Ideas Gleaned from Another
Company’s Culture |
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Nagashima Every corporation has its own
unique culture. This is, of course, true for technology
development, but even extends to differences
of participation rates in parties.
Saito For example, the names of the manufacturing
processes are different. Even though
we are working with the same semiconductors,
we often find ourselves wondering what it is
that someone is talking about. Someone put
together a glossary for us, and it was greatly
appreciated at the start of the project.
Ohno We thought that the terms we used at
work in our own companies were standard
around the world. Even with the technology,
while there are points that are similar, at the
start of this project, there was a feeling of “Why
are you doing that?” with respect to each
other’s proposals.
Enomoto We argued, a lot. And thus, we
gradually came to understand that feeling of
distance and gradually came to understand
each other’s ideas.
Ohno I remember something a Toshiba manager
said: “One of the best aspects of this cooperation
is that we are coming to respect each
other.”
Saito After we got over our attitude of company
vs. company bragging, we created mutual
relationships of bringing out the best in
each other. Another point is that when one is
from a different company, the area of one’s
work may differ even if the title within the organization
is the same.
Ohno The division of responsibilities between
the device design groups and the process
unit groups, which are responsible for
manufacturing processes and equipment were
different.
Saito Sony also created a new group in
charge to make the joint development work
progress smoothly.
Ohno When we were transferred to this new
group, a lot of members found that their skill
areas had expanded.
Saito Really. Our jobs had become increasingly specialized, so engineers had few
chances to learn about areas outside the area
they were working in. In this project, the engineers
not only worked on the technology they
were in charge of, but they also worked on a
development theme that spanned multiple
technologies. Sony’s engineers gained valuable
experience from the culture of this cooperative
project. |
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Aligning with the Highest Goals |
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Enomoto Through this cooperative project,
we became very positive about publishing at
conferences.
Ohno Sony is oriented more towards having
everyone work together to create end products.
Other companies have a definite concept
of having each individual work to develop
semiconductor technologies and compete with
the rest of the semiconductor world.
Enomoto This project has stimulated in me
an awareness that persuading the other companies
of our work is, in itself, an important
part of acquiring new knowledge.
Nagashima From before, I had hoped that
each one of us would make ourselves known
in the world. Since there is also the aspect of
an information war in semiconductor development,
I want us to embrace other technologies
more widely and compete based on that
knowledge.
Ohno In this cooperative work between the
three companies, we formed partnerships at
all levels, both management and technological.
Therefore we had the feeling that whatever
the particular subject was, all three companies
had the right to publish at conferences.
Saito We divided the development theme
even more finely, and if a result was achieved,
the person in charge would publish that result.
Nagashima This is because, for the 45 nm
generation, there are a lot of chances to publish
at the main conferences. It was easy to
adopt a format in which the three companies
published results alternately.
Ohno The related technologies that we published this time were all areas with hurdles high
enough to justify publication at a major conference.
However, that does not mean that it
would have been possible to create a single
LSI with each of us individually pursuing a technology.
The sense of all of us working together
as a single whole was important. That awareness
was heightened even further when we
expanded the cooperation from two to three
companies.
Saito With two companies, two managers
could quickly agree to go with a particular approach,
but with three companies, it wasn’t so
easy. We revised the meeting system so that
all three could snap into agreement in the same
direction more easily.
Enomoto There were other things that improved
as well when the project became a
three-company effort. For example, in reviewing
the progress to date, we were able to reevaluate
the issues. NEC Electronics was particularly
objective eye in reviewing the project.
Saito I have the strong sense that it was
good that it became a three-company cooperation.
For example, each of the three companies
came to the table with their own targets
for power consumption and processing
speeds, and thus there was pressure to “compromise”
on the highest of the three in each
area.
Nagashima If one of the other companies
would surreptitiously raise the level of a target,
we’d raise our target level as well.
Saito As a result, the targets rapidly became
higher. I’m sure that Sony can take advantage
of the experience gained in this cooperation
in many areas, not just in 45 nm devices.
Enomoto The younger engineers, in particular,
acquired a lot of new knowledge and experience.
Ohno The experience will remain with us, the
technology will remain, but most important, the
excellent people remain as well.
Nagashima Since we achieved targets at
a world-class level in the 45 nm area, we must
now put our efforts into determining how to take
advantage of those results. The next step is
waiting.
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all articles with figures and tables.  |
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Vol.48 |
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