ISMI News
ISMI Manufacturing Week to Repeat in 2008 in Wake of Enthusiastic Review
Austin, TX (27 November 2007) – Amid widespread praise from participants and media for the last month’s inaugural ISMI Manufacturing Week, the International SEMATECH Manufacturing Initiative (ISMI) has decided to repeat the event in October 2008.
More than 420 technologists and marketing professionals attended the four-day set of workshops and conferences, held Oct. 24-27 at the Hilton Austin Airport. The week, which included the two-day ISMI Symposium for Manufacturing Effectiveness, offered 12 workshops and short courses, along with more than 72 presentations from experts in fab and equipment productivity, yield and metrology, environmental design, simulation and modeling.
ISMI Manufacturing Week also attracted a record number of 52 exhibitors along with 13 sponsors, the most to date.
“If you could only attend one conference this year, ISMI’s Manufacturing Week was it,” industry analyst Dan Hutcheson of VLSI Research declared in his “Chip Insider” online column. “It’s grown up tremendously over the last four years. Part of their draw is that they have so many events to attend, in addition to the two-day conference.”
Hutcheson also praised two Symposium sessions conducted by Diane K. Michelson, Member of the Technical Staff at ISMI, and Brad Van Eck, ISMI program manager. “Di Michelson’s Stat Methods Session gets my vote for best session. It’s a very tight group and they have loads of fun,” Hutcheson wrote. “Brad Van Eck’s e-Manufacturing session was also superb.”
In event surveys, other participants also gave high marks to the ISMI Symposium, with 97 percent indicating they would recommend it to colleagues. “"I need to know what industry leaders are actually doing in the fabs,” wrote one participant. “This event is a kind of ‘blood and guts’ exhibit of what real people are doing in real fabs."
Another attendee declared: "The biggest reason I go is for the sharing and discussion of solutions to common problems faced by myself and colleagues from the other member companies. We can take the 2-3 days together and come up with some best practices and save weeks of time that would be spent if we each had to do it individually at our own company."
According to ISMI Director Scott Kramer, “These positive participant responses demonstrate the continuing need for a collaborative forum focusing on volume productivity issues in the semiconductor industry. Our strategy of basing ISMI Manufacturing Week on the most pressing concerns of chip-makers and suppliers fills a critical industry need.”
More information on ISMI Manufacturing Week and the ISMI Symposium can be found at http://ismi.sematech.org/ismisymposium/index.htm.