THE EVOLUTION OF EMPLOYEE EMPOWERMENT

This paper presents the evolution of employee involvement programs into empowered Self-Directed Work Teams (SDWTs) to drive continuous improvement methodologies. With the primary goal of increased manufacturing performance and customer satisfaction, SDWTs are responsible for the day-to-day operations and directions of existing Wafer Fabs at Harris Semiconductor in Palm Bay, Florida. The SDWTs were formed to improve key Fab performance indices such as throughput yield (TPY), cycle time, performance-to-schedule and reduction of costs. The specific methodologies which will be discussed are: Designing in quality. Developing and building the ''team'' philosophy. Forming work teams. Analyzing skills. Training work-in-process management, activity planning and work scheduling. Developing and implementing gainsharing. The results described in this paper will include, but are not limited to, the following: 10% improvement in TPY over 7 quarters. 70% reduction in cycle time over 7 quarters. 30% improvement in die yield over 7 quarters. 7.3% budget savings realized from gainshare program during first 2 quarters of implementation.