Infineon Technologies began as a joint venture between Motorola and multinational giant Siemens AG. In 1999, the semiconductor operations of parent company Siemens AG were spun off to form a separate legal entity. In March 2000 Infineon Technologies went public. The company handles some diversity activities on a global basis, but most are driven at the site level, says Tom McCormick, director of human resources for the U.S. operation.
R&D, design and sales and marketing are done in San Jose, CA; East Fishkill, NY; Burlington, VT and other locations.
But the bulk of employees are stationed in Richmond, VA, Infineon's largest U.S. manufacturing site.
Richmond is a hard-working, high- volume DRAM fab, on the job 24/7, McCormick says. And since the company is in the middle of a major expansion, the current 1,800 employees will soon be joined by another 800.
Of the company's three major semi markets worldwide, Richmond focuses on memory products. There are some 500 engineers and skilled technicians on-site. Many work in manufacturing, keeping the process equipment in trim. There's also a hefty technology team involved in areas like yield enhancement and failure analysis.
IT folks are also there, both in conventional MIS work and in the large IT infrastructure that supports the automated manufacturing environment.
In all, the 800 new hires will include about 250 hands-on techies. And since there isn't a large pool of semi engineers or skilled technicians in the Richmond area, "We are recruiting in many areas for a mix of new college grads and experienced engineers, and even working with military outplacement," McCormick notes. People with two-year degrees may start as skilled techs and move into engineering roles.
"Over our whole recruiting strategy, we make sure to focus on areas where we can pull a diverse group of people," McCormick emphasizes.
All new employees go through diversity awareness training. In 2001 the scope of training was broadened to all employees, and everyone on-site has gone through the course now.
Richmond has its own diversity council, McCormick says. Membership is voluntary in the cross-functional council, which has reps from different departments and different diverse groups.
The site covers a different diversity topic each month through a combination of communication methods: closed-circuit TV, table tents in the cafeteria, theme menus based on the month's topic, posters and artwork on the walls.
There's also a monthly diversity contest over the intranet. "It all helps engage people. They really get involved," McCormick says.
"We try to ensure that our diversity focus is filtered through every aspect of what we do. In fact, we received an award for our diversity initiatives here at the site."
In regard to women and minorities in tech leadership positions at Richmond, "We're doing OK, but we'd like to do better," McCormick admits. "We have a diverse group of engineers, and when we recently made a recruiting video, a number of them commented, with no prompting, that they enjoyed working in such a diverse environment."
An engineer at Richmond, McCormick notes, might well have a chance to work with counterparts in Dresden, Germany, which has a very similar facility. "We bring engineers here and send engineers to our other locations around the world.
"Sharing knowledge is very much a part of our practice," he comments. "We do language training, and most of our engineers have contact with their counterparts in Germany and other locations."
The interaction can range from brief trips to longer assignments, six months to three years. "We try to arrange to keep families together when there are long assignments," McCormick says.
Infineon's community involvement focuses on education, "to help the community and also develop a pool of talent for the future." Employees are personally involved in mentoring students in elementary school through college, McCormick notes.
"We set up a high-tech academy in partnership with a local Henrico County school. We actually replicate a factory environment at one of the schools, where students can learn electronics and semiconductor technology. Boys and girls in their junior year can participate and earn college credit. After their first year in the program we bring them to our fab for a summer internship."
McCormick's department monitors the program, which has been in place for four years now. "We know that many of the participants go into a four-year degree program, and our first students are on their way to graduating with a four-year degree in engineering.
"We hope that some of them will hire on with us. Counselors at the high school tell us the students are really energized about going off for a degree and coming back to work for us," he says proudly.
Infineon also supports several local teams in the FIRST Robotics competition with both company dollars and the time and effort of company engineers. "Our people get very involved and they love it," McCormick notes. "We've had teams go all the way to the finals. It's a great program."
Infineon also contributes to the local chapter of the Society of Women Engineers. "We look to them for recruiting help," McCormick says.
D/C
www.infineon.com
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Headquarters: |
San Jose, CA (U.S.); Munich, Germany (world HQ) |
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Employees: |
33,000 worldwide; 3,500 in U.S. |
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Revenues: |
$6.15 billion Euros, $7.37 billion |
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Business: |
Semiconductors and semiconductor solutions for automotive, industrial and communications sectors; memory products |
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