iDECON 2012 – International Conference on Design and Concurrent Engineering Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM) 15-16 October 2012 313 WORK STUDY TECHNIQUES EVALUATION AT BACK-END SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING Abd.Rahman, M.N. 1 , Abdullah, R. 2 and Kamarudin, N.J. 3 1 Faculty of Manufacturing Engineering, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka, Durian Tunggal, 76100 Melaka, Malaysia Phone: +606-331 6512, Fax: +606-234 6524, Email: mdnizam@utem.edu.my 2 Faculty of Engineering Technology, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka, Durian Tunggal, 76100 Melaka, Malaysia 3 Industrial Engineering Department, ON Semiconductor (M) Sdn Bhd, 122-123 Kawasan Perindustrian Senawang, 70450 N.Sembilan, Malaysia Abstract – With the ever increasing labor cost and high labor turnover, performing labor productivity study is imperative for the back-end semiconductor manufacturer to stay competitive. However, an effective technique to perform the work study on the operators is required before any productivity improvement initiatives can be performed. This paper discusses the various techniques being evaluated based on the preset criteria established by the company’s management. Results from the method evaluation will be used to determine the suitable work study technique to be used to perform labor productivity study. Keywords – Work Study, Labor Productivity, Technique Evaluation I. INTRODUCTION The key to any given investigation is to select the most appropriate method for the study based on the identified set of key factors to be improved [1]. Therefore, in the search of the effective tool to perform labor productivity study at the back end semiconductor manufacturing line, the key criteria will need to be defined. Based on the semi-structured interview with the management and the manufacturing line personnel, eight key criteria were identified for the evaluation of a suitable work study technique. These criteria are: 1. Able to measure labor utilization 2. Able to determine ideal man-machine configuration 3. No cost required to purchase special software 4. Ease of use and maintained 5. Easy to be communicated to any levels 6. Easy to train production personnel. 7. Should be able to produce accurate result 8. Flexible to be used on both production and non- production operators Once the key criteria have been set, extensive literature review were done to select the work study techniques to be evaluated. The common techniques found were Process Mapping, the Multi-Machine chart, Simo Chart, Work Sampling and etc. More recent techniques found include the computer simulation, the Yamazumi Chart and the Touch Time Analysis. For the evaluation purpose, the process mapping and the multi-machine chart were chosen since these techniques were the most common techniques used by the founders of IE and other work study practitioners to measure labor productivity and determine the manning ratio of a process. In addition, the computer simulation technique, the Yamazumi Chart and the Touch Time analysis were also evaluated since these techniques were the more recent techniques used in the industries to measure labor productivity. The wafer sawing process was chosen to be used for the methods evaluation purpose. The researchers together with the company’s Industrial Engineers (IEs) conducted the study. All techniques were evaluated based on the eight pre-set criteria and a table was constructed to summarize the result findings. II. WORK STUDY Work study can be defined as the systematic examination of activities in order to improve the effective use of human and other material recourses. Sometimes, the actual term of “work study” has been replaced by phrase of “continuous improvement of work”. This is due to the on- going monitoring improvement and quantifies work on a continuous basis [2]. Work study includes methods study and work measurement [3]. Method study is use to improve method of doing job while evaluation of effectiveness measured by work measurement. The objective of method study is to improve in productivity for company or organization. brought to you by CORE View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk provided by Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM) Repository