Computer and communication OEM companies worldwide adopt outsourcing strategy in 1990 - 2000. European & American large EMS providers grow very quickly accordingly. But Taiwan don¡¦t have a position in this trend, even we think we are very good at manufacturing. We take this chance to review what we think about manufacturing in the past 10 years and take this lesson to see our next 10 years. We also take the largest Taiwan EMS provider, OSE¡¦s FP Group as an example to see her strategy. As OSE¡¦s FP Group go into niche market before year 2000, she even turn loss to earning from the bad year 2000 to year 2002

The development of a "Next Generation Manufacturing System" is currently an active area of research worldwide. The research described in this dissertation addresses one sub-element within this research area; namely, the demonstration of a decentralized, automated production architecture. The goal of the work is to increase the ability of a manufacturing enterprise to respond to rapid technological and market change in the post-2000 global economy. The research is comprised of three objectives; definition of a decentralized organizational structure of autonomous production activities, implementation of the defined organization in a real world manufacturing environment, and a comparison of historical (centralized architecture) performance data and decentralized performance data. To accomplish these objectives, the proposed production architecture is implemented at a real world manufacturing site and performance data are acquired and tested against a stated hypothesis. The research entails the modification of a selected electronics module assembly activity in the following ways: 1) comprehensive automation of assembly processes; 2) simplification of production practice through a minimization of operator interaction and a reduction of assembly transaction points requiring operator intervention; and 3) restructuring of organizational functions resulting in decentralization and operational autonomy. The null hypothesis was successfully rejected and it was shown that the implementation of automation, simplification, and decentralization resulted in an enhancement of production performance (i.e., a reduction in throughput time, labor cost, overhead cost, and total product cost) without degrading production quality. A test of the null hypothesis based on the data indicates a statistically significant (i.e., p less than or equal to 0.05) reduction in throughput time, labor cost, overhead cost, and total product cost while no statistically significant difference in the before and after production quality data was shown. A possible interpretation of these results is that the implementation of automation, simplification, and decentralization did result in a reduction in the labor cost, overhead cost, and total product cost and did not result in a degradation in production quality. / Ph. D.

The degree of transfer of technical training to workplace behavior was evaluated using a Solomon Four-Group experimental design. Additionally, all groups received retrospective pretests. Subjects were 103 technicians in an electronics company. Supervisors rated technicians on behaviorally anchored rating scales which were developed and labeled as behavior description scales for simplicity. Analysis of variance revealed no effect for training nor pretest. A training-pretest interaction effect was revealed for one dimension (Communication with Support Groups). Analysis of covariance revealed main effects for pretesting for two dimensions (Problem Solving and Communication with Supervisor) and a pretest-training interaction-for one dimension (Problem Solving). Except for one dimension, t tests revealed no significant differences between traditional pretests and retrospective pretests, thus negating a hypothesized response shift bias.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, Dept. of Systems Science and Industrial Engineering, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.

Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Auburn University, 2007. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographic references.

Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Auburn University, 2005. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographic references.

Thesis (M.S.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, Thomas J. Watson School of Engineering and Applied Science, Department of Systems Science and Industrial Engineering, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.

Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Auburn University, / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographic references (p.139-147).

Thesis (M.Sc.)--City University of Hong Kong, 2005. / At head of title: City University of Hong Kong, Department of Physics and Materials Science, Master of Science in materials engineering & nanotechnology dissertation. Title from title screen (viewed on Sept. 4, 2006) Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, Department of Physics, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references.