Ultratech Inc. Chairman and CEO Arthur W. Zafiropoulo is passionate about the company and it shows the moment you enter its international headquarters in Singapore.

The facility is divided by a tinted glass wall that separates the cleanroom production team from the rest of the staff.

Zafiropoulo explained, “When I built the glass partition, which I believe is the only one of its kind in Singapore, people thought it was a waste of money. However, I believe this is money well spent as all of the employees can feel as if they belong to the same company. No one is hidden away and the administrative side of the operations can see what the other side of the business does.”

“I want all Ultratech employees to be as passionate about the products we make as I am.”

Founded in 1979, California-based Ultratech manufactures high technology lithography systems that print images on semiconductor wafers as well as laser anneal systems that are used to make transistors in microchips.

“It is a zero-defect business with millions of dollars at stake. There is no room for error—one strike and you are out,” noted Zafiropoulo. “There are 40 to 50 wafers being processed every hour in our machines and if we make one mistake, it may take two weeks before you find out there is a problem. That is hundreds of millions of dollars of damage. You lose your credibility and will lose future business opportunities. It’s all in the details.”

As a result, Ultratech chose Singapore. The island state has the talent and supporting infrastructure to meet the operation’s exacting need for meticulous attention to detail. Also, Singapore represents the company’s first manufacturing centre outside of the U.S.

Zafiropoulo said Singapore’s well-trained and well-educated workforce ensures that Ultratech can hire the right people to maintain its zero-defect policy for production.

“Although labour represents only about three to four per cent of the entire system cost, it remains a key factor. That three or four per cent has to be highly educated. In Singapore, education is supported by the Government, the whole society is focused on ensuring that the young have a good education — families and parents care about their children getting a good education,” he added.

• Download video transcript

For the precision engineering industry, which Ultratech participates in, the Singapore Government supports education and training with scholarships and training grants for talents at all levels – from engineers, technologists to craftsmen. In 2007, the Government launched a $76-million National Precision Engineering Scholarship and Specialist Programme, which aims to produce 600 students by 2012. At a higher level, manpower programmes have been developed to train specialist engineers, including PhDs, and highly-skilled master craftsmen.

What does this mean for a company like Ultratech? Zafiropoulo replied, “For me, the quality of the workforce will drive the future operations here. For example, back in the U.S., the average worker in manufacturing would have gone to college for two years, here it is four years. The extended college education enables the workers in Singapore to be more productive and operate at a much higher level.”

He added, “I expect to increase performance over our U.S. facility. This Singapore operation is going to significantly raise the bar on performance for Ultratech.”

Zafiropoulo expects to ramp up its Singapore operations sooner than originally expected. Ultratech currently employs 40 people in Singapore but is now stepping up its hiring to bring the number to 200 over the next few years.

The company is planning to set up a research and development (R&D) unit in Singapore by the end of 2011, which will collaborate with local universities to develop Ultratech’s next-generation technology.

Zafiropoulo, a man who does not mince words, has this advice for others thinking about setting up a base in Singapore, “I would encourage high technology companies with complex machinery to consider Singapore. This is not simply a good place to have a business, it’s a great place.”

• Download the full article