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January 22, 1999/5 Shevat 5759, Vol. 51, No. 17
Intel brings Israeli workers to Valley for job training
MICHELLE ACKERMAN
Staff Writer
Some 150 Israeli workers have come to the Valley, some with their families, temporarily changing their lives in order to excel in a new job.
The influx is due to a cooperative training program of Intel Corp., the world's largest manufacturer of microchips and a leading manufacturer of computer, networking and communications products. In anticipation of the upcoming opening of a new high-tech manufacturing facility in Israel, the company has brought approximately 150 workers, hired in advance to work at the yet-to-open plant, to the Valley to train alongside employees at the company's Chandler plant.
"Part of the way we do business is that we have a cooperation between all of our manufacturing facilities (through which employees) learn how to do their jobs, so that when they go back to Israel they can step right into those jobs," explained Intel spokeswoman Jeanne Forbis.
Forbis stressed that this is not the first time that Valley facilities have been used to train workers from another country. A few years ago, she said, a sizeable group of people from Ireland was brought to the Valley for training purposes.
Intel often hires employees in one country to work at a new facility there, and then sends the new employees to other Intel facilities in the United States and Ireland for training, she said. The employees stay in the foreign country for anywhere from two months to two years, depending on the scope of the job each employee is learning.
Dror Yeshua, an employee from Jerusalem who came here in July 1998 with his wife and two young children, is learning lithography. The program will keep him in the Valley for a year.
"It's not easy with a family and kids, but we chose to do it," he said. "I want to change my job to do something new."
Intel chose the Valley as a training site because "Intel has, in Phoenix, one of the most modern and advanced manufacturing facilities," said Igal Ben-Rachel, Israel's site coordinator at the Chandler facility. "The (facility) in Israel will pick up the same technology as the one running in Phoenix; therefore it is natural that Israelis will be trained in Phoenix."
The decision to open the new facility in Israel was made in 1995, based partly on the fact that Intel, at that time, had been operating successfully in Haifa, Israel, for more than 20 years. The Israel Development Center was established in Haifa in 1974, and Intel opened a semiconductor manufacturing facility in Jerusalem in 1985. The new plant will be located in Kiryat Gat, approximately 35 miles from Jerusalem, and will employ approximately 1,500 workers.
"The integration of accumulated operational experience, availability of professional manpower (and) governmental support were deciding factors in choosing Israel as a site," said Ben-Rachel.
Approximately 8,150 workers are employed by Intel in Arizona.
To assist the foreign employees training here, temporary relocation packages are provided by the company. These packages include assistance in locating housing and finding schools for children.
Yeshua, who took advantage of this program, is now settled with his family in Ahwatukee, as are many others in the program. Other Israelis have opted for Glendale or Chandler, while a few chose north Phoenix to be closer to synagogues.
The number of Israelis in the program is high, but Yeshua says they don't really stick together socially while they're in the Phoenix area. Still, he admits, having others from Israel here is nice because "you don't feel that you are by yourself."
Though the Yeshua family enjoys the weather and sights of Arizona, they still wait eagerly to return home to Israel.
"I wait to do the job all by myself, all the stuff with the machine ... and the program and everything," he explained.
Ben-Rachel agreed, saying, "Everybody is extremely excited by the project, as it will be a leading-edge manufacturing site in Israel. Being part of the start-up of a new factory is an extremely challenging task, and everybody is committed to make it a major success for Intel and for Israel."
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