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OCTOBER 2024 I PCB007 MAGAZINE 87 chose Malaysia. ese employees have had experience in China and now want to return home. Maybe they want to bring their families back, or they have elderly parents to care for, but they are also attracted by the high technol- ogy levels we now offer in Malaysia. We want to keep our workforce stabilized while growing our complement of operators. We're finding that nearly half of those opera- tors come from outside Malaysia: Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Myanmar, for example. We're making sure we have the right kind of language translation and visuals available to train our immigrant workforce so they can understand the critical process steps. is effort is still a work in process, and the stabilization of the operator workforce will be critical going forward. ankfully, the govern- ment in Penang is very supportive of train- ing initiatives. ey are focused on vocational technical training requirements for industry in Penang, and they're doing a good job. We also see a real commitment from companies in the area to training, and local universities and technical schools are incorporating more STEM-type educational resources. IPC has already engaged with Penang about areas where it can help with training, and I know those tools will be welcomed by indus- try and the Penang government. I can't say enough about the support from InvestPen- ang, the local development agency there. ey have been partners throughout the ramp as they helped tremendously when we ran into roadblocks during construction and other elements of the ramp processes. ey are always there to help us. ey have also emphasized workforce training as their number one priority and serve a vital function in helping local companies recruit and train employees. What was the timeline for building this facility? It took us two years from the groundbreaking ceremony until the opening. Shell construc- tion took about 12 months, and total construc- tion took 18 months. We have a really nice steel frame structure that was a bit more expensive to build, but relatively easy to construct. e result has been a first-class facility. We're really pleased. e equipment started arriving just as we were completing construction. Our vendors did a great job with the timing. Now we're in that challenging phase where we are produc- YAB Tuan Chow Kon Yeow, Chief Minister of Penang with Tom Edman, CEO of TTM Technologies.