The Flatteners Get Blown Wide Open

This morning we had off, so, of course, I went shopping with some of the women. Last night a few of the youngins found a store that is a government store (we think), where the prices are set and no negotiating is allowed. And it is a bonanza for finding whadja's for friends and family (that is, "what did ya bring me?"). I browsed through it and found several things I will be buying before I go home, including jewelry!


This afternoon we had a tour of AT&S, a printed circuit board manufacturer. This company is a prime example of how the world has gone flat, and, I think it also gave me a better understanding of what it is that my husband manages at work. The process for manufacturing boards is complex and includes many steps. As we toured the factory, I recognized many of the terms that my husband has used over the years, such as, burn-in, rinse, ESD, board inspection, etc., but seeing it led me to a better comprehension. A big part of what the services his company does is inspection. At AT&S the inspection of printed circuit boards is done manually with a large magnifying glass. They process a large volume of boards for companies such as Siemens; and since the inspection is done visually, I wonder how good the inspections are by the end of the day after a person has been scanning boards for many hours - the employees must experience eye strain by then. Does the fact that is manual process rather than automated, say by laser scanning, impact the quality of the inspection, as well as create potential variability in declaring defects between inspectors? The fact that the company has about a 5% defect rate seems high to me. While touring the plant it appeared to have good systems and processes in place, but with an inexperienced and untrained eye for this technology, I really wouldn't know. So, I wonder what their TQM processes are and what they could do to reach a Six Sigma status in their production.

The fact that AT&S is headquartered in Austria, has factories in India , China, and Korea, designs products in India and Germany, imports many of its raw materials and components from various countries around the world, and has international sales offices demonstrates that globalization has played a significant part in the companies ability to become Europe's number one printed circuit board manufacturer and a major player in the world market. Flattener #1, the opening of markets around the globe, created this opportunity. And the advent of the internet, flattener #2, made it possible for a regional European company to become the global supplier for companies such as Nokia and Motorola in the span of less than a decade, by allowing effective and efficient communications between sites. Offshoring, flattener #3, occurred for AT&S when, in 1999, AT&S purchased Indal, India's largest printed circuit board manufacturer, and expanded with the opening of a logistics center in Germany in 2000, and continues with various other acquisitions taking place and factories being built around the globe. To effect and facilitate these changes in global trade workflow software, flattener #3, and supply-chaining processes, flattener #7 had to be available. And for me to be able to write this paragraph I utilized flattener #9, in-forming, by digging up information on the company myself, via the internet.