AEM Holdings bank two major awards in SBR Management Excellence Awards 2022

It won Innovator of the Year and Team of the Year under the Electronics category.

Recent times have proven to be a test of keeping up with the latest innovations and developments in the industry. Businesses have been met with a need to adapt to offering digital solutions both on the operations and customer sides. To do this, able leadership and teams are necessary to make developments happen not just instantly but in an effective manner.

AEM Holdings Ltd. has been a global leader in test innovation. The company provides comprehensive semiconductor and electronics test solutions based on best-in-class technologies, processes, and customer support.

Since its incorporation in 1992, it has grown to be a robust company that is able to surpass the immeasurable challenges of the past decades, one being the COVID-19 pandemic. However, having a strong team and an innovative spirit led the company to continued success, even with its own fair share of highs and lows.

In this year’s Singapore Business Review Management Excellence Awards, the company bagged two major awards, particularly: Innovator of the Year – Electronics and Team of the Year – Electronics.

The awards program honours Singapore's most outstanding leaders for their hard work and dedication that have resulted in tangible contributions to their businesses. It also lauds employee engagements and COVID management initiatives that have made a positive impact on its workforce or customers.

In granting the Innovator of the Year – Electronics award, the judging panel took into consideration the efforts exemplified by its Senior Director for Software Engineering, Mac Zhang.

Mac Zhang leads the development of global software solutions for AEM’s test handler and technological capabilities. He manages the operations of the global software group, including architecture and design, product development, technology research, and software product marketing.

When he joined AEM’s engineering team in 2019, he quickly rose to an overall software engineering leadership role for AEM test handlers, delivering multi-generations of high-volume manufactured test handlers in Burn-in Tests, System Level Test (SLT), and Final Test.

Mac is recognized as a passionate engineering leader who brings innovation and engineering excellence to AEM and AEM’s customers.

The collaboration with AEM's Engineering teams has enabled Mac and his team to take the lead in defining the software differentiator for AEM’s AMPS SLT+ Solution, a solution that was selected by one of the industry’s leading memory-integrated device manufacturers.

Another notable project is the development of the new CMOS Image Sensor Test System Solution, a partnership between AEM and UTAC. This solution meets the rapidly growing demand for advanced image sensors in various applications, such as autonomous vehicles and automotive safety.

Three major achievements are being cited for this first award. First, Mac led the AEM software team’s process maturity from level 1 to level 3 and was awarded the “Software Excellence Award”. The second is that he led the development of AEM handler software and framework development.

Lastly, he played an active role in designing and developing the full benchtop test solution named AEM Automation Kit (A2K), which brings full hardware simulation testing, software test automation, and benchtop reliability testing into reality.

As for the second recognition, the Team of the Year – Electronics award, the judging panel took into consideration the milestones achieved by the AEM CMOS Image Sensor (CIS) Team.

In 2021, AEM delivered a fully integrated CMOS Image Sensor Test Cell to UTAC, a Singapore-based semiconductor assembly and test services provider, complete with a tester, illuminator, and handler.

Fuelled by the growing demand in the fields of security, automotive safety, autonomous vehicles, and industrial applications, CMOS Image Sensor products are estimated to grow significantly for the foreseeable future.

AEM entered into an agreement with UTAC to jointly develop a next-generation, cost-effective CMOS Image Sensor Test Cell Solution for semiconductor companies. This project put AEM’s technology capabilities to the test, with cross-discipline teams from around the globe collaborating amidst a global pandemic.

In bringing this technology to reality, the panel took note of three main achievements of the team in this project. First, the team successfully developed a next-generation, cost-effective CMOS Image Sensor Test Cell Solution that supports the latest industry image sensor interfaces and protocols.

Second, it was able to operate with an increased test capability and throughput, allowing CIS devices to be tested faster, at a rate of more than 30% than the proof of concept.

Lastly, the AEM CIS Team exemplified teamwork and cross-territory collaboration that tapped into AEM’s technical capabilities and built on a unique portfolio of global talents.

For these efforts and new technologies introduced to the market, the company was awarded and properly recognised in the recently concluded awards programme hosted by Singapore Business Review.

The SBR Management Excellence Awards is presented by Singapore Business Review Magazine. To view the full list of winners, click here. If you want to join the 2023 awards programme and be acclaimed for your company's employee engagements and management initiatives, please contact Julie Anne Nuñez at [email protected].