TAIPEI ─September 7, 2016 ─ SEMI today presented its industry leadership award for sustainable manufacturing to Po Wen Yen, CEO of United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC). Yen received the SEMI Sustainable Manufacturing Leadership Award – Inspired by Akira Inoue, at the Leadership Gala Dinner at SEMICON Taiwan 2016, the largest annual electronics manufacturing industry event in Taiwan.
“Yen exemplifies outstanding leadership and commitment to sustainable manufacturing issues. He approaches environmental protection in a holistic way, thinking broadly and then setting up the infrastructure to institutionalize the change while staying involved each step of the way," said Denny McGuirk, president and CEO of SEMI. “This SEMI award for significant sustainable manufacturing achievement recognizes his status among a distinguished group of electronics industry executives.”
As CEO of UMC, Yen drove UMC to become a global leader in sustainable semiconductor manufacturing, emphasizing to his staff, customers, and suppliers, that “sustainable development is not only UMC's vision but is also our core philosophy.” Yen also created a corporate structure where all sustainability-related goals and activities are overseen by a committee that he chairs, and then he reports these developments directly to the UMC Board of Directors. Yen’s commitment has led to significant positive impacts on sustainable manufacturing at UMC. Yen’s specific accomplishments noted by the SEMI Award committee include:
Environmental Protection
- Global Warming –To reduce energy use at UMC, Yen created and chairs an Energy Saving Committee, which reduced electrical power usage by 29,469 Mwh in 2014, which is the equivalent of removing 15,353 tons of CO2 from the atmosphere, and reduced natural gas usage by 11,979 Mwh, the equivalent to reducing 2,159 tons of CO2 emissions from being released into the atmosphere.
- Water Resources – UMC maximizes water efficiency and promotes the importance of water resources and conservation. Total water recovery and reuse reached more than 180 percent of water intake for the calendar year 2015.
- Green Manufacturing – UMC innovated corporate programs to manage hazardous substances and reduce pollution and waste during semiconductor manufacturing. UMC has a robust Hazardous Substance Process Management (HSPM) system in place that is certified by the International Electro-Technical Commission Quality Assessment System.
- Green Buildings – UMC’s Fab 12A in the Tainan Science Park obtained both Taiwan's Gold Certification for Green Buildings and LEED Gold Certification.
- Green Products –To better evaluate the environmental impacts of products, UMC collaborated with the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) to implement a Life Cycle Assessment for each fab, improving its management processes and reducing resource consumption.
Community Service
• Social Welfare – UMC encourages a culture of community volunteering with many programs. One example, “Spreading the Seeds of Hope,” has assisted over 6,000 children from disadvantaged families.
• UMC Fire Brigade – Still the only corporation in Taiwan's electronics industry to have its own fire department, UMC established its high-tech fire brigade more than 20 years ago. The fire brigade consists of 106 members, including 13 full-time employees and 93 voluntary firefighters.
The Sustainable Manufacturing Leadership Award is sponsored by SEMI. The award is named after the late Akira Inoue, past president of Tokyo Electron Limited and a strong advocate of sustainable manufacturing in the semiconductor industry. Inoue also served on the SEMI Board of Directors. The award recognizes individuals in industry who have made significant leadership contributions to reduce the environmental and social impacts of semiconductor manufacturing. Past Award recipients include: Mark Durcan (CEO, Micron), TY Chiu (CEO, SMIC), Ajit Manocha (CEO, GLOBALFOUNDRIES), and Morris Chang (CEO, TSMC).
About SEMI
SEMI® connects more than 2,000 member companies and more than a quarter-million professionals worldwide to advance the science and business of electronics manufacturing. SEMI members are responsible for the innovations in materials, design, equipment, software, and services that enable smarter, faster, more powerful, and more affordable electronic products. Since 1970, SEMI has built connections that have helped its members grow, create new markets, and address common industry challenges together. SEMI maintains offices in Bangalore, Beijing, Berlin, Brussels, Grenoble, Hsinchu, Moscow, San Jose, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Tokyo, and Washington, D.C. For more information about SEMI, visit www.semi.org and follow SEMI on LinkedIn and Twitter.
Association Contact
Deborah Geiger/SEMI
Phone: 408.943.7988
Email: dgeiger@semi.org
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