Forging partnerships to build a plant in Korea
08/01/2003
Gregg Blankenship, Cymer Inc., San Diego, California
Oh Jin Soo, Cymer Inc., Pyoungtaek, ROK
Korea's economy has been growing at 5–8% annually for many years, due in part to the success of foreign companies that have established operations there. Doing business in the country has become much more conducive to foreign entities over the years for many reasons. For one, English is taught in the public schools, with nearly every Korean speaking English at some level of competency. Although English proficiency can vary widely between individuals, there are a large number of professionals and managers who communicate effectively in the language. Additionally, Korea has a highly disciplined and motivated work force, with many trained in manufacturing process control and Toyota production methods.
Doing business in Korea
Korea provides the foreign investor a wide choice of potential local suppliers, an efficient transportation system, and a state-of-the-art information/computer infrastructure. The country's ubiquitous cell phone network provides instant voice communications in many areas, although the country's unique protocols are not compatible with US and other cellular networks, so travelers have to acquire
ent local cell phones during their stay.
The Korean government has long-established policies that encourage foreign investments, particularly in high-tech, that result in increased exports from Korea. After working with the Ministry of Finance and Economy (MOFE) to determine specific program eligibility, Cymer was able to take advantage of several programs, including attractive land leases, import "tax holidays" on capital items, and short-term income tax breaks. In addition to the tax incentives, the government also provides support services to streamline the building permit and construction processes [1]. Many of these programs expire in 5–7 years, serving primarily to offset the high initial cost of constructing a manufacturing facility in Korea.
The globalization of the semiconductor industry requires the globalization of key suppliers, yet chipmakers require rapid responsiveness that only a local supplier can provide. These considerations played a role in Cymer's decision to establish a light source discharge chamber (Fig. 1) refurbishment factory in Pyoungtaek, Republic of Korea, which opened on March 6 — a project code-named Gemini (Fig. 2).
 Figure 1. Light source chamber. |
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 Figure 2. Manufacturing floor at the refurbishment center. |
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Once a decision is made to establish an international manufacturing facility, a strong team comprising leaders with broad technical expertise and technical experts who know how to work together to quickly solve problems must be assembled and deployed. It was also vital that each of the teams — in Korea and the US — had leaders who could work well together and had diverse relationships inside the parent company.
The operating team supporting the two project managers was skilled in factory equipment engineering, training, and business process development. Additionally, champions were chosen — one from each country — who have expertise and authority in a specific functional area to lead the following disciplines: manufacturing, facilities, finance/accounting/tax, quality, import/export, and enterprise resource planning. The champions, operating team, and project managers formed the complete leadership team, with nearly 200 people eventually supporting the project.
To help forge strong interpersonal relationships among the team members, several social events were organized, such as a project kickoff dinner with Cymer executive management in attendance, a soccer match refereed by Cymer Korea Inc. president Jaewon Paing, several Karaoke nights, and numerous informal lunch and dinner gatherings — all of which were scheduled at times when both Korean and American team members were present. These events were critical to the success of the project in that they provided an informal venue for both the Korean and American team members to gather and solve project issues face-to-face. It was found that the key to successful team building is to spend the necessary time to get to know people, their cultures, their strengths, and the common ground. If done correctly, friendships will develop at all levels.
Factory implementation and qualification
Strategic and highly detailed planning was integral to the Gemini project. The first step was to determine the necessary requirements for construction — the team's primary task. A "requirement" was defined as a deliverable with a specific due date and a designated champion. Requirements were defined such that they were specific to one functional sub-team; however, there were many requirements for which cross-teaming was essential.
The project organization provided both the functional resources necessary and the cross-functional communication required to rapidly respond to any issue that arose during the implementation process. Each champion and sub-team created a draft project plan, which was reviewed and eventually approved by the leadership team. This review enabled resolution to resource or schedule conflicts addressed early on in the planning phase. The positive impact of this planning process cannot be overstated as it enabled the project to go smoothly.
In order to lower the technical risk, the manufacturing team initiated a process stabilization effort. There were two main thrusts, the first being to review and improve the manufacturing documentation, and the second to review the current manufacturing process performance. Several process improvements were made as part of the stabilization effort.
A team of manufacturing engineers and experienced technicians was formed to identify current best manufacturing practices; the team was focused on capturing the increased process knowledge that naturally results from years of experience with the product. It was critical to the success of the factory in Korea that the skills of individual technicians — who had become particularly skilled in performing key operations — be documented and transferred.
One example of a skills transfer was the fan-balancing process. The technicians who routinely balance the fans were able to produce balanced fans in about half the time that other qualified but less skilled technicians could. Upon investigation, it became apparent that these technicians, while following the procedure, were using indicators they had learned through experience in the secondary data from the electronic balancing system. Engineers worked with these technicians to document some of these indicators with a resulting improvement in cycle time and quality. Once the Korean team was trained in this improved technique, they too were able to balance fans in less time and with higher confidence.
Another example of process stabilization involved working with a local supplier performing reclamation services. Prior to stabilization, the process had two inspection steps, one in the Cymer factory and another at the supplier's incoming inspection. Both processes had yield fallout. Cymer's engineers were able to apply the supplier's inspection methods and criteria to the initial inspection step within Cymer's factory. This resulted in more accurate identification of material suitable for reclamation earlier in the process and less waste at the supplier. This improvement was captured in the process documentation and readily transferable to the Korean team.
To ensure proper stability and transferability, all manufacturing documents were reviewed with any errors corrected and all approved process improvements incorporated. A disciplined and rigorous approach was taken, with each engineering drawing, bill of material, procedure, specification, etc., being reviewed and brought up to date. Several hundred documents were reviewed and updated where required. Although this effort was somewhat tedious at times, there was a significant payoff in improved quality, reduced waste, and most important, high confidence that the documents used for training were accurate and would deliver a world-class process in Korea.
The chamber refurbishment process was the pilot implementation of a certified operator-training program that Cymer had already developed. Training specialists worked with production people to generate a state-of-the-art set of manufacturing procedures suitable for certified operator training. Every member of the Korean production team spent about six months at the Cymer headquarters in San Diego, CA, training with production personnel in order to become certified operators. Together with improved documentation and process improvements, the certification program helped make the San Diego-based chamber-manufacturing processes more robust and ready for transfer to Korea.
Facility site selection, design, and construction decisions are made in a similar way to those made in the US. Cymer selected the Eoyeon-Hansan Industrial Park, near Pyoungtaek, about two hours south of Seoul, due to its readiness for immediate construction, access to good transportation, and the availability of skilled personnel. Cymer hired Daewoo architects who, in conjunction with Cymer engineers, production staff, and business staff, designed the facility. Daewoo was later awarded the construction contract, achieving occupancy nine months after ground breaking. Cymer's Korean plant manager and his staff worked in an office trailer at the construction site providing daily monitoring of the project. Videoconference capabilities were set up in the trailer and were quite effective in conducting weekly reviews and focused meetings with the San Diego-based team on all project issues.
Obtaining the necessary production tools, equipment, workbenches, etc., required a significant amount of effort and attention to detail. An experienced project engineer led this effort, using Cymer's "Copy Exact" policy to guide decisions, and within its constraints, some Korean equipment was purchased. This allowed savings in shipping costs and helped to establish local suppliers.
Business process review
For all the effort being applied to the manufacturing processes, there was an equal, if not greater amount of effort applied to business processes. The Gemini team was able to draw on Cymer's existing process documentation as a starting point. Many multisite business processes needed to be developed, however, such as part replenishment, accounting, finance, tax, and import/export policies. Early in the project development, the champions developed a summary "Business Transaction Model," which is a policy-level document providing key business process decisions and guidance. The sub-teams were able to develop a detailed process map and provide operator training. As Cymer's Oracle-based ERP system is used for many business processes, the information technology champion led a dedicated sub-team to provide necessary support.
The Gemini team used a detailed Factory Qualification Requirements (Qual Plan) document to identify all of the critical deliverables and the criteria necessary for successful completion of the project. The plan was generated in a collaborative effort between all team members and included not only requirements for product performance, but also for statistical process control and business processes. Each item in the Qual Plan was assigned to a champion who ensured that the proper people, tools, and information were in place.
The major phases of the implementation included ground breaking, equipment set-up, facility occupancy, pilot production, process qualification, business process qualification, and final training. The factory was able to produce chambers within one week of facility occupancy and achieved final overall qualification six weeks later, on November 22, 2002. Through proper planning, hard work, and excellent teamwork, project Gemini finished on budget and ahead of schedule.
Conclusion
Attention to details, fostering an environment that enabled teamwork, executing to plan, and cooperation with the Korean government all played a part in bringing the Chamber Refurbishment Center to fruition. Nine months after initial factory qualification, over 200 chambers were refurbished and shipped within Korea and around the world.
Reference
- MOFE may be contacted at www.kisc.or.kr.
Acknowledgment
Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corp.
Gregg Blankenship joined Cymer in 1992. During his tenure, he has established factories in the US, Japan, and Korea. He may be reached at 17807 Corazon Place, San Diego, CA 92127; e-mail [email protected].
Oh Jin Soo joined Cymer in 2001 as plant manager of Cymer Korea Inc. He can be reached at ph 82/31-680-1500 or e-mail [email protected].