Keynote Presentation
View the Keynote
Presentation On-Line
Tuesday, September
27, 2005
9:00 AM
Mr. Scott Kulicke, Kulicke & Soffa
Industries, Inc.
Kulicke & Soffa (NASDAQ: KLIC) is the world’s leading supplier
of semiconductor wire bonding assembly equipment. The company is the
only major supplier to the semiconductor assembly industry that provides
customers with semiconductor wire bonding equipment, along with complementing
packaging materials and test interconnect products that actually contact
the surface of the customer’s semiconductor devices.
The keynote address will discuss
how electronic/digital products are creating new engineering requirements
and challenges in semiconductor
manufacturing processes and how the K&S move to China has prompted
important tactical changes within company operations. Lessons learned
from recent semiconductor downturns are discussed from a Kulicke & Soffa
perspective, as well as future trends and challenges in our
ever-changing semiconductor environment.
Founded in 1951 by Frederick
W. Kulicke and Albert Soffa, Kulicke & Soffa
Industries has played a key role in the ever-changing technological
semiconductor arena. During its first few years, the company engineered
large-scale machinery. By the end of the mid-1950s, K&S had entered
the semiconductor industry, specializing in solutions engineering.
The company grew in the first
decade by staying at the forefront of technology and making a strong
commitment
to customer service. Only
a fast-paced and innovative company could survive the rapidly
changing demands of a technological society. K&S’s automated
assembly equipment and materials were in high demand by semiconductor
manufacturers.
At the turn of the century, the company had reached its goal
of becoming the largest supplier for the packaging assembly
industry, offering equipment,
packaging materials, advanced packaging technology, software
and, through acquisitions, wafer probe card and package test
solutions.
Such enviable success did
not come by chance. Through its half-century history, K&S has reassessed, reorganized and reinvented itself while
investing heavily in R&D. The company grew in each semiconductor
cycle since its founding and, due to leaner manufacturing, faster delivery
and a “continuous improvement” strategy, it has consistently
achieved higher quality combined with greater customer satisfaction.
Strategic partnerships and
acquisitions helped broaden its assembly equipment product lines and
to increase
its expendables and materials
businesses. These factors, combined with dynamic, forward-thinking
leadership, multi-talented management and a diligent skilled
workforce, have maintained
K&S’s position as a world-class global semiconductor corporation.
Mr. C.
Scott Kulicke became Chairman of Kulicke & Soffa Industries,
Inc. on October 1, 1984 after serving as President and Chief
Executive Officer since 1980. He was Executive Vice President
from 1978 to 1980
and has been a member of the Board of Directors since 1975.
Mr. Kulicke
first joined Kulicke & Soffa in 1973 as Manager of
Far East Operations based in Hong Kong. In this capacity, he directed
all K&S sales and service operations throughout Southeast Asia,
Japan and India. On his return from the Far East, he assumed responsibility
for all marketing activities outside the U.S., as International Marketing
Manager. In 1975 he became Product Manager in charge of the engineering
team, which designed the K&S Model 1412 Automatic Wire Bonder. This
machine marked K&S’s transition from mechanical machines to
computerized systems.
Scott Kulicke was educated at Lafayette College, and graduated from
the Wharton School of Business of the University of Pennsylvania, with
a degree in economics. His wife, Danielle Volckmar Kulicke, is a Doctor
of Psychology practicing in Ft. Washington, Pa.
Mr. Kulicke
is a past President of SEMI (Semiconductor Equipment and
Materials International) and
served
as a SEMI Director for eight years.
He also served as one of the founding Directors of SEMATECH,
the consortium of U.S. semiconductor manufacturers and the
U.S. Government for manufacturing
competitiveness; was the founding Chairman and former director
of SISA (Semiconductor Industry Suppliers Association) formerly
known as SEMI/SEMATECH,
Inc., an organization of semiconductor equipment and materials
suppliers supporting the goals of SEMATECH; and served as
Chairman of the U.S.
Department of Commerce’s Technical Advisory Committee on Semiconductors.
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the Kulicke & Soffa Website
