Not only is the management extremely chaotic, but the chain of command is backwards too: The techs have ideas for how this place can really improve, the engineers are beyond busy in meetings all day long, the middle managements job is to hassle engineers about down tools, and we only hear from a VP if you are caught walking on the grass or if you're not inside the fab. There is way too much micromanagement. It seems every few weeks, direction changes causing wasted time on certain tasks. Mostly, this place is about conveying to outsiders a world class image by quickly cleaning/wiping tools prior to big guests arriving... engineers are used like janitors too often, big waste of time.
GF went with mature processes and Brand New work force, but they didn't ever consider actually training this Brand New work force: No Training, No Mentorship, No Guidance, but plenty of yelling, public humiliation during pass downs, long hours, burning-out (unnecessarily done), and all the phone calls you could ask for at 3am and the stress that comes with it. As soon as he/she gets another offer, they leave this place! But we all get the sense that attrition has also plagued the levels of top management from the conception of this company; perhaps too much shady business deals between ATIC/Abu-Dhabi and NYS caused this chaos?? On top of this, the singapore-style management doesn't seem to actually help-out, and only adds fuel to the stressful environment (seriously, what you did in your failed fab isn't going to eventually work elsewhere). The singapore-trained personnel (any person trained in Singapore, regardless of ethnic background) will argue and fight for the entire hour of a meeting, only to come to the same conclusion as the rest of us came to in the first 5 minutes (not all from the Singapore site, but too many of them). This entire formula of a work culture promotes self destruction; the simplest tasks are a nightmare to accomplish, and many people just sweep issues under the rug to avoid asian-style public humiliation, arguments, and even more micromanaging. Employee morale is very low, and the only employees that have a high opinion of this Fab are those that have never actually been inside the Fab!
There is a recognition that this place needs to drastically change, but you'd better not be the guy who speaks out... managers who have spoken out have been demoted, and people who speak out at Town Hall meetings have been seriously reprimanded by their boss. There is a culture at this place of "Just keep your mouth shut" and you can keep your job! Not really a shocker considering the value of human life in Abu-Dhabi. It took many many voices to finally get VP/management to recognize our need for tool-time vs cycle time to fix particle issues (although at the same time Upper Management complains about engineers not raising the yield enough).
