"The opportunities for improving manufacturing performance are substantial in high-technology industries such as semiconductors. The costs are concentrated in the equipment and the product designs, so the payoff from achieving high throughput and excellent on-time delivery is dramatic." Rob Leachman is a Professor of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research at the University of California at Berkeley, where he serves as Director of the Competitive Semiconductor Manufacturing (CSM) Program. Dr. Leachman is the author of more than 50 technical publications concerning production operations management and productivity improvement, and he has been a consultant in these areas to many corporations. He received the AB degree in Mathematics and Physics, the MS degree in Operations Research and the PhD degree in Operations Research, all from U. C. Berkeley, and has been a member of the U C Berkeley faculty since 1979. In 1995 Dr. Leachman was the winner of the Franz Edelman Award Competition sponsored by the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS), recognizing his work to design and implement automated production planning systems in the semiconductor industry. In 2001 Dr. Leachman was the runner-up in the Franz Edelman Award Competition, recognizing his work for automated floor scheduling and cycle time management in the semiconductor industry. The Edelman Award is the highest accolade from INFORMS, given annually recognizing outstanding practice of the management sciences. Copyright 2008 Leachman & Associates. All rights reserved.