An indirect workforce (re)allocation model for semiconductor manufacturing

Abstract

Semiconductor industry is a capital intensive and knowledge intensive industry, in which human resource management and human capital enhancement is increasingly important. To maintain competitive human resource, it is critical to develop a decision framework for headcount planning and workforce allocation for indirect labors. Motivated by the needs in real setting, this study aims to develop a model for allocating indirect workforce among semiconductor fabrication facilities to meet expected outputs and labor productivity improvement. Workforce allocation and reallocation based on the overall corporate workforce level is essential so that the shortage or exceed workforce will be balanced among different production sites. The key to achieve this purpose is the proper understanding of real requirements of each production site according to its corresponding tasks assigned. Non-parametric activity analysis approach is used for the workforce requirement estimation given delegated tasks. The estimation is based on the best performance from the past with adjustments reflecting the expected productivity growth.