Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

Massive semiconductor project draws alum to Shanghai

Photos and story by James Hill

by Mark EvertzScott Best is going places.The former Portland Community College mechanical engineering student has been laying the groundwork in Shanghai, China since February on a project that will not only be the biggest job of his life, but the biggest project in the semiconductor industry as well.Despite being involved in the largest silicon wafer cleanroom project the world has ever seen, in a country not known as conducive to American business practices, Best is remarkably calm.He said the problem-solving skills attained at PCC and his measured approach to managing projects learned on the job give him the tools to keep his cool. "PCC gave me the self-confidence to face the challenges I’ve come across in this industry,"he said. "It gave me a ?common-sense’ confidence."And the classes gave me the ability to examine a problem, understand it, translate it and maintain the confidence required to follow it through to action,"he added.As an assistant project manager for Taikisha LTD, a Japan-based engineering and design firm, Best will help supervise the architectural design of a 500,000-square-foot cleanroom for a large U.S. computer manufacturer.Best noted that the leap from PCC to China might not have happened if it weren’t for the unlucky break for a friend.When his friend broke a leg in 1997, Best got a phone call to fill in as a project manager at KSA America in Hillsboro until the leg healed. Best, then a mechanical engineering student at the college’s Sylvania Campus, signed on. "They told me I’d fill in for about two or three months in 1997,"said Best, now a project manager for Taikisha, LTD, the Japanese parent company with ties to KSA America. "Five years later and I’m still with them. It’s been great."Don’t think ill of Best for snagging his friend’s job. The friend came back after the injury to KSA, then found a more lucrative job abroad with another company.Best said that it has all worked out for him, but admitted that it was more than a few years in the making. The 39-year-old Idaho native moved to Portland in his 20s to be near his sister, but without much of a plan for himself. He worked as a manager at a grocery store and waited for that light bulb to light up – the one that would illuminate his path to success. When that didn’t happen, he sought direction by throwing himself into classes here and there at Portland Community College, starting in 1990."I really didn’t know what I wanted to do so I just started taking classes,"he said. "Along the way, I met people in the Mechanical Engineering Technology program and decided it was my calling."Now, about five years removed from the engineering labs of PCC, Best is poised to make his mark on one of the largest projects in the semiconductor industry. The massive cleanroom project brought Best to Shanghai last February and will likely keep him there for at least the next year or two.The move to China hasn’t been without its fair share of challenges, including getting used to the cuisine, traveling throughout the country without a lay of the land or language and navigating the government-controlled business structure. Upon arrival in China, Best had little knowledge of the language, which left him in a few long cab rides."I speak it well enough to get a cold beer, that’s about it,"joked Best. "You reach a point where you just have to have faith."Doing business in the Communist country takes a little getting used to as well."Not many things are actually documented and the policies in place, well, not many people know what they are,"he said. "I spend a lot of time asking government bodies how to proceed on something and not really getting an answer. It can be frustrating."Best also said that he had to get used to the more social nature of business deals in China. You need to be ready to cement deals out on the town, not in an office. "It is done at night over drinks in place similar to a Karaoke bar,"he said. "If, as a manager of a project, you do not go out at night and meet, it is almost an insult."I don’t know if I could do a regular job anymore,"Best added. "What I’m doing now is so challenging and fun. I think I’d be bored otherwise." Best shrugged off praise for his accomplishments from former teachers who came by to see him during a trip back to campus in October before returning to China."Man, this is too much for me,"he said, blushing. "I’m just a construction guy."It’s the instructors, mentors and counselors who deserve the recognition, according to Best."I don’t think I’ve ever met teachers who were more dedicated to fulfilling their duties as instructors,"he said. "They will work as hard as they need to to get you to understand."If I could give one point to your future students,"Best remarked, "It would be that if I can be in charge of the largest cleanroom project in the world, so can any PCC engineering tech student."Next up on the learning curve for Best is absorbing more of the Chinese way of life and culture, and maybe a few classes in the Mandarin dialect of Chinese."Every day in China is an education,"he said.