Challenges faced by a global team : the case of the Tool Reuse Program at Intel®

The semiconductor industry is characterized by a high cost of capital equipment and fast change in process technology. Therefore Intel ® Corporation as the world's largest semiconductor company has a significant advantage over its competitors in reusing its semiconductor equipments. Not only may the financial impact be considerable, but also Intel ® Corporation can see benefits in process development, equipment reliability, and training. However, demolishing and reusing tools do not go without major difficulties: complexity of the equipments, safety concerns because of the chemical used, reliability of the tool when reused. Consequently, in late 2004, the 6D Program was initiated to preserve Intel's assets during transfer from decontamination through deployment (reuse, resale, part harvesting, donation or scrap) using safe, effective procedure and business processes. In less than 3 years, the 6D Working Group has created procedures, checklists and trainings to assure "best-in-class" performances. This project was set up to support the 6D Working Group's improvement strategy by analyzing gaps that may exist in the system. Especially, the thesis analyzes the challenges faced by the 6D Working Group (a global team) to influence and standardize local practices. By using game theory analysis, recommendations are made to change incentive policy. A new set of metrics is proposed to drive accountability of the sites and foster process improvements. Finally, using a system dynamics approach, the thesis offers insights to answer the question of the adequate level of standardization of processes.

Department dc:contributor.department

Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2008

Author dc:creator

• Communal, Alain, 1976-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Duane S. Boning and Donald B. Rosenfield.

• Sloan School of Management.
• Engineering Systems Division.
• Leaders for Manufacturing Program.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/43824

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/43824