Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Systematic study on key factors influencing establish automobile electronics industry clustering

Systematic study on key factors influencing establish automobile electronics industry clustering Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze the trends of global automobile industry toward energy saving and smart application. The automobile industry has its own special supply, safety and reliability system. It combined with the legislations that progressive safety driving leads to increase automobile electronic (AE) facilities and enlarges the proportion of the electronic control for vehicles. Based on matured communication and semiconductor industries in Taiwan, the government assists these hi-tech industries in entering the AE domain by clustering relevant enterprises with assembly supply chains. Flagship IC packaging and LCD panels enterprises are located in the Kaohsiung Industrial Park which possesses advantages for the clustering of AE industry. Design/methodology/approach – In this paper, a systematic investigation on establishing AE industry cluster in Kaohsiung Industry Park (KIP) is presented. First, 42 electrical and electronics enterprises are site visited and interviewed for operation and management preferential demands. Second, problems encountered in enterprises’ operation are identified through expert weight method. Third, the main factors involved in the operational management are then analyzed based on five flagship enterprises in KIP. The integration of industrial–university–government resources and assistance is demonstrated. Finally, the establishment of an innovative talents cultivation model is illustrated. Findings – The developed systematic talent program is proposed to resolve the urgent demands in recruiting talents, operational costs and new products development. Originality/value – This paper satisfies needs of research enterprise management. The establishment of an innovative talents cultivation model is illustrated. Keywords Automobile electronics, Experts weighting method, Industry cluster, Systematic talent programme, Kaohsiung Industry Park Paper type Research paper Introduction In the past, Taiwan’s manufacturing industry focused on the improvement of production efficiency and relied on import for the key product and critical technology which result in lack of brand strength, limited market coverage and low added value. For the past decade, the foundation for economic growth can be solidified through the upgrading of traditional industry and the enhancement of manufacturing service competence. Nowadays, Taiwan has been optimizing the industrial structure by cultivating emerging technologies and forming the new comparative advantages of the industries by developing soft power (IDB, 2017a, b). Taiwan Government vigorously assists enterprises to transform/upgrade new techniques by providing academia and research institute mentors for the traditional © Nai-Chieh Wei, Hsiang-Chen Hsu, I-Ming Chao and Ai-Ling Yang. Published in Journal of Industry-University Collaboration. Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published Journal of Industry-University Collaboration under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial & non-commercial purposes), pp. 118-131 Emerald Publishing Limited subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be 2631-357X DOI 10.1108/JIUC-04-2019-0009 seen at: http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode manufacturing industry. More value added and high-end products have been marketing due AE industry to intelligent manufacturing. clustering Automobiles are evolving along an axis of lightweight, cleanness, electrification and intelligence. In general, automobile electronics (AE) are categorized into two groups: electric control integrated with mechanical components, such as engine control, stand-alone electronics, such as GPS. AE consists of car body and panel, engine and power train, power electronics, chassis and suspension, security and safety and infotainment. As the progress of electronic control technology, mechanical control in vehicles has been gradually replaced by semiconductor components. AE devices provide various features, for instance, carputer, electronic control unit, blind spot detection (BSD), collision avoidance system, internet of vehicle and telematics, etc. Vehicle-used chipsets market is undergoing a large scale of global growth with the driving information and safety driving (Hsiao, 2017). Drivers are much more concerning with the safety of the vehicle than its performance, entertainment and energy saving. Meanwhile, the legislation on the safety compliance advances the development of safety technology. The USA, EU and Japan already carried out mandatory requirements on anti-lock braking system (ABS), electronic stability control and tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS). In EU, a prescriptive requirement on autonomous emergency braking system for anti-rear-end collision is under legislated (Wu, 2017). Therefore, there is a definite demand for the enhancement on autonomous cars or self-driving cars technology. Although Taiwan’s semiconductor industry possesses some advantages in respect of microcontroller system, power electronics module and sensor technology, its mastery of AE manufacturing and testing standards is still behind the world-renowned corporations, such as Infineon, Micron, ON semiconductor, STMicroelectronics, etc. Taiwan AE industry is looking forward to upgrading techniques specialized in vehicle to everything (V2X), durability against harsh environment and AEC qualification (Zhao and Shi, 2010). The advantage of Taiwan’s industry consists in the supply of semiconductor components, in particular, of security and infotainment. Taiwan’s industry is characterized by its capacity for design and manufacture of vehicle parts, and the quality of system integration of full-car has been well recognized in the international market. Taiwan’s AE industry has been developing rapidly and the export volume of integrated system is increasing yearly (Automotive Research and Testing Center, 2016). Most Taiwan factories earn the advantage of flexible manufacturing in small volume-large variety production. Owing to the limited domestic market scale, most AE products are manufactured and exported to the target wholesale markets in the USA and EU (Chen, 2018). At the moment, 42 enterprises involving in electronics industry (including IC, electronics components, mechanical and electrical parts, information and audio-visual products, household appliances and other trades) in Kaohsiung Industry Park (KIP). Flagship IC packaging and LCD panels industries are located in KIP, which possesses advantage for the clustering of AE industry in Taiwan. Some of enterprises have been received the automobile quality certification of ISO/TS 16949 and AEC-Q104, respectively. This would imply that the manufacturing quality and packaging/testing for fabrication of AE products are steadily pushing forward in the park. Therefore, this study focuses on site visiting and interviewing, identifying enterprises’ demands and establishing an innovative talent cultivation model. Systematic study is divided into four stages. Stage 1 deals with interviews with the enterprises, and gathering and sorting out of their demands. Stage 2 describes the expert interviews the understanding of the main problems arising from the operation and management of the enterprises within the scope of electronics and electrical domain. Stage 3 emphasizes the importance ranking of all demands using expert weight method. Stage 4 establishes the innovative talent cultivation model. This paper is organized as follows: the first section presents Introduction, followed by Literature review, Research methods and Cases study, and the last section deals with Conclusion and suggestions. Literature review JIUC Zhao and Shi (2010) reported that three main respects and future developments in autonomous 1,3 cars define the major AE sub-systems including telematics, electric vehicle control and motor control system and safety assistant driving system. Among which, the critical semiconductors contain vehicle-used micro-controller unit, power device and image sensors. Denso, the largest electronic system supplier in Japan, specializes in sales of car-mounted satellite navigation system, such as NAVIRA and NAVISTANT, a PDA socket-type apparatus combining both software and hardware. Besides, Denso is also developing new AE products, such as antenna controller and electronic toll collection. This is a typical instance demonstrating the AE manufacturer leading Japan Government project intelligent transport systems with AE products (Shi, 2006). Frost and Sullivan (2012) carried out an investigation on the advanced video driving assisting system available in North America and Europe. After assessing the rear-view camera, driver monitoring, BSD, surround view and infrared night-vision system, they pointed out that the demands for AE products in North America and Europe in 2018 would be video and image systems, which has been confirmed. In 2020, autonomous cars can be achieved by integrating GPS, V2X, light detection and ranging (LIDAR) and BSD systems. According to a survey on vehicle new technology, the main consumption demand is the integration of vehicle-used electronics, navigation system, safety and advanced sound system ( J.D. Power and Associates Reports, 2018). As the relevant legislations on vehicle safety are becoming more rigorous, the USA, EU and Japan are the three most active countries in this respect. Technologies applied in ABS, TPMS and dashboard camera are well developed and mandatorily listed in the automobiles. More often than not, the traffic legislations in the USA and EU play the roles of benchmark around the world. Once these regulations are implemented, it is estimated that there would be more countries passing mandatory legislations on vehicle safety. This woulddrive thedemandfor theentirevehicle safety driving system in the global market (Liao et al., 2013). Taiwan External Trade Development Council, TAITRA (2018) and Society of Automotive Engineers pointed out that the market of AE in the USA will have a huge demand for the talents referred to this field. According to a survey on talent supply in IC design, panel interface, communication, cloud computing and big data enterprises, difficulty encountered in talents recruitment is industry innovation (National Development Council, 2018). For instance, entry-level engineers in software design, electronics engineering and system analysis require college graduate with two to five years working experience. Ministry of Labor (2018) pointed out in the Survey on Existing Condition of the Labor Shortage and Countermeasures that manufacturing industry exists a huge demand for the professionals in the domain of electronics, optical products and electronic components. The survey also revealed that enterprises have encountered difficulties in recruiting new staff, which are caused by “the applicant’s skills fail to meet the job requirements” and “the scope of business and the working environment have no attraction to the applicants.” The difficulty confronted by the employers is that the applicant’sskills failtomeet thejob requirements. For youths age from 15 to 29, unmatched expertise or skills results in plight of job seeking. The analysis indicated that there exists a gap between the supply of higher education and the demand of industry, i.e. learning-applying mismatch. As the global automobile industry is advancing toward electrification, electronization and intelligentization, the demand for the development of critical techniques in AE and electric vehicle becomes more urgent. Of which, interdisciplinary talents in the domain of batteries, power control modules and integration of the charging facilities are active demand. Besides, skilled research engineers and international marketing professionals are hard to recruit. Moreover, recruiting oversea talents is an alternative solution for these AE industry serious manpower shortage enterprises (IDB, 2018). clustering National Development Council (2018) pointed out that both human resources and financial in Taiwan’s industry are insufficient to further development. IDB (2017a, b) believed that integration of education-job match is still the major focus attracting the industry attention. This survey reported that the threshold working experience for crucial positions is mainly two years. Evidently, new graduates hardly fulfill the requirements of critical job due to lack of practical experience. Consequently, enterprises have to employ foreign worker and oversea high-level talents. Wei et al. (2017) reported that operation and management demands were different for enterprises located in export processing zones and industrial areas. The enterprises in the export processing zones (KIP) focus on recruiting talent, while employees training is the major concerned in the industrial areas. In respect of the assistance from government resource, all enterprises expressed an urgent demand for sourcing and introducing new technology. Enterprises recognized that the government assistances are techniques upgrading and practical training programs. However, most enterprises have not established intensive collaboration with the neighboring universities and research institutes. This would result in little resource for technique upgrading and talent recruitment. The USA, Germany and Japan are the leading countries across the world in respect of the vehicle manufacturing technology and have become the major markets for AE products. Market demands in these developed countries would speed up the global promotion of AE manufacturing. Supported by Taiwan Government, enterprises of information and communication technology (ICT) energetically stepped into the global AE industry ecosphere. Based on a consolidated foundation in ICT, enterprises are able to develop the AE ecosystem; however, enterprises are falling behind in the development of AE industry cluster in Taiwan. The AE products require reliability in the harsh environment which is different from regular ICT products. Due to licensing by original international factory, it is suggested that stand-alone electronics, driver information, infotainment, security and safety systems would be the pitching-in level, followed by engine power train and chassis suspension. The 2020 Taiwan Industry Development Strategy defines that vehicle industry will be developing in the direction of intelligent EV, electric scooter, autonomous, etc. The ICT industry is encouraging and evolving toward the direction of intelligent AE system applications (Liao et al., 2013). Research method Systematic studies including site visit and interview, expert weight method and talent cultivation model are demonstrated in Figure 1. Site visit and interview enterprises in KIP The purposes of site visit and interview with enterprises are identify enterprise preferential demands, collaborate with university in new techniques development, apply for government resources. The interviewees are mainly operation and management supervisors, such as Assistance in applying for 21.40% government resources 26.20% Staff training 14.30% Process improvement Technology upgrading 16.70% Figure 1. University capability Products development 21.40% and expertise 0.00% 5.00% 10.00% 15.00% 20.00% 25.00% 30.00% senior managers, engineering technique directors and R&D directors. On account of the JIUC differences in capital scale, number of employees, business classification and aggregated 1,3 distribution, the in-depth interview focused on the existing and potential problems for future development. A comprehensive analysis for 42 electrical and electronics enterprises in KIP was conducted to classify the overall problems (innovation, management, recruiting, manufacturing, marketing, environment protection, industrial safety). The interview quantitative indexes are obtained from the study of the operation and management. Most enterprises are comparatively cautious in protecting their techniques and intelligence properties. Questionnaire leaving blank or incompletely response to the question would impact the reliability and the validity of analysis. In this study, enterprises information are confidential and only effective questionnaires are analyzed. Expert weight method Bao et al. (2018) proposed the experts weighting method, in which representative, authoritative, earnest and responsible experts who were familiar with the scoring criteria conducted evaluations and provided appropriate scores within the specified range. In this method, a score is assigned to represent the importance of a variable according to the evaluation by experts on the basis of their professional knowledge, then, the importance of each variable i is divided by the importance of another variable j to obtain the degree of override of variable i over variable j. Suppose that the total number of variables is s, then, the number of ratios would also be s,and thus the mean importance of variable i could be estimated. Override is defined as follows: the ratio of the importance values of variables i to j is called the override of variable i over variable j. According to this definition, if the override of variable i over variable j is higher than 1, then the importance of variable i is higher than that of variable j; conversely, if the override of variable i over variable j is less than 1, then the importance of variable i is lower than that of variable j. The implementation steps are described as follows: (1) Taking variable 1 as the benchmark, n experts are invited to score the importance of s variables, and the importance relationship matrix β is established: 2 3 1 b ... ... ... b 12 1s 6 7 1 b ... ... ... b 6 7 22 2s 6 7 6 7 6 7 b ¼ : (1) 6 7 6 7 6 7 6 7 4 5 1 b ... ... ... b n2 n2 (2) According to the professional knowledge of each expert, the first variable is given a “100” as the perfect score to make a matrix X: 2 3 6 7 6 x 7 6 7 6 7 6 7 X ¼ 6 7: (2) 6 ^ 7 6 7 6 7 4 5 n (3) Multiply the matrix β by a matrix to make a matrix for the scores of the variables T: AE industry clustering 2 3 A A ... ... ... A 1 2 s 6 7 6 B B ... ... ... B 7 1 2 s 6 7 6 7 6 7 T ¼ bUX ¼ : (3) 6 7 6 ^ 7 6 7 6 7 4 5 S S ... ... ... S 1 2 s (4) Matrix T the first row of elements, divided by the columns after the other rows to construct the matrix T. (5) This s matrix T after the n columns of elements are added, they are arranged in a matrix T*. (6) Do this T* matrix transposed into a matrix T . (7) Will T*/T get the matrix TT, matrix TT can understand the relationship between the variables. Each variable r overrides variable j to some degree (t ), though it also possesses a degree of rj being overridden by variable j (t ), thus (t /t , t /t , …, t /t ), i¼ 1, …, s. The elements in jr i1 1i i2 2i is si this vector could be expressed as variable i divided by the degree to which variable i overrides variable j. The sum of the elements in each i column is calculated, with a greater value indicating a higher importance for the variable ith in relation to the other variables. Innovative talents cultivation model As mentioned before, the integration of education-job match is the major concern and two-year practical experience for crucial positions is required in the industry (IDB, 2017a, b). Apparently, the new graduates are difficult to apply the main jobs to the industry owing to lack of practical experience. Insufficient skilled R&D and techniques in Taiwan is the Achilles’ heel for industry to conduct technology upgrading and transformation. This indicates that the higher level research talents cultivated by universities are not ready to work in the industry and new developed technologies are not able to successfully introduced into the industry. In respect of technology, new products development and manufacturing process are still the main issues for techniques breakthrough which can be outsourcing from universities and research institutes. Preliminary results are demonstrated that the following Enterprises’ demands. Site visiting and interviewing allow enterprises identify the critical problems encountered in the operation and management. Enterprises’ demands from universities, research institutes and the government were also explored in this research. Universities–enterprises–research institutes collaboration. (1) Independent study: based on the enterprise’s proposal, teachers and students conduct the independent project. Some of manufacturing-oriented projects require enterprise–university–research institute joint cooperation. Through the presentation of study results, suitable trained students may be picked up by the employers. (2) Internship in enterprise: enterprises provide practice site for student internship and apprenticeship, students gain the working experience and enterprises resolve the labor shortage (both short term and long term). (3) Factory tour: in-depth visiting for students to experience the workplace and job JIUC searching. 1,3 (4) Expert lecture: industry experts and foreign scholars are invited to the campus to deliver speech related to the trends of AE technology. (5) Industry–academy forum/seminar: specific topic of technology development, business trend, government policy and talent in AE industry are presented. (6) Problems-solving competition: Taiwan Vehicle Electronics Consortium (TVEC) is invited to co-host the competition. Enterprises from KIP assigned the topics and scored the results, students solved the problem with creativity and implementation. A nationwide “Vehicle Electronics Creativity Competition” has been held for the past six years. Some of talent students receive many offers from the flagship enterprises. Staff on-the-job training. Employee on-the-job training and advanced technique training programs collaborated with university–research institute are developed in KIP. A tailor-made master program called “Industry Technology Graduate Program in Automotive Electronics” is also organized to enhance the employees’ knowledge and skills in AE domain. Case study. This section consists of four parts. Part 1 presents the site visit and interview results with 125 enterprises and special focus on 42 AE associated enterprises in KIP. Enterprise preferential demands, university capability and expertise and government resources are carefully investigated. Part 2 discusses the demands change of the five interviewed enterprises from 2016 to 2018. Part 3 marks the major critical problems encountered in the operation by focusing on the 21 industrial experts. Part 4 defines the establishment of an innovative talent cultivation model: (1) Site visit and interview AE associated enterprises in KIP: Enterprises’ preferential demands. Table I lists enterprises’ preferential demands in five classifications: in R&D innovation, 28.4 percent focus on development of new products; in management and talents, 45.8 percent on recruitment of talents; in manufacturing, 43.5 percent on yield rate control and improvement; in marketing channel, 30.9 percent on marketing strategy; in environmental protection or industrial safety, 40.6 percent on energy saving and carbon reduction. Classification Item Times Percentage R&D innovation Application of new materials 19 25.7 Development of new products 21 28.4 Design of new process 17 23.0 Management and talents Recruitment of talents 27 45.8 Patents 8 13.6 Staff on-the-job training 16 27.1 Manufacturing Automation of manufacturing facilities 24 38.7 Yield rate control and improvement 27 43.5 Testing and simulation analysis 9 14.5 Marketing channel Establish brand image 12 21.8 Channel expansion 13 23.6 Marketing strategy 17 30.9 Environmental protection or industrial safety Energy saving and carbon reduction 26 40.6 Table I. Green production 19 29.7 Enterprises’ preferential demands Safety environment implementation 13 20.3 � University capability and expertise. AE industry Figure 2 illustrates university capability and expertise for staff training clustering (26.20 percent), products development (21.4 percent) and assistance in applying for government resources (21.4 percent). Government resources. Figure 3 shows government resources for technique support (30.9 percent), tax credit of investment accounts (18.2 percent), establishment of products 125 standard (10.9 percent) and increase foreign worker quota (10.9 percent). (2) Demands of five interviewed enterprises from 2016 to 2018. Five enterprises have agreed to take interviews from 2016 to 2018. A renowned IC packaging and testing flagship enterprise, T-Company specializes in the packaging of integrated circuit boards and the relevant testing service. T-Company has received TS 16949 certification and the products have been applied to various applications, such as mobile communication, touch control IC, USB 3.0, cameras and cell phone memory cards, medical supplies and vehicle-used sensors, etc. Figure 4 presents the demands of the T-Company: new process design in R&D and innovation, talent’s recruitment in management and talent, yield rate control Increase foreign worker quota 10.90% Establishment of products standard 10.90% Technique support 30.90% Tax credit of investment accounts Figure 2. 18.20% Government resources 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 Site visit Stage 1: Site visit and interview enterprises in KIP enterprises Stage 2: Experts including senior manager, engineering director, Expert weight R&D director method Integration of university–enterprises–research institute Regional model: (1) Independent project (2) Internship in enterprises (3) Factory Talent cultivation tour (4) Industry–University forum model National model: (1) Independent project (2) Internship in enterprises (3) Factory Figure 3. tour (4) Experts lecture (5) Industry–University seminar (6) Systematic studies Problems solving competition in this paper T Company JIUC 1 1 1 1 1 1 11 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 11 1 1 1,3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f ) (g) (h) (i) (j) (k) (l) (m) AB C DE 2016 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 2017 0 0 1 1 00 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 2016 2017 2018 Notes: A. R&D innovation: (a) application of new materials; (b) development of new products; (c) design of new process. B. Management and talents: (d) recruitment of talents; (e) staff on-the- job training. C. Manufacturing: (f ) automation of manufacturing facilities; (g) yield rate control and improvement; (h) testing and simulation analysis. D. Marketing channel: (i) marketing Figure 4. strategy; (J) logistics management. E. Environmental protection or industrial safety: (k) energy T Company saving and carbon reduction; (l) pollution prevention; (m) safety environment implementation and improvement in manufacturing, safety environment implementation in environmental protection or industrial safety. Job vacancies in the manufacturing industry are primarily involved in skilled worker, machines operators and assembling workers. Higher lever jobs, such as professionals, technicians and professional assistants, are the second choice. Among the manufacturing industries, computer-based electronic optical products and electronics parts have a greater demand for professionals (Ministry of Labor, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Economic Affairs, 2018). Based on the investigation results of the employment of the young labors aged from 15 to 29, the main difficulty in recruiting new employees lies in the lack of working experiences of the job seekers (Ministry of Labor, 2018). (3) Main problems arising from the operation and management. In order to screen out the main problems existing in the electrical and electronic industry 21 experts, such as senior manager, engineering director and R&D director have been in-depth interviewed to point out the critical issues in the operations. Despite a small amount of the questionnaires was distributed, all the experts have extensive experience in the industry. In total, 21 experts have scored the integrated comments on the main problems and listed in Table II. An importance ranking regarding the demands of enterprise was conducted through expert weight method and a relation matrix was computed. Based on the implementation steps described in expert weight method, first, the importance ranking matrix T was determined in Table III. Table IV presents the transposed matrix of T matrix in Table III. From Tables III and IV, an importance ranking of expert-given matrix was obtained through expert weight method, as shown in Table V. In Table V, a ranking was derived from the expert’simportancematrixofthe main problems encountered in the operation according to the magnitude of the summation of each line. It indicated that “Difficulties in recruiting new staff” is the top priority, “High operation cost” is the second problem needed to be solved and “Development of new products” ranks the 3rd, while “Lack of R&D and technical talents” and “Market AE industry Difficulties in recruiting High Lack of R&D New product Market deployment and clustering new staff operation cost talents development competition 184 78 70 62 82 280 70 60 60 68 391 81 72 72 66 480 80 80 80 72 583 83 83 83 70 673 77 77 77 61 788 78 78 78 74 886 82 74 74 66 984 84 84 80 78 10 87 87 74 74 82 11 70 80 79 70 80 12 75 78 78 78 90 13 82 75 68 68 91 14 74 70 78 78 85 15 78 78 71 68 83 16 84 74 78 84 74 17 89 84 84 87 79 18 74 74 89 80 78 Table II. 19 71 70 80 78 68 Integrated comments 20 88 60 75 91 68 on the main problems 21 86 72 70 85 78 from 21 Experts 21 22.32534 22.56944 22.5164 22.77433 Table III. 19.96148 21 21.28511 21.34911 21.50238 Importance 19.85697 20.93703 21 21.03166 21.35038 relationship matrix T 19.85866 21.07748 21.09605 21 21.45475 using expert 19.73537 20.826 21.03435 21.07784 21 weighting method 21 19.96148 19.85697 19.85866 19.73537 22.32534 21 20.93703 21.07748 20.826 22.56944 21.28511 21 21.09605 21.03435 22.5164 21.34911 21.03166 21 21.07784 Table IV. Transposed matrix T 22.77433 21.50238 21.35038 21.45475 21 1 1.118421 1.1366 1.133832 1.153985 5.542839 0.221 1 Difficulties in recruiting new staff 0.894117 1 1.016625 1.012887 1.032478 4.956108 0.198 2 High operation cost Table V. 0.879817 0.983646 1 0.996948 1.015024 4.875435 0.194 4 Lack of R&D and technical talents Importance matrix 0.881965 0.987277 1.003062 1 1.017882 4.890185 0.195 3 Development of new products and ranking using 0.866562 0.968544 0.985198 0.982433 1 4.802736 0.192 5 Market deployment and competition expert weighting 25.0673 method deployment and competition” rank the 4th and the 5th, respectively. Obviously, lack of manpower and talents are the urgent crisis for enterprises to develop the AE cluster in KIP. However, 21 experts expressed that newly graduated students without any working experience would not be the priority. Headhunting or poaching experienced talents may be another option, and this would result is a deplorable shortage of JIUC manpower in such fields. Betray confidential information and criminal prosecution for 1,3 job-hopper, even worse for employer, were occasionally reported in hi-tech industry. (4) Innovative model for talent cultivation. Since recruiting newly graduates without two-year working experience is not the option and headhunting experienced talents would result in opposite effects, enterprises are keen to establish talent cultivation program with academia (university and vocational school) (Yen et al., 2018). From Table V, in addition to difficulties in recruiting new staff, the main problems existing in electronics and electrical industry are high operation cost and development of new products, lack of R&D and technical talents and market deployment and competition. By focusing on AE industry, the innovative talents cultivation model proposed in this study is including the above categories to improve the collaboration between the industry and university. In accordance with the topic assigned by AE industry, students and professor carried out the independent project and investigated the process technique or new products. The final results would be presented in Industry–University forum/seminar. Moreover, one-year internship in enterprises for vocational school straitened students would activate an increase in manpower in enterprise. Experts deliver lectures in the class would gain the mutual acquaintanceship. The committee in TVEC has urged that the “Problems Solving National Competition” in AE will gather the targeted students and professors at all universities in Taiwan. Experts from AE industry distribute the problems and review the final results. With these developed roadmaps, students gain more problem-solving skills and working experience in a specific domain and enterprises may pick up those graduates who fulfilled the requirements. In the meanwhile, on-the-job staff may strengthen the AE techniques by taking practical courses, technology forum and workshop. Even more, special class of “Industry Technology Graduate Program in Automotive Electronics” will enable the enrolled employees to study and earn both knowledge and technology. The developed systematic talent cultivation model is illustrated in Figure 5. However, research institute might be collaborated with the university for talent cultivation. The plan name with explanation in Figure 5 are listed as follows: (1) Independent project: development of new products, process, techniques in AE industry. (1) Independent project (2) Internship in enterprise (3) Factory tour (4) Seminar Regional New employees Universities Collaboration (1) Independent project (2) Internship in enterprise (3) Factory tour (4) Expert Nationwide lecture (5) Universities–industry New employees Universities Collaboration forum/workshop (6) Problems solving competition (1) Development of new products Enterprises (2) Process technology Figure 5. (1) Practical course Schematic illustration On-the-job staff Enterprises (2) University–industry forum/workshop (3) Special industrial graduate program of systematic talents (4) R&D project from government cultivation model Automobile electronics industry (2) Seminar: discussion on technology trends in AE industry. AE industry clustering (3) Factory tour: in-depth visiting enterprises’ workplace. (4) Internship in enterprise: enterprises provide one-year practical training for vocational school students. (5) Expert lecture: invite experts/scholars in AE (both domestic and abroad) to deliver keynote speech. (6) Technology forum: discussion on AE market and products supply chain. (7) Problems-solving competition: conduct a creative and innovative problems-solving nationwide competition of smart AE products. (8) Practical course: AI technology in AE applications (big data, deep learning, machine vision and V2X). (9) Workshop: discussion on AE techniques from industry–academy–research institute. Conclusion and suggestions Conclusion In this paper, 42 enterprises from KIP expect to solve their preferential problems: development of new products, recruiting new staff, yield rate control and improvement, marketing strategy, energy saving and carbon reduction. Enterprise would like to collaborate with universities for assistance and expertise in staff training, products development and government R&D projects. For government resources, technique support is the most urgent demand, furthermore, tax credit of investment accounts, establishment of products standard and increase foreign worker quota are also enterprises’ demands. This research focused on the electronics and electrical enterprises seeking to develop AE industry cluster in KIP. The main problems encountered in operation and management have been carefully investigated by using expert weight method. It is found that difficulties in recruitment is the major concern, followed by high operation cost, development of new products, lack of R&D talents, and lastly by marketing deployment and competition. It should be noted that networking and long-term collaboration are the key factors for facilitation of an industry cluster. It is also found that little interaction between enterprise and academia-research institute would result in less new techniques development. External resources from academia, research institute and vocational training institute could be introduced to resolve problems and a denotative referential proposal has been reported to the KIP Administration Office. Technology developed in AE industry mainly relies on skilled R&D and experienced talent. In this paper, the interviewed enterprises involving in the upstream and downstream sectors of intelligent AE are components of vehicle-used panel, IC, sensors (tire pressure, temperature and humidity), motor control, power module, etc. In connection with enterprise–university–research institute–government resources, this research proposes a systematic talent cultivation model to improve yield rate, process quality and new products development. Technique upgrading and transformation for AE enterprises and supply chain would be gradually formed a cluster in KIP. Suggestions For the past decade, advancing in technology progress results in enlarging gap between universities and industry. The unemployment problem on youth, especially for new graduates is the highlight in Taiwan. These peculiar situations have been attracted many researchers’ attention. An integration of the enterprise–university–research institute–government resources has been proposed to deal with the problems. However, the proposed methods still JIUC depend on industry demands. As R&D talents cultivation is the key element to AE industry, 1,3 the government is expected to assist in techniques upgrading, talents recruitment and learning-applying match. Based on the innovative talent cultivation model developed in this paper, it is suggested that future researches should pay more attention to talents shortage in AE industry. References Automotive Research and Testing Center (2016), “Analysis and prospect of the current situation of the Asian automobile market”, Vehicle Industry Monthly, Vol. 272, October, pp. 38-39. Bao, C.P., Wei, N.C., Lin, T.J., Lai, H.C. and Yang, A.L. (2018), “Theoretical proof and application of experts weighting method”, International Journal of Organizational Innovation, Vol. 10 No. 4, pp. 44-53. Chen, C.M. (2018), “Structure-conduct-performance research: a case study of Taiwan automotive parts and vehicle electronics manufacturers”, unpublished master’s thesis, College of Management, National University of Tainan, Tainan. Frost and Sullivan (2012), “Analysis of the European and North American passenger car market for camera-based advanced driver assistance system”, available at: https://store.frost.com/analysis- of-the-european-and-north-american-passenger-car-market-for-camera-based-advanced-driver- assistance-systems.html (accessed July 17, 2017). Hsiao, J. (2017), “Taiwan’s auto parts and components industry overview”, available at: http://ieknet. iek.org.tw/iekppt/ppt_more.aspx?actiontype=ppt&indu_idno=8&domain=54&sld_preid=5106 (accessed November 29, 2018). IDB (2017a), “Industrial upgrading and transformation action plan”, Industrial Development Bureau, Ministry of Economic Affairs, available at: http://archives.ey.gov.tw/Upload/WebArchive/0 1ey/20160110/www.ey.gov.tw/News_Content1351.html (accessed July 17, 2017). IDB (2017b), “2017-2019 Key industry professional needs estimation survey”, Industrial Development Bureau, Ministry of Economic Affairs, available at: www.italent.org.tw/Content/01/57 (accessed July 17, 2017). IDB (2018), “Summary of vehicle industry results from 104-106. Industry Manpower Supply and Demand Information (Vehicle Industry)”, Industrial Development Bureau, Ministry of Economic Affairs, available at: https://theme.ndc.gov.tw/manpower/cp.aspx?n=F437CF6972FEE529 (accessed November 29, 2018). J.D. Power and Associates Reports (2018), available at: http://autos.jdpower.com (accessed November 29, 2018). Liao, X.L., Yang, J.H. and Huang, L.Z. (2013), Current Status and Future Development of the Vehicle Electronics Industry, ARTC, Taipei. Ministry of Labor (2018), “Statistics on the employment status of young workers aged 15-29”, available at: www.mol.gov.tw/announcement/2099/31602 (accessed November 29, 2018). Ministry of Labor, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Economic Affairs (2018), “Industry shortage status and strategy”, available at: www.slideshare.net/OpenMic1/20171110-81828295 (accessed November 29, 2018). National Development Council (2018), “Current situation and countermeasures of talent shortage in industry”, available at: www.ndc.gov.tw/Content_List.aspx?n=4790CE73BEE1877A (accessed November 29, 2018). Shi, Y.X. (2006), “Automotive electronics industry Chain report”, Institute for Information Industry (III), Taipei. Taiwan External Trade Development Council, TAITRA (2018), “Business – American automotive electronics and market”, available at: https://newyork.taiwantrade.com/news/detail.jsp?id=2 1954&lang=zh_TW (accessed November 29, 2018). Wei, N.C., Hsu, H.C., Chao, I.M. and Yang, A.L. (2017), “A study on the transformation and upgrading AE industry for industries in the industrial parks”, paper presented at China Industrial Engineering Society clustering 2017 Annual Conference and Symposium, Kaohsiung December 16. Wu, H.C. (2017), “Innovation and competition strategy of Taiwan’s automotive electronics industry: a case study of a technology corporation”, Executive Master of Business Administration, Taichung. Yen, J.N., Chen, H.H., Chen, L.H., Hsu, H.C. and Lee, Y.C. (2018), “Intelligent manufacturing impact of vocational high school education through industrial-academic cooperation plan”, International Journal of Electrical Engineering Education, Vol. 7, pp. 1-15. Zhao, Z.Y. and Shi, Y.X. (2010), Under the Development Trend of Smart Vehicles, Market Opportunities for Automotive Semiconductors and Potential Components, 1st ed., Ministry of Economic Affairs, Taipei. Corresponding author Ai-Ling Yang can be contacted at: a8241120@gmail.com For instructions on how to order reprints of this article, please visit our website: www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/licensing/reprints.htm Or contact us for further details: permissions@emeraldinsight.com http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of Industry-University Collaboration Emerald Publishing

Systematic study on key factors influencing establish automobile electronics industry clustering

Loading next page...
 
/lp/emerald-publishing/systematic-study-on-key-factors-influencing-establish-automobile-aXKDOVdYoN

References (16)

Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
© Nai-Chieh Wei, Hsiang-Chen Hsu, I-Ming Chao and Ai-Ling Yang
ISSN
2631-357X
DOI
10.1108/jiuc-04-2019-0009
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze the trends of global automobile industry toward energy saving and smart application. The automobile industry has its own special supply, safety and reliability system. It combined with the legislations that progressive safety driving leads to increase automobile electronic (AE) facilities and enlarges the proportion of the electronic control for vehicles. Based on matured communication and semiconductor industries in Taiwan, the government assists these hi-tech industries in entering the AE domain by clustering relevant enterprises with assembly supply chains. Flagship IC packaging and LCD panels enterprises are located in the Kaohsiung Industrial Park which possesses advantages for the clustering of AE industry. Design/methodology/approach – In this paper, a systematic investigation on establishing AE industry cluster in Kaohsiung Industry Park (KIP) is presented. First, 42 electrical and electronics enterprises are site visited and interviewed for operation and management preferential demands. Second, problems encountered in enterprises’ operation are identified through expert weight method. Third, the main factors involved in the operational management are then analyzed based on five flagship enterprises in KIP. The integration of industrial–university–government resources and assistance is demonstrated. Finally, the establishment of an innovative talents cultivation model is illustrated. Findings – The developed systematic talent program is proposed to resolve the urgent demands in recruiting talents, operational costs and new products development. Originality/value – This paper satisfies needs of research enterprise management. The establishment of an innovative talents cultivation model is illustrated. Keywords Automobile electronics, Experts weighting method, Industry cluster, Systematic talent programme, Kaohsiung Industry Park Paper type Research paper Introduction In the past, Taiwan’s manufacturing industry focused on the improvement of production efficiency and relied on import for the key product and critical technology which result in lack of brand strength, limited market coverage and low added value. For the past decade, the foundation for economic growth can be solidified through the upgrading of traditional industry and the enhancement of manufacturing service competence. Nowadays, Taiwan has been optimizing the industrial structure by cultivating emerging technologies and forming the new comparative advantages of the industries by developing soft power (IDB, 2017a, b). Taiwan Government vigorously assists enterprises to transform/upgrade new techniques by providing academia and research institute mentors for the traditional © Nai-Chieh Wei, Hsiang-Chen Hsu, I-Ming Chao and Ai-Ling Yang. Published in Journal of Industry-University Collaboration. Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published Journal of Industry-University Collaboration under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial & non-commercial purposes), pp. 118-131 Emerald Publishing Limited subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be 2631-357X DOI 10.1108/JIUC-04-2019-0009 seen at: http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode manufacturing industry. More value added and high-end products have been marketing due AE industry to intelligent manufacturing. clustering Automobiles are evolving along an axis of lightweight, cleanness, electrification and intelligence. In general, automobile electronics (AE) are categorized into two groups: electric control integrated with mechanical components, such as engine control, stand-alone electronics, such as GPS. AE consists of car body and panel, engine and power train, power electronics, chassis and suspension, security and safety and infotainment. As the progress of electronic control technology, mechanical control in vehicles has been gradually replaced by semiconductor components. AE devices provide various features, for instance, carputer, electronic control unit, blind spot detection (BSD), collision avoidance system, internet of vehicle and telematics, etc. Vehicle-used chipsets market is undergoing a large scale of global growth with the driving information and safety driving (Hsiao, 2017). Drivers are much more concerning with the safety of the vehicle than its performance, entertainment and energy saving. Meanwhile, the legislation on the safety compliance advances the development of safety technology. The USA, EU and Japan already carried out mandatory requirements on anti-lock braking system (ABS), electronic stability control and tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS). In EU, a prescriptive requirement on autonomous emergency braking system for anti-rear-end collision is under legislated (Wu, 2017). Therefore, there is a definite demand for the enhancement on autonomous cars or self-driving cars technology. Although Taiwan’s semiconductor industry possesses some advantages in respect of microcontroller system, power electronics module and sensor technology, its mastery of AE manufacturing and testing standards is still behind the world-renowned corporations, such as Infineon, Micron, ON semiconductor, STMicroelectronics, etc. Taiwan AE industry is looking forward to upgrading techniques specialized in vehicle to everything (V2X), durability against harsh environment and AEC qualification (Zhao and Shi, 2010). The advantage of Taiwan’s industry consists in the supply of semiconductor components, in particular, of security and infotainment. Taiwan’s industry is characterized by its capacity for design and manufacture of vehicle parts, and the quality of system integration of full-car has been well recognized in the international market. Taiwan’s AE industry has been developing rapidly and the export volume of integrated system is increasing yearly (Automotive Research and Testing Center, 2016). Most Taiwan factories earn the advantage of flexible manufacturing in small volume-large variety production. Owing to the limited domestic market scale, most AE products are manufactured and exported to the target wholesale markets in the USA and EU (Chen, 2018). At the moment, 42 enterprises involving in electronics industry (including IC, electronics components, mechanical and electrical parts, information and audio-visual products, household appliances and other trades) in Kaohsiung Industry Park (KIP). Flagship IC packaging and LCD panels industries are located in KIP, which possesses advantage for the clustering of AE industry in Taiwan. Some of enterprises have been received the automobile quality certification of ISO/TS 16949 and AEC-Q104, respectively. This would imply that the manufacturing quality and packaging/testing for fabrication of AE products are steadily pushing forward in the park. Therefore, this study focuses on site visiting and interviewing, identifying enterprises’ demands and establishing an innovative talent cultivation model. Systematic study is divided into four stages. Stage 1 deals with interviews with the enterprises, and gathering and sorting out of their demands. Stage 2 describes the expert interviews the understanding of the main problems arising from the operation and management of the enterprises within the scope of electronics and electrical domain. Stage 3 emphasizes the importance ranking of all demands using expert weight method. Stage 4 establishes the innovative talent cultivation model. This paper is organized as follows: the first section presents Introduction, followed by Literature review, Research methods and Cases study, and the last section deals with Conclusion and suggestions. Literature review JIUC Zhao and Shi (2010) reported that three main respects and future developments in autonomous 1,3 cars define the major AE sub-systems including telematics, electric vehicle control and motor control system and safety assistant driving system. Among which, the critical semiconductors contain vehicle-used micro-controller unit, power device and image sensors. Denso, the largest electronic system supplier in Japan, specializes in sales of car-mounted satellite navigation system, such as NAVIRA and NAVISTANT, a PDA socket-type apparatus combining both software and hardware. Besides, Denso is also developing new AE products, such as antenna controller and electronic toll collection. This is a typical instance demonstrating the AE manufacturer leading Japan Government project intelligent transport systems with AE products (Shi, 2006). Frost and Sullivan (2012) carried out an investigation on the advanced video driving assisting system available in North America and Europe. After assessing the rear-view camera, driver monitoring, BSD, surround view and infrared night-vision system, they pointed out that the demands for AE products in North America and Europe in 2018 would be video and image systems, which has been confirmed. In 2020, autonomous cars can be achieved by integrating GPS, V2X, light detection and ranging (LIDAR) and BSD systems. According to a survey on vehicle new technology, the main consumption demand is the integration of vehicle-used electronics, navigation system, safety and advanced sound system ( J.D. Power and Associates Reports, 2018). As the relevant legislations on vehicle safety are becoming more rigorous, the USA, EU and Japan are the three most active countries in this respect. Technologies applied in ABS, TPMS and dashboard camera are well developed and mandatorily listed in the automobiles. More often than not, the traffic legislations in the USA and EU play the roles of benchmark around the world. Once these regulations are implemented, it is estimated that there would be more countries passing mandatory legislations on vehicle safety. This woulddrive thedemandfor theentirevehicle safety driving system in the global market (Liao et al., 2013). Taiwan External Trade Development Council, TAITRA (2018) and Society of Automotive Engineers pointed out that the market of AE in the USA will have a huge demand for the talents referred to this field. According to a survey on talent supply in IC design, panel interface, communication, cloud computing and big data enterprises, difficulty encountered in talents recruitment is industry innovation (National Development Council, 2018). For instance, entry-level engineers in software design, electronics engineering and system analysis require college graduate with two to five years working experience. Ministry of Labor (2018) pointed out in the Survey on Existing Condition of the Labor Shortage and Countermeasures that manufacturing industry exists a huge demand for the professionals in the domain of electronics, optical products and electronic components. The survey also revealed that enterprises have encountered difficulties in recruiting new staff, which are caused by “the applicant’s skills fail to meet the job requirements” and “the scope of business and the working environment have no attraction to the applicants.” The difficulty confronted by the employers is that the applicant’sskills failtomeet thejob requirements. For youths age from 15 to 29, unmatched expertise or skills results in plight of job seeking. The analysis indicated that there exists a gap between the supply of higher education and the demand of industry, i.e. learning-applying mismatch. As the global automobile industry is advancing toward electrification, electronization and intelligentization, the demand for the development of critical techniques in AE and electric vehicle becomes more urgent. Of which, interdisciplinary talents in the domain of batteries, power control modules and integration of the charging facilities are active demand. Besides, skilled research engineers and international marketing professionals are hard to recruit. Moreover, recruiting oversea talents is an alternative solution for these AE industry serious manpower shortage enterprises (IDB, 2018). clustering National Development Council (2018) pointed out that both human resources and financial in Taiwan’s industry are insufficient to further development. IDB (2017a, b) believed that integration of education-job match is still the major focus attracting the industry attention. This survey reported that the threshold working experience for crucial positions is mainly two years. Evidently, new graduates hardly fulfill the requirements of critical job due to lack of practical experience. Consequently, enterprises have to employ foreign worker and oversea high-level talents. Wei et al. (2017) reported that operation and management demands were different for enterprises located in export processing zones and industrial areas. The enterprises in the export processing zones (KIP) focus on recruiting talent, while employees training is the major concerned in the industrial areas. In respect of the assistance from government resource, all enterprises expressed an urgent demand for sourcing and introducing new technology. Enterprises recognized that the government assistances are techniques upgrading and practical training programs. However, most enterprises have not established intensive collaboration with the neighboring universities and research institutes. This would result in little resource for technique upgrading and talent recruitment. The USA, Germany and Japan are the leading countries across the world in respect of the vehicle manufacturing technology and have become the major markets for AE products. Market demands in these developed countries would speed up the global promotion of AE manufacturing. Supported by Taiwan Government, enterprises of information and communication technology (ICT) energetically stepped into the global AE industry ecosphere. Based on a consolidated foundation in ICT, enterprises are able to develop the AE ecosystem; however, enterprises are falling behind in the development of AE industry cluster in Taiwan. The AE products require reliability in the harsh environment which is different from regular ICT products. Due to licensing by original international factory, it is suggested that stand-alone electronics, driver information, infotainment, security and safety systems would be the pitching-in level, followed by engine power train and chassis suspension. The 2020 Taiwan Industry Development Strategy defines that vehicle industry will be developing in the direction of intelligent EV, electric scooter, autonomous, etc. The ICT industry is encouraging and evolving toward the direction of intelligent AE system applications (Liao et al., 2013). Research method Systematic studies including site visit and interview, expert weight method and talent cultivation model are demonstrated in Figure 1. Site visit and interview enterprises in KIP The purposes of site visit and interview with enterprises are identify enterprise preferential demands, collaborate with university in new techniques development, apply for government resources. The interviewees are mainly operation and management supervisors, such as Assistance in applying for 21.40% government resources 26.20% Staff training 14.30% Process improvement Technology upgrading 16.70% Figure 1. University capability Products development 21.40% and expertise 0.00% 5.00% 10.00% 15.00% 20.00% 25.00% 30.00% senior managers, engineering technique directors and R&D directors. On account of the JIUC differences in capital scale, number of employees, business classification and aggregated 1,3 distribution, the in-depth interview focused on the existing and potential problems for future development. A comprehensive analysis for 42 electrical and electronics enterprises in KIP was conducted to classify the overall problems (innovation, management, recruiting, manufacturing, marketing, environment protection, industrial safety). The interview quantitative indexes are obtained from the study of the operation and management. Most enterprises are comparatively cautious in protecting their techniques and intelligence properties. Questionnaire leaving blank or incompletely response to the question would impact the reliability and the validity of analysis. In this study, enterprises information are confidential and only effective questionnaires are analyzed. Expert weight method Bao et al. (2018) proposed the experts weighting method, in which representative, authoritative, earnest and responsible experts who were familiar with the scoring criteria conducted evaluations and provided appropriate scores within the specified range. In this method, a score is assigned to represent the importance of a variable according to the evaluation by experts on the basis of their professional knowledge, then, the importance of each variable i is divided by the importance of another variable j to obtain the degree of override of variable i over variable j. Suppose that the total number of variables is s, then, the number of ratios would also be s,and thus the mean importance of variable i could be estimated. Override is defined as follows: the ratio of the importance values of variables i to j is called the override of variable i over variable j. According to this definition, if the override of variable i over variable j is higher than 1, then the importance of variable i is higher than that of variable j; conversely, if the override of variable i over variable j is less than 1, then the importance of variable i is lower than that of variable j. The implementation steps are described as follows: (1) Taking variable 1 as the benchmark, n experts are invited to score the importance of s variables, and the importance relationship matrix β is established: 2 3 1 b ... ... ... b 12 1s 6 7 1 b ... ... ... b 6 7 22 2s 6 7 6 7 6 7 b ¼ : (1) 6 7 6 7 6 7 6 7 4 5 1 b ... ... ... b n2 n2 (2) According to the professional knowledge of each expert, the first variable is given a “100” as the perfect score to make a matrix X: 2 3 6 7 6 x 7 6 7 6 7 6 7 X ¼ 6 7: (2) 6 ^ 7 6 7 6 7 4 5 n (3) Multiply the matrix β by a matrix to make a matrix for the scores of the variables T: AE industry clustering 2 3 A A ... ... ... A 1 2 s 6 7 6 B B ... ... ... B 7 1 2 s 6 7 6 7 6 7 T ¼ bUX ¼ : (3) 6 7 6 ^ 7 6 7 6 7 4 5 S S ... ... ... S 1 2 s (4) Matrix T the first row of elements, divided by the columns after the other rows to construct the matrix T. (5) This s matrix T after the n columns of elements are added, they are arranged in a matrix T*. (6) Do this T* matrix transposed into a matrix T . (7) Will T*/T get the matrix TT, matrix TT can understand the relationship between the variables. Each variable r overrides variable j to some degree (t ), though it also possesses a degree of rj being overridden by variable j (t ), thus (t /t , t /t , …, t /t ), i¼ 1, …, s. The elements in jr i1 1i i2 2i is si this vector could be expressed as variable i divided by the degree to which variable i overrides variable j. The sum of the elements in each i column is calculated, with a greater value indicating a higher importance for the variable ith in relation to the other variables. Innovative talents cultivation model As mentioned before, the integration of education-job match is the major concern and two-year practical experience for crucial positions is required in the industry (IDB, 2017a, b). Apparently, the new graduates are difficult to apply the main jobs to the industry owing to lack of practical experience. Insufficient skilled R&D and techniques in Taiwan is the Achilles’ heel for industry to conduct technology upgrading and transformation. This indicates that the higher level research talents cultivated by universities are not ready to work in the industry and new developed technologies are not able to successfully introduced into the industry. In respect of technology, new products development and manufacturing process are still the main issues for techniques breakthrough which can be outsourcing from universities and research institutes. Preliminary results are demonstrated that the following Enterprises’ demands. Site visiting and interviewing allow enterprises identify the critical problems encountered in the operation and management. Enterprises’ demands from universities, research institutes and the government were also explored in this research. Universities–enterprises–research institutes collaboration. (1) Independent study: based on the enterprise’s proposal, teachers and students conduct the independent project. Some of manufacturing-oriented projects require enterprise–university–research institute joint cooperation. Through the presentation of study results, suitable trained students may be picked up by the employers. (2) Internship in enterprise: enterprises provide practice site for student internship and apprenticeship, students gain the working experience and enterprises resolve the labor shortage (both short term and long term). (3) Factory tour: in-depth visiting for students to experience the workplace and job JIUC searching. 1,3 (4) Expert lecture: industry experts and foreign scholars are invited to the campus to deliver speech related to the trends of AE technology. (5) Industry–academy forum/seminar: specific topic of technology development, business trend, government policy and talent in AE industry are presented. (6) Problems-solving competition: Taiwan Vehicle Electronics Consortium (TVEC) is invited to co-host the competition. Enterprises from KIP assigned the topics and scored the results, students solved the problem with creativity and implementation. A nationwide “Vehicle Electronics Creativity Competition” has been held for the past six years. Some of talent students receive many offers from the flagship enterprises. Staff on-the-job training. Employee on-the-job training and advanced technique training programs collaborated with university–research institute are developed in KIP. A tailor-made master program called “Industry Technology Graduate Program in Automotive Electronics” is also organized to enhance the employees’ knowledge and skills in AE domain. Case study. This section consists of four parts. Part 1 presents the site visit and interview results with 125 enterprises and special focus on 42 AE associated enterprises in KIP. Enterprise preferential demands, university capability and expertise and government resources are carefully investigated. Part 2 discusses the demands change of the five interviewed enterprises from 2016 to 2018. Part 3 marks the major critical problems encountered in the operation by focusing on the 21 industrial experts. Part 4 defines the establishment of an innovative talent cultivation model: (1) Site visit and interview AE associated enterprises in KIP: Enterprises’ preferential demands. Table I lists enterprises’ preferential demands in five classifications: in R&D innovation, 28.4 percent focus on development of new products; in management and talents, 45.8 percent on recruitment of talents; in manufacturing, 43.5 percent on yield rate control and improvement; in marketing channel, 30.9 percent on marketing strategy; in environmental protection or industrial safety, 40.6 percent on energy saving and carbon reduction. Classification Item Times Percentage R&D innovation Application of new materials 19 25.7 Development of new products 21 28.4 Design of new process 17 23.0 Management and talents Recruitment of talents 27 45.8 Patents 8 13.6 Staff on-the-job training 16 27.1 Manufacturing Automation of manufacturing facilities 24 38.7 Yield rate control and improvement 27 43.5 Testing and simulation analysis 9 14.5 Marketing channel Establish brand image 12 21.8 Channel expansion 13 23.6 Marketing strategy 17 30.9 Environmental protection or industrial safety Energy saving and carbon reduction 26 40.6 Table I. Green production 19 29.7 Enterprises’ preferential demands Safety environment implementation 13 20.3 � University capability and expertise. AE industry Figure 2 illustrates university capability and expertise for staff training clustering (26.20 percent), products development (21.4 percent) and assistance in applying for government resources (21.4 percent). Government resources. Figure 3 shows government resources for technique support (30.9 percent), tax credit of investment accounts (18.2 percent), establishment of products 125 standard (10.9 percent) and increase foreign worker quota (10.9 percent). (2) Demands of five interviewed enterprises from 2016 to 2018. Five enterprises have agreed to take interviews from 2016 to 2018. A renowned IC packaging and testing flagship enterprise, T-Company specializes in the packaging of integrated circuit boards and the relevant testing service. T-Company has received TS 16949 certification and the products have been applied to various applications, such as mobile communication, touch control IC, USB 3.0, cameras and cell phone memory cards, medical supplies and vehicle-used sensors, etc. Figure 4 presents the demands of the T-Company: new process design in R&D and innovation, talent’s recruitment in management and talent, yield rate control Increase foreign worker quota 10.90% Establishment of products standard 10.90% Technique support 30.90% Tax credit of investment accounts Figure 2. 18.20% Government resources 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 Site visit Stage 1: Site visit and interview enterprises in KIP enterprises Stage 2: Experts including senior manager, engineering director, Expert weight R&D director method Integration of university–enterprises–research institute Regional model: (1) Independent project (2) Internship in enterprises (3) Factory Talent cultivation tour (4) Industry–University forum model National model: (1) Independent project (2) Internship in enterprises (3) Factory Figure 3. tour (4) Experts lecture (5) Industry–University seminar (6) Systematic studies Problems solving competition in this paper T Company JIUC 1 1 1 1 1 1 11 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 11 1 1 1,3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f ) (g) (h) (i) (j) (k) (l) (m) AB C DE 2016 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 2017 0 0 1 1 00 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 2016 2017 2018 Notes: A. R&D innovation: (a) application of new materials; (b) development of new products; (c) design of new process. B. Management and talents: (d) recruitment of talents; (e) staff on-the- job training. C. Manufacturing: (f ) automation of manufacturing facilities; (g) yield rate control and improvement; (h) testing and simulation analysis. D. Marketing channel: (i) marketing Figure 4. strategy; (J) logistics management. E. Environmental protection or industrial safety: (k) energy T Company saving and carbon reduction; (l) pollution prevention; (m) safety environment implementation and improvement in manufacturing, safety environment implementation in environmental protection or industrial safety. Job vacancies in the manufacturing industry are primarily involved in skilled worker, machines operators and assembling workers. Higher lever jobs, such as professionals, technicians and professional assistants, are the second choice. Among the manufacturing industries, computer-based electronic optical products and electronics parts have a greater demand for professionals (Ministry of Labor, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Economic Affairs, 2018). Based on the investigation results of the employment of the young labors aged from 15 to 29, the main difficulty in recruiting new employees lies in the lack of working experiences of the job seekers (Ministry of Labor, 2018). (3) Main problems arising from the operation and management. In order to screen out the main problems existing in the electrical and electronic industry 21 experts, such as senior manager, engineering director and R&D director have been in-depth interviewed to point out the critical issues in the operations. Despite a small amount of the questionnaires was distributed, all the experts have extensive experience in the industry. In total, 21 experts have scored the integrated comments on the main problems and listed in Table II. An importance ranking regarding the demands of enterprise was conducted through expert weight method and a relation matrix was computed. Based on the implementation steps described in expert weight method, first, the importance ranking matrix T was determined in Table III. Table IV presents the transposed matrix of T matrix in Table III. From Tables III and IV, an importance ranking of expert-given matrix was obtained through expert weight method, as shown in Table V. In Table V, a ranking was derived from the expert’simportancematrixofthe main problems encountered in the operation according to the magnitude of the summation of each line. It indicated that “Difficulties in recruiting new staff” is the top priority, “High operation cost” is the second problem needed to be solved and “Development of new products” ranks the 3rd, while “Lack of R&D and technical talents” and “Market AE industry Difficulties in recruiting High Lack of R&D New product Market deployment and clustering new staff operation cost talents development competition 184 78 70 62 82 280 70 60 60 68 391 81 72 72 66 480 80 80 80 72 583 83 83 83 70 673 77 77 77 61 788 78 78 78 74 886 82 74 74 66 984 84 84 80 78 10 87 87 74 74 82 11 70 80 79 70 80 12 75 78 78 78 90 13 82 75 68 68 91 14 74 70 78 78 85 15 78 78 71 68 83 16 84 74 78 84 74 17 89 84 84 87 79 18 74 74 89 80 78 Table II. 19 71 70 80 78 68 Integrated comments 20 88 60 75 91 68 on the main problems 21 86 72 70 85 78 from 21 Experts 21 22.32534 22.56944 22.5164 22.77433 Table III. 19.96148 21 21.28511 21.34911 21.50238 Importance 19.85697 20.93703 21 21.03166 21.35038 relationship matrix T 19.85866 21.07748 21.09605 21 21.45475 using expert 19.73537 20.826 21.03435 21.07784 21 weighting method 21 19.96148 19.85697 19.85866 19.73537 22.32534 21 20.93703 21.07748 20.826 22.56944 21.28511 21 21.09605 21.03435 22.5164 21.34911 21.03166 21 21.07784 Table IV. Transposed matrix T 22.77433 21.50238 21.35038 21.45475 21 1 1.118421 1.1366 1.133832 1.153985 5.542839 0.221 1 Difficulties in recruiting new staff 0.894117 1 1.016625 1.012887 1.032478 4.956108 0.198 2 High operation cost Table V. 0.879817 0.983646 1 0.996948 1.015024 4.875435 0.194 4 Lack of R&D and technical talents Importance matrix 0.881965 0.987277 1.003062 1 1.017882 4.890185 0.195 3 Development of new products and ranking using 0.866562 0.968544 0.985198 0.982433 1 4.802736 0.192 5 Market deployment and competition expert weighting 25.0673 method deployment and competition” rank the 4th and the 5th, respectively. Obviously, lack of manpower and talents are the urgent crisis for enterprises to develop the AE cluster in KIP. However, 21 experts expressed that newly graduated students without any working experience would not be the priority. Headhunting or poaching experienced talents may be another option, and this would result is a deplorable shortage of JIUC manpower in such fields. Betray confidential information and criminal prosecution for 1,3 job-hopper, even worse for employer, were occasionally reported in hi-tech industry. (4) Innovative model for talent cultivation. Since recruiting newly graduates without two-year working experience is not the option and headhunting experienced talents would result in opposite effects, enterprises are keen to establish talent cultivation program with academia (university and vocational school) (Yen et al., 2018). From Table V, in addition to difficulties in recruiting new staff, the main problems existing in electronics and electrical industry are high operation cost and development of new products, lack of R&D and technical talents and market deployment and competition. By focusing on AE industry, the innovative talents cultivation model proposed in this study is including the above categories to improve the collaboration between the industry and university. In accordance with the topic assigned by AE industry, students and professor carried out the independent project and investigated the process technique or new products. The final results would be presented in Industry–University forum/seminar. Moreover, one-year internship in enterprises for vocational school straitened students would activate an increase in manpower in enterprise. Experts deliver lectures in the class would gain the mutual acquaintanceship. The committee in TVEC has urged that the “Problems Solving National Competition” in AE will gather the targeted students and professors at all universities in Taiwan. Experts from AE industry distribute the problems and review the final results. With these developed roadmaps, students gain more problem-solving skills and working experience in a specific domain and enterprises may pick up those graduates who fulfilled the requirements. In the meanwhile, on-the-job staff may strengthen the AE techniques by taking practical courses, technology forum and workshop. Even more, special class of “Industry Technology Graduate Program in Automotive Electronics” will enable the enrolled employees to study and earn both knowledge and technology. The developed systematic talent cultivation model is illustrated in Figure 5. However, research institute might be collaborated with the university for talent cultivation. The plan name with explanation in Figure 5 are listed as follows: (1) Independent project: development of new products, process, techniques in AE industry. (1) Independent project (2) Internship in enterprise (3) Factory tour (4) Seminar Regional New employees Universities Collaboration (1) Independent project (2) Internship in enterprise (3) Factory tour (4) Expert Nationwide lecture (5) Universities–industry New employees Universities Collaboration forum/workshop (6) Problems solving competition (1) Development of new products Enterprises (2) Process technology Figure 5. (1) Practical course Schematic illustration On-the-job staff Enterprises (2) University–industry forum/workshop (3) Special industrial graduate program of systematic talents (4) R&D project from government cultivation model Automobile electronics industry (2) Seminar: discussion on technology trends in AE industry. AE industry clustering (3) Factory tour: in-depth visiting enterprises’ workplace. (4) Internship in enterprise: enterprises provide one-year practical training for vocational school students. (5) Expert lecture: invite experts/scholars in AE (both domestic and abroad) to deliver keynote speech. (6) Technology forum: discussion on AE market and products supply chain. (7) Problems-solving competition: conduct a creative and innovative problems-solving nationwide competition of smart AE products. (8) Practical course: AI technology in AE applications (big data, deep learning, machine vision and V2X). (9) Workshop: discussion on AE techniques from industry–academy–research institute. Conclusion and suggestions Conclusion In this paper, 42 enterprises from KIP expect to solve their preferential problems: development of new products, recruiting new staff, yield rate control and improvement, marketing strategy, energy saving and carbon reduction. Enterprise would like to collaborate with universities for assistance and expertise in staff training, products development and government R&D projects. For government resources, technique support is the most urgent demand, furthermore, tax credit of investment accounts, establishment of products standard and increase foreign worker quota are also enterprises’ demands. This research focused on the electronics and electrical enterprises seeking to develop AE industry cluster in KIP. The main problems encountered in operation and management have been carefully investigated by using expert weight method. It is found that difficulties in recruitment is the major concern, followed by high operation cost, development of new products, lack of R&D talents, and lastly by marketing deployment and competition. It should be noted that networking and long-term collaboration are the key factors for facilitation of an industry cluster. It is also found that little interaction between enterprise and academia-research institute would result in less new techniques development. External resources from academia, research institute and vocational training institute could be introduced to resolve problems and a denotative referential proposal has been reported to the KIP Administration Office. Technology developed in AE industry mainly relies on skilled R&D and experienced talent. In this paper, the interviewed enterprises involving in the upstream and downstream sectors of intelligent AE are components of vehicle-used panel, IC, sensors (tire pressure, temperature and humidity), motor control, power module, etc. In connection with enterprise–university–research institute–government resources, this research proposes a systematic talent cultivation model to improve yield rate, process quality and new products development. Technique upgrading and transformation for AE enterprises and supply chain would be gradually formed a cluster in KIP. Suggestions For the past decade, advancing in technology progress results in enlarging gap between universities and industry. The unemployment problem on youth, especially for new graduates is the highlight in Taiwan. These peculiar situations have been attracted many researchers’ attention. An integration of the enterprise–university–research institute–government resources has been proposed to deal with the problems. However, the proposed methods still JIUC depend on industry demands. As R&D talents cultivation is the key element to AE industry, 1,3 the government is expected to assist in techniques upgrading, talents recruitment and learning-applying match. Based on the innovative talent cultivation model developed in this paper, it is suggested that future researches should pay more attention to talents shortage in AE industry. References Automotive Research and Testing Center (2016), “Analysis and prospect of the current situation of the Asian automobile market”, Vehicle Industry Monthly, Vol. 272, October, pp. 38-39. Bao, C.P., Wei, N.C., Lin, T.J., Lai, H.C. and Yang, A.L. (2018), “Theoretical proof and application of experts weighting method”, International Journal of Organizational Innovation, Vol. 10 No. 4, pp. 44-53. Chen, C.M. (2018), “Structure-conduct-performance research: a case study of Taiwan automotive parts and vehicle electronics manufacturers”, unpublished master’s thesis, College of Management, National University of Tainan, Tainan. Frost and Sullivan (2012), “Analysis of the European and North American passenger car market for camera-based advanced driver assistance system”, available at: https://store.frost.com/analysis- of-the-european-and-north-american-passenger-car-market-for-camera-based-advanced-driver- assistance-systems.html (accessed July 17, 2017). Hsiao, J. (2017), “Taiwan’s auto parts and components industry overview”, available at: http://ieknet. iek.org.tw/iekppt/ppt_more.aspx?actiontype=ppt&indu_idno=8&domain=54&sld_preid=5106 (accessed November 29, 2018). IDB (2017a), “Industrial upgrading and transformation action plan”, Industrial Development Bureau, Ministry of Economic Affairs, available at: http://archives.ey.gov.tw/Upload/WebArchive/0 1ey/20160110/www.ey.gov.tw/News_Content1351.html (accessed July 17, 2017). IDB (2017b), “2017-2019 Key industry professional needs estimation survey”, Industrial Development Bureau, Ministry of Economic Affairs, available at: www.italent.org.tw/Content/01/57 (accessed July 17, 2017). IDB (2018), “Summary of vehicle industry results from 104-106. Industry Manpower Supply and Demand Information (Vehicle Industry)”, Industrial Development Bureau, Ministry of Economic Affairs, available at: https://theme.ndc.gov.tw/manpower/cp.aspx?n=F437CF6972FEE529 (accessed November 29, 2018). J.D. Power and Associates Reports (2018), available at: http://autos.jdpower.com (accessed November 29, 2018). Liao, X.L., Yang, J.H. and Huang, L.Z. (2013), Current Status and Future Development of the Vehicle Electronics Industry, ARTC, Taipei. Ministry of Labor (2018), “Statistics on the employment status of young workers aged 15-29”, available at: www.mol.gov.tw/announcement/2099/31602 (accessed November 29, 2018). Ministry of Labor, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Economic Affairs (2018), “Industry shortage status and strategy”, available at: www.slideshare.net/OpenMic1/20171110-81828295 (accessed November 29, 2018). National Development Council (2018), “Current situation and countermeasures of talent shortage in industry”, available at: www.ndc.gov.tw/Content_List.aspx?n=4790CE73BEE1877A (accessed November 29, 2018). Shi, Y.X. (2006), “Automotive electronics industry Chain report”, Institute for Information Industry (III), Taipei. Taiwan External Trade Development Council, TAITRA (2018), “Business – American automotive electronics and market”, available at: https://newyork.taiwantrade.com/news/detail.jsp?id=2 1954&lang=zh_TW (accessed November 29, 2018). Wei, N.C., Hsu, H.C., Chao, I.M. and Yang, A.L. (2017), “A study on the transformation and upgrading AE industry for industries in the industrial parks”, paper presented at China Industrial Engineering Society clustering 2017 Annual Conference and Symposium, Kaohsiung December 16. Wu, H.C. (2017), “Innovation and competition strategy of Taiwan’s automotive electronics industry: a case study of a technology corporation”, Executive Master of Business Administration, Taichung. Yen, J.N., Chen, H.H., Chen, L.H., Hsu, H.C. and Lee, Y.C. (2018), “Intelligent manufacturing impact of vocational high school education through industrial-academic cooperation plan”, International Journal of Electrical Engineering Education, Vol. 7, pp. 1-15. Zhao, Z.Y. and Shi, Y.X. (2010), Under the Development Trend of Smart Vehicles, Market Opportunities for Automotive Semiconductors and Potential Components, 1st ed., Ministry of Economic Affairs, Taipei. Corresponding author Ai-Ling Yang can be contacted at: a8241120@gmail.com For instructions on how to order reprints of this article, please visit our website: www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/licensing/reprints.htm Or contact us for further details: permissions@emeraldinsight.com

Journal

Journal of Industry-University CollaborationEmerald Publishing

Published: Nov 22, 2019

Keywords: Automobile electronics; Experts weighting method; Industry cluster; Systematic talent programme; Kaohsiung Industry Park

There are no references for this article.