AT last night's presentation of the Governor's Award for Industry: Productivity, the winner Maxtor (Hong Kong) Ltd, was praised for hitting the target with its ''clear management objectives, team work and productivity improvement with regard to people, management systems and technology''. Maxtor (HK), which has its operations in Yau Tong, Kowloon, is a subsidiary of the US-based electronics firm, Maxtor Corporation. The company specialises in the design and manufacture of disk drives and optical drives for personal computers, work stations, plus micro-and mainframe computers.
Its manufacturing operations include silk screening, surface mounting and printed circuit board assembly. Maxtor's local unit has experienced continuous growth in net sales and value-added performance, which almost tripled in the past three years. Per capita value added also increased.
The company exported 23 per cent of the territory's domestic exports to Singapore last year, with annual revenues rising to $2 billion in the same period. Maxtor's philosophy is that ''total customer satisfaction is the foundation for productivity and that people, management systems and technology are three major pillars that support productivity growth. ''The human factor is vital because it is people who developed and implement management systems and technology.
''Through teamwork among all levels of employees, all the key productivity factors will be integrated and hence achieve a synergy effect.'' In their summing up, the judges said: ''Maxtor (Hong Kong) Ltd's achievement in productivity performance is commendable. Its management systems and practices are excellent in all functions.'' Within the Maxtor group, the local unit's management objectives were ''clear'' said the panel.
''In order to accomplish these objectives, senior managers have built strong teamwork and taken appropriate action for quality and productivity improvement in the areas of people, management systems and technology,'' said the report. ''The company applies benchmarking practises in quality and productivity improvement, sets targets, determines action programmes and checks the results.
''Maxtor has built up a competitive position, not only within the Asian region but also among world-class electronics manufacturers. It has endeavoured to upgrade its manufacturing capability in the areas of surface mount technology. ''Extensive use of information technology has also boosted management productivity,'' the panel of judges concluded.