MODELING SIMULATION, AND CONTROL OF SEMICONDUCTOR FACTORIES

THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS EFFORT IS TO DEVELOP A COMPREHENSIVE SOFTWARE TOOLKIT THAT CAN HELP A SEMICONDUCTOR WAFER FABRICATION FACILITY (WAFER FAB) ACHIEVE SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER ASSET UTILIZATION AND THROUGHPUT COMBINED WITH REDUCED WORK-IN-PROGRESS, CYCLE TIMES AND TARDINESS. THE SOFTWARE TOOL WILL BE USED BY DESIGNERS OF FACTORIES TO EXPERIMENT WITH ALTERNATE CONFIGURATIONS AND SCHEDULING STRATEGIES AND BY OPERATORS OF FACTORIES TO GENERATE OPERATING SCHEDULES. EXISTING SIMULATION TOOLS DO AN ADEQUATE JOB OF EVALUATING ALTERNATE EQUIPMENT, PROCESS AND DEMAND CONDITIONS. THE PRINCIPLE DIFFICULTY THE USERS HAVE IS IN EXPERIMENTING WITH SCHEDULING LOGIC THAT IS DIFFERENT FROM DISPATCHING LOGIC. THE PROPOSED SOFTWARE WILL PROVIDE THE USER WITH FLEXIBILITY AND POWER TO EXPERIMENT WITH AND IMPLEMENT SCHEDULING LOGIC THAT HELPS MINIMIZE THE IMPACT OF KEY OBSTACLES TO PERFORMANCE. THE SOFTWARE TOOL WILL PROVIDE MODULES FOR LOAD PLANNING, LOT RELEASE CONTROL, SEQUENCING AND FACTORY SIMULATION. ANTICIPATED BENEFITS/POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS - THE SOFTWARE RESULTING FROM THIS EFFORT WILL SIGNIFICANTLY IMPROVE THE COST EFFECTIVENESS OF SEMICONDUCTOR AND OTHER FACTORIES. THIS SOFTWARE WOULD BE ATTRACTIVE TO MOST MAJOR MANUFACTURING COMPANIES