Saturday, August 1, 2009

jackson square number 11









this place is now known as jackson square 11. up to about 5 years ago, it housed a single assembly and test plant.

actually, i meant to ask one question only but because some people may get upset, i have increased the number (of questions) to five.

quiz questions:

1 what was the name of the assembly and test plant that used to occupy this place?

2 the plant started with a different name - the name of its subsidiary. what was this name?

3 in which year did this company start its operation in singapore? (not necessarily at the same location).

4 when it closed down its plant in singapore, where did it move most of its operation to?

5 in which year did it cease operation in singapore?

sorry, no prizes, like chocolates, for all correct answers.

8 comments:

Ang Sar Lee said...

Let me try....

1) National Semiconductor,
2) Fairchild,
.... don't know the rest.. :-(

Unknown said...

The answers are:

1) National Semiconductor
2) Fairchild
3) 1968
4) Malacca & Suzhou
5) 2005

Nevermind, if no chocolates, "wafers" would suffice.

yg said...

in the early 70s, a few of my teacher friends, especially technical teachers, were attracted enough by the bigger pay packet (nearly double what we were earning then; as non-graduate teachers, we were drawing a salary of slightly more than $250) to take up the post of production supervisors at these electronic factories.

nah said...

That’s right, a few technical teachers resigned to become production supervisors at National Semiconductor and Texas Instruments Singapore. As technical teachers, their starting pay was $190 pm, with annual increments of $10. As a production supervisor, the starting pay was $560pm. If they remained as technical teachers, it would require them more than 10 years of service to reach this amount after crossing probationary and efficiency bars. So why not? The irony was, some found out that the grass was not greener over the fence. They were not only responsible for supervising and coordinating production schedules, they had to tolerate truancy and uncooperative female factory workers, besides the torments of their superiors. To keep production up, they had to organize outings, treat them…in order to please them. Eventually, a few, rejoined the teaching service.

peter said...

Yah I too remember my teachers quitting in the middle of the school term to join the electronics sector. I think they joined Texas Instruments. One of them was my Maths teacher, Lee Tuck Wah and the other was Philip Low (form teacher) who later rose to become MD for Printronics. Because so many teachers come n go, we were left with relief teachers.

yg said...

i think dan must either know someone who works in national semiconductor or he lives/lived near lorong 3 toa payoh to get all the answers correct.

Anonymous said...

What is this Jackson square actually? I bypassed it quite often but dun know wat it does... on the entrance i see NHG polyclinic and other organisations.. ??

Who owns the place? why is it called Jackson square?

yg said...

anonymous, although i pass jackson's square ver often, i am also not very sure what the place is used for. i think there are some commercial and industrial activities being carried on.