make it more responsive to Intel Corporation’s
direction towards manufacturing excellence.

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PART I
RESEARCH OBJECTIVES AND BACKGROUND

3


Chapter 1: Methodology and Design

1.1. Research Question

Is the current COS program adequate in strengthening the manufacturing foundation
skills for the supervisors to successfully manage the manufacturing technicians towards
flawless line execution?

1.2. Objectives

The research attempts to assess the current COS program with an end in mind to make it
more responsive to Intel factory’s direction towards manufacturing excellence.

1.3. Research Methodology

The research uses inductive approach, starting from collecting and analyzing the data
and understanding the phenomenon. The research paper likewise uses the combination
of the following studies: Exploratory to find out what is happening and understanding
a problem, Descriptive to portray an accurate profile of a situation and Explanatory to
establish causal relationships between variables.

1.4. Research Method

The research collects data from Intel manufacturing practices, COS program which
includes the current COS curriculum and the COS Program Assessment Results as
primary source of data. The research likewise conducts surveys and interviews to the
manufacturing staff and management to get their feedback on the effectiveness of the
program in strengthening the skills of the manufacturing supervisors. Data collected are
subjected to quantifiable measurements (either qualitative or quantitative) in terms of
acceptable cost, quality, and delivery. The research uses Table, Pie Chart, Pareto
Diagram, and Bar Graph to present the data for quick analysis and easy
understanding.

4


1.5. Research Design

The research uses the audit approach methodology, an auditing approach for process
quality, to determine gaps on the COS program and its related processes (Martin, 2013).

It re-examines the current COS program objective, inputs (role of the manufacturing
supervisors, COS organization, and COS Curriculum), activities (training
methodology), outputs (safety, quality, productivity, controls, lean and cycle time) and
the expected result as excellent people management towards flawless line execution by
the manufacturing technicians. Likewise the research presents the technological
landscape of the business and VNAT manufacturing organization and processes.

Figure 1 below presents the Analytical Framework of the research.



Phase 1 is the diagnostic of the present situation, i.e. what are the objectives of the COS
program, what are the activities to deliver the training, what are the expected outputs,
what are the expected results, are objectives met the expected results, how much level of
acquired competencies and skills.
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The research attempts to find gaps between the objectives and the results. Identifying
gaps is crucial so that the “strengthening of skills” is possible to achieve. The research
gathers relevant data to understand the business environment through technological
analysis of the market against the current COS program. It then discusses the activities
which is the training methodology, then maps it out against the outputs of such
activities.

Phase 2 is the re-designing of the process to improve the acquisition of the required
skills of the manufacturing supervisors. This is to analyze any unacceptable quantifiable
measurement in terms of costs, quality, and delivery. Finally it determines the
dysfunctions, the risks and the causes and recommends actions to correct the notable
dysfunctions.

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Chapter 2: External and Internal Environments Linkages

2.1. Technological Business Environment

INTC is a Santa Clara, United State, based company founded in 1968 and it designs,
manufactures, and sells microprocessors that process system data and controls other
devices in the system; and chipsets, which sends data between the microprocessor and
input, display, and storage devices, including graphics, audio, and video onto a single
chip (Yahoo Finance, 2014). INTC also provides mobile phone components and mobile
phone platforms (Yahoo Finance, 2014). INTC sells its products to original equipment
manufacturers (OEM), original design manufacturers (ODM), and industrial and
communications equipment manufacturers in the computing and communications
industries (Yahoo Finance, 2014)

The advent of mobile technology requires devices to be able to connect all the time, and
this paves the way to system-on-chips, known as mobile processors, which are used for
the smartphones and tablets. As pointed out by Bamden (2013), this innovation disrupts
the personal computers (PC) with central processor units (CPUs) on them and impacted
most of the OEMs and ODMs that assemble and design computers like Dell, HP, Sony,
Asus, among others.

Companies shifted to this new business trend to get shares from the total available
market. This new technology has a shorter product life-cycle of every six months
instead of two years as compared to the PC. This could be attested with the activities of
companies like Apple, Samsung, Goggle and Intel where they launch next generation
smartphones and tablets every six months which could be seen in the stores.

2.2. Vietnam Assembly and Test Organization

VNAT is an Assembly and Test manufacturing facility started operations in July 2010.
It is the newest and largest manufacturing site of Intel in terms of floor area and
capacity.
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Figure 2 below presents the VNAT organizational set up.



At the helm is the General Manager (GM) who is equal with the Factory Manager (FM).
The support departments (Finance, Human Resources, Corporate Services, Law and
Corporate Affairs, Logistics, Material, Planning and Information Technology) directly
report to the Intel Corporate group and they are matrix to the GM and FM. At the site
level, they are managed by the GM.

Figure 3 below presents the Factory organizational set-up.


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The FM directly manages the Manufacturing, Assembly Engineering, Test Engineering,
Yield, Quality and Reliability, and Technical Training departments.

Manufacturing Department is headed by a Department Manager (DM) with 4 shift
managers that run the manufacturing in a 24x7 operation. Each shift manager has five

manufacturing supervisors. Each manufacturing supervisor has to have an average of
18 manufacturing technicians. The current number of manufacturing technicians is 344.

The employees inside the red rectangle are the shift employees under the manufacturing
department. Inside the green dotted rectangle are employees from other departments
that support manufacturing department in a shifting scheme. Those areas outside the
red and green dotted rectangles are the regular office employees working eight hours a
day, five days a week.

2.3. Manufacturing Operations

Manufacturing department assembles and tests units (chipsets and mobile processors)
that are being supplied to the customers. Chipset is one of the components of the CPU
for PC while mobile processor is used for tablets and smartphone. In 2010, VNAT
produced chipsets but starting 2014, it has shifted to producing mobile processors
known as system-on-chips (SoC) for tablets and smartphones.

Figure 4 below is the manufacturing operation process flow with five major modules:
Chip Attach, Epoxy, Ball Attach, Test and Finish. This is the reason why the
manufacturing organization requires five shift manufacturing supervisors.



The Chip Attach Module (CAM) attaches the die to the substrate then to the die side
capacitors (Technical Training, 2012). It consists of three major equipments connected
9


together using the Material Handling Systems to transfer metal carriers packages to
plastic trays (Technical Training, 2012).

The Epoxy Module seals the area between the substrate and the die to prevent moisture
in the package (Technical Training, 2012). This provides mechanical support for the
die-to-package to interconnect and distribute the stress generated by the mismatch in
Coefficients of Thermal Expansion between the die and the substrate, and remove
residual moisture from the die and the package (Technical Training, 2012).

The Ball Attach Module (BAM) attaches solder balls to substrate land-side pads to
allow substrate to be attached to printed circuit board (Technical Training Department,
2012). These balls will form the connection between the substrate and the circuit board
and ensure a good electrical and mechanical contact (Technical Training, 2012).

The Test Module stresses the units at high temperature and voltage in order to screen
out the infant mortality parts (Technical Training, 2012). It performs 100% electrical
test to isolate manufacturing defects, ensure product meets performance specifications
per product data sheet, categorize components according to unit’s performance, and
provide yield analysis and improvement (Technical Training, 2012).

The Finish Module marks product identification data on to the package surface,
inspects the packages for any case or warping, identifies any mechanical and visual
defects (Technical Training, 2012). This module also includes transferring of units into
tape and reel, measuring the outgoing quality levels of the quality, protecting fully
assembled and tested components from damage, and ensuring the quality of the unit lots
before shipment to the customer (Technical Training, 2012).

2.4. Roles of the Manufacturing Supervisors

Manufacturing supervisors must demonstrate business and strategic acumen (Human
Resource, n.d.). They must understand the team’s role in the success of the business to
10

drive continuous improvement. They must interpret and communicate trends and issues
and to make data-based decisions as informed risks.

Manufacturing supervisors must build strong and vital organization (Human
Resource, n.d.). They must listen, coach and develop the team to deliver the required
results. They must foster direct and open communication and establish mutual trust and
respect environment. Critical part of this role is managing performance firmly and fairly
by rewarding achievements.

Manufacturing supervisors must set the pace and execute (Human Resource, n.d.).
This is done by setting aggressive goals and defining how success is measured though
planning, organizing, and monitoring the work. It also calls for delegating with clear
expectations and accountability and role modeling accountability to achieve results and
demonstrating initiative and proactively addressing issues.

Manufacturing supervisors must manage internal and external stakeholders (Human
Resource, n.d.). This is executed by listening to and engaging with team’s stakeholders.
It also calls for clearly representing team’s interests and influencing when necessary.

Manufacturing supervisors must lead with integrity (Human Resource, n.d.). This is a
foundation of becoming successful. They must be honest, ethical, sincere, fair, and
principled. Integrity is also adapting to and learning from different styles and cultures
and promptly recognizing and resolving ethical dilemmas. Most of all, manufacturing
supervisors must role modeling business excellence.


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PART II
THE COLLEGE OF SUPERVISORS PROGRAM:
ACHIEVING THE EXPECTED RESULTS
12


Chapter 1: College of Supervisors Program Overview

VNAT has started its manufacturing operation in July 2010. The units being produces
were chipsets. During that time up to early 2013, majority of the manufacturing
supervisors were expatriates from matured sites like Malaysia, China, Costa Rica and
the Philippine. Hence, it was only in 2013 that the COS program was implemented to
prepare local employees in managing the manufacturing operations.

1.1. Organization of College of Supervisors Program

The program is under the Technical Training Department’s organization. A principal
directly manage the COS program. The program has an operating model of partnering
with Human Resource Department (HRD), Manufacturing Management, and Quality
Department.

Figure 5 presents the COS Organization.

The Factory Manager leads internal and external teams in building products from the
concept phase to high volume production and delivers cost-effective and scalable
manufacturing solutions to meet or exceed market requirements for product
functionality, delivery, reliability, and quality and the entire supply chain and
manufacturing system (Technical Training, 2012).
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The Program Coach, being the Manufacturing Manager and a senior staff from the
factory, integrates feedback, helps to identify and overcome challenges, provides
support and facilitates learning to the manufacturing supervisors basing from the current
and past experiences or issues that the factory had encountered so as not to commit the
same issues (Technical Training, 2012).

The Program Principal manages the COS Program and responsible in the detailed
organization of the school; the development of the instructional program; the
assignment of duties to and the supervision of staff members; and the general operation
of the school facility (Technical Training, 2013).

The Dean of HRD School assesses organizations, defines and implements the best HR
solutions for supervisor development needs, and develops training needs for
manufacturing supervisors (Technical Training, 2012).

The Dean of Manufacturing Operations and Technical School partners with
Program Principals to identify and develop manufacturing supervisor competencies in
project management, effective employee relations, and management practices
(Technical Training, 2012).

The Dean of Quality School partners with Program Principal to identify and develop
required quality training needs for manufacturing supervisors to ensure continuous
quality process is adhered to (Technical Training, 2012).

1.2. Program Objectives, Outputs and Expected Result

The objectives of the program are to develop world class manufacturing supervisors that
demonstrate Intel high standards of excellence in people management and line
execution and to create an interactive and safe environment that enables the learning
and development of excellence in people management and line execution (Technical
Training, 2012).

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From the objectives above, one component of the program is people management. This
is strengthening their supervisory skills. Another component is the flawless line
execution that involves critical outputs to be delivered by the manufacturing supervisor
through the manufacturing technicians. The first component is an enabler while the
second component is the result. Though the line execution by the manufacturing
technicians determines the success of the factory in delivering the quality products to
the customers, the people management plays an equally important role to ensure that the
result is achieved.

Figure 6 is the COS Program framework for flawless line execution.


Source: Technical Training

1.3. Curriculum

The curriculum is an instructor-led training scheme. It has three modules: Quality,
Manufacturing, and People 101. It has 32 courses with a total of 150 training hours.
The training is done onsite with 19 days of 8 hours per day. The manufacturing
supervisors are in a 24/7 shifting operation mode. Their primary duty is supervising
their respective teams and only during their off-shift duty that the training is conducted.
15


With the shifting scheme, the training is conducted in two separate sessions to
accommodate the schedules of the four shifts.

Table 1 presents the general COS Curriculum.



 Quality Module

The quality module has six courses with 28 training hours. The module has quality
goals to continuously strive to be better by improving the customer perceived values of
Intel products, processes and people; to be faster by reducing the time to perform every
activity; and to be cheaper by reducing the total cost of doing business (Technical
Training, 2012).

 People 101 Module

This module has 19 courses with a total of 78 training hours. It is designed to build a
solid foundation for the manufacturing supervisors’ long-term success (Technical
Training, 2012). This module is an enabler component in driving the manufacturing

technicians towards flawless line execution and a critical component to achieve the
desired outputs of the factory.

 Manufacturing Module

This module has two parts with a total 44 training hours. The first part is a four-day
learning experience course (32 training hours) that immerses the students in a simulated
factory environment (Technical Training, 2012). The instructors divide the group into
team and give a variety of challenging yet realistic tasks through which the team to
work on.
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The second part is the manufacturing supplemental with 6 courses with 12-training
hours (Technical Training, 2012). This includes knowledge on production equipment,
physics foundation, and statistics. This module is geared to equip the manufacturing
supervisors to achieve the required output of the factory.

Figure 7 presents the College of Supervisors curriculum overview.


Source: Technical Training

1.4. Training Methodology

The training methodology includes the following: (1) Instructor-led lecture inside
Intel classroom; (2) Program Assessment for the students to rate the content of the
curriculum and the instructors; (3) Graduation Thesis to improve safety, quality,
productivity, controls, lean, and cycle time; and (4) Offsite graduation ceremony with
one significant others being invited (Technical Training , 2012).

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Chapter 2: Output Indicators

This chapter discusses outputs in terms of Safety, Quality, Productivity, Control,
Lean, and Cycle Time indicators. They are critical areas in the production of units and
they are tracked in a quarterly basis. The manufacturing supervisors submit an after
shift report for the weekly trending analysis for management intervention if the goals
are not met.

2.1. Safety Output Indicators

Safety indicator is tracked by the number of early report, first-aid, and day-away case
with goals as “not applicable” (Manufacturing Department, 2009). Though the safety
ideal state is zero, such result is difficult to achieve due to the large number of
employees working in a 24x7 operation environment with numerous and complex tools
to operate. The early report indicator is logged in the Manufacturing Management
System (MMS) while first aid and day- away cases are logged in the Environment
Health and Safety (EHS) database.

The early report is a positive indicator because the more number of early reports
known by the site, the more incidents can be prevented. The first aid case is a negative
indicator but the site encourages employees to report for the needed intervention in
order not to aggravate the health condition of the employee.

The number of day-away case is a negative indicator because the situation has not been
proactively addressed. Day-away case negatively impacts the factory operations due to
lack of headcount to process the unit lots or to maintain the equipment. In most cases,
the supervisor asks for help from other shifts to cover for the headcount but charge as

overtime.

2.2. Quality Output Indicators

Quality indicator is measured on the number of early reports, problem tracking report
(PTR), Material Review Board (MRB) and violation of the through put time (TPT)