Challenges of integration in semiconductor manufacturing firms

Manufacturing efforts to reduce time to market often adopt a concurrent engineering approach that focuses on coordination and integration among engineering, production and marketing functions. Technological complexity in the semiconductor industry requires an extension of this paradigm to include multiple engineering groups and a strong production maintenance department. Through interviews with employees drawn from engineering, production, maintenance, marketing and other departments at three semiconductor plants, organizational problems are uncovered that inhibit successful integration within firms in this industry. Ideas for overcoming these problems are given with suggestions for future research.