Method of control management of production line

• US 20020094588A1
• Filed: 01/16/2001
• Published: 07/18/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 01/16/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: United Microelectronics Corporation
• Original Assignee: United Microelectronics Corporation
• Inventors: Fan, Yang-Ping, Tsai, Leon
• Granted Patent: US 6,622,055 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 438/14
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/41865 characterised by job scheduling, process planning, material flow
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/32267 Dynamic throughput maximization
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/45031 Manufacturing semiconductor wafers
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/02 Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS]

Abstract

A method of control and management of production line. More than one performance indices are used to remind production management department to adjust process throughput and labor resources to avoid the occurrence of bottleneck machine. A performance index of equipment Ieq and a performance index of work in process Iwip are calculated to several parameters. When Ieq is larger than 1.0, the number of available machines is enough to reach the target. When Ieq is smaller than 1.0, it indicated the available machines are not enough, so that whether accelerating on-line speed is required or not has to be decided. Regarding Iwip, when Iwip is larger than 1.0, the target can be reached. On the contrary, if Iwip is smaller than 1.0, the target cannot be reached. The throughput has to be enhanced to reach the target.

Claims

1. A method of control and management of a production line, the method comprising:

providing a target of a number of semi-manufactured wafers to be finished for today (Target),

calculating a number of semi-manufactured wafers still required so far today by deducting the target of the number of semi-manufactured wafers (Target) with a number of semi-manufactured wafers that has been produced so far today (Move), that is, calculating a result of (Target−

Move);

calculating a number of semi-manufactured wafers that a machine can still produce for today (UPH*HRs), wherein UPH is a throughput of one machine, and HRs is remaining working hours for today;

calculating a number of required machines to achieve the target of the number of semi-manufactured wafers today by [(Target−

Move)/(UPH*HRs)]; and

calculating an index of equipment Ieq by dividing a number of available machines current (PUs) with a number of machines required to achieve a target throughput, that is,

Ieq=PUs/[(Target−

Move)/(UPH*HRs)]

2. The method according to claim 1, comprising further a step of accelerating an on-line speed of the machines when the index of equipment is less than 1.0.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein a step of calculating a throughput of the machine per hour is calculated according to the number of the semi-manufactured wafers which have been produced so far today (Move).

4. A method of control and management of production line, the method comprising:

providing a target of a number of semi-manufactured wafers to be finished for today (Target);

calculating a number of semi-manufactured wafers still required so far today by deducting the target of the number of semi-manufactured wafers (Target) with a number of semi-manufactured wafers that has been produced so far today (Move), that is, calculating a result of (Target−

Move);

calculating a number of semi-manufactured wafers to be finished within the remaining working hours today, that is, summing up a number of semi-manufactured wafers for one machine (WIP) and a number of semi-manufactured wafers to be finished for the machine today (FlowIn); and

Calculating an index of work in progress (Iwip) by dividing the number of semi-manufactured wafers to be finished within the remaining working hours today (WIP+FlowIn) with a number of semi-manufactured wafers required so far to reach the target number of the semi-manufactured wafers for today (Target−

Move), that is,

Iwip=[(WIP+FlowIn)/(Target−

Move)]

5. The method according to claim 4, comprising further the step of enhancing a throughput of the machine when the index of work in progress is less than 1.0.

6. The method according to claim 4, wherein the number of semi-manufactured wafers to be produced by the machine in the remaining working hours today is obtained by estimating a throughput of the machine per hour.

7. A method of control and management of production line using a computer aided to calculate the performance index, a computer with calculation functions is plugged to the production line control system, the method comprising:

inputting a target number of semi-manufactured wafers of today (Target) into a database of the computer;

inputting a number of semi-manufactured wafers that have been produced so far today (Move) from the production line to the database;

inputting a number of available machines currently (PUs) from the production line to the database;

calculating a performance index of equipment (Ieq) according to the following equation by the computer;

Ieq=PUs/[(Target−

Move)/(UPH*HRs)]

wherein UPH is a throughput of one machine per hour;

HRs is the remaining working hours for today;

Target−

Move is a number of semi-manufactured wafers required to achieve the target number of semi-manufactured wafers for today (Target); and

UPH*HRS indicates how many semi-manufactured wafers to be finished by today by one machine; and

accelerating an on-line speed of machines being reminded by the computer when the index of equipment is smaller than 1.0.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the throughput of one machine per hour is calculated according to the number of semi-manufactured wafers that have been produced so far today (Move).

9. A method of control and management of production line using a computer aided to calculate the performance index, a computer with calculation functions is plugged to the production line control system, the method comprising:

inputting a target number of semi-manufactured wafers of today (Target) into a database of the computer;

inputting a number of semi-manufactured wafers that have been produced so far today (Move) from the production line to the database;

inputting a number of semi-manufactured wafers of one machine (WIP) so far to the database;

calculating a performance index of work in process (Iwip) according to the following equation by the computer;

Iwip=[(WIP-FlowIn)/(Target−

Move)]

wherein FlowIn is a number of semi-manufactured wafers to be finished in the remaining working hours of today; and

accelerating a throughput of machines for being reminded by the computer when the index of work in process is smaller than 1.0.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the number of semi-manufactured wafers to be finished in the remaining working hours of today (FlowIn) is estimated according to the throughput of one machine per hour.