Achieving high performance teamwork in a semiconductor manufacturing operation

This paper presents the evolution of a teamwork culture at the Xerox Microelectronics Center's semiconductor manufacturing operation over the past nine years. It illustrates how a team-based organization evolved through four phases to allow effective implementation of a continuous improvement strategy based on five key management philosophies. These are Leadership Through Quality (LTQ), Total Productive Maintenance (TPM), Cycle Time Management (CTM), Activity-Based Costing (ABC), and Total Employee Involvement (TEI). The ultimate goal was to organize the entire manufacturing organization into high performance Self-Directed Work Teams (SDWTs). A process to develop such SDWT is described and demonstrated through the transition of a semi-autonomous work group into a pilot SDWT. The benchmark performance results accomplished by the pilot SDWT are described in terms of product quality, equipment effectiveness, cycle time, cost, and employee empowerment. Finally, an assessment matrix is used to measure team maturity and its areas of strength and weakness.