BLENDED LEARNING IN HIGH TECH MANUFACTURING: A CASE STUDY OF COST BENEFITS AND PRODUCTION EFFICIENCY

Abstract

The complexity of equipment and cost of training are increasing annually for high tech semiconductor manufacturing. The article describes the process and methodology adopted by a team at Intel Corporation to convert a 12-day class on equipment training into a blended solution consisting of a 5-day Classroom experience, a 3-hour Web Based Training (WBT), and a Managed Preventive Maintenance (MPM) for On-the-Job Training (OJT). The results of the implementation demonstrated a 60% reduction of technician time away from the factory, benefits cost ratio of 2.27, and an ROI of 157%. Based on the results of evaluation, the authors concluded that blended learning is a viable and cost effective solution to provide support for equipment training at Intel from the perspective of the lead time to proficiency, ROI, and cost benefit analyses.