Empowering people in a five shift operation for continuous improvement

Customers demand changes, technology changes and competitive forces change. In a word, our world has become very turbulent. Remaining competitive in this turbulent environment demands a flexible and improving organization. Empowerment can make the alertness of a five shift operation higher and thereby speed up the improvement process of the organization. By training the entire workforce and forming improvement teams people at Philips Semiconductors were empowered to improve their working method and working environment and thereby waferfab performance. An organizational redesign has given the improvement process a further boost. In our empowerment drive a culture for continuous improvement has been created.