Advanced material requirements planning in microelectronics manufacturing
First Claim
1. A computer implemented decision support method which intelligently matches assets with demand to create a material requirements planning (MRP) match to determine what work needs to be accomplished to meet demand comprising the steps of:
- accessing a bill of materials in computer memory to identify parts by part numbers of a product to be manufactured;
classifying each part by part number as MRP, Linear Programming (LP) MRP, or non-critical, LPMRP parts being identified from binning data and data related to permissible substitutions and build options as those parts which may be substituted for or by another part number that does not result as output from the same binning process, non-critical parts being identified by a planner using the method as those which can be run with MRP as can components and sub-components of the non-critical parts, and MRP parts being those not classified as LPMRP parts or non-critical parts;
accessing a build options file, a bill of materials file, binning data and permissible substitutions data in computer memory and processing LPMRP parts using a series of integrated LP and MRP methods;
processing MRP parts and non-critical parts using a heuristic method; and
consolidating output from the processing steps using linear programming and heuristic methods and providing a single output file.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A computer implemented decision support tool serves as an Advanced Material Requirements Planning (AMRP) solver to generate a match between existing assets and demands across multiple manufacturing facilities within the boundaries established by the manufacturing specifications and process flows and business policies to determine what (and when) is needed to start internally or purchase externally to meet all customer demands of current interest. The matching must take into account manufacturing or production specifications and business guidelines. To accomplish the task of deciding what to do when to meet customer demand, the AMRP solver explodes demands into a build plan for purchased and manufacturing orders for end items as well as components and raw materials necessary to produce those end items. The AMRP solver combines traditional MRP decision technology with linear programming (LP) decision technology to provide both speed and intelligence in the matching process.
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Citations
7 Claims
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1. A computer implemented decision support method which intelligently matches assets with demand to create a material requirements planning (MRP) match to determine what work needs to be accomplished to meet demand comprising the steps of:
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accessing a bill of materials in computer memory to identify parts by part numbers of a product to be manufactured; classifying each part by part number as MRP, Linear Programming (LP) MRP, or non-critical, LPMRP parts being identified from binning data and data related to permissible substitutions and build options as those parts which may be substituted for or by another part number that does not result as output from the same binning process, non-critical parts being identified by a planner using the method as those which can be run with MRP as can components and sub-components of the non-critical parts, and MRP parts being those not classified as LPMRP parts or non-critical parts; accessing a build options file, a bill of materials file, binning data and permissible substitutions data in computer memory and processing LPMRP parts using a series of integrated LP and MRP methods; processing MRP parts and non-critical parts using a heuristic method; and consolidating output from the processing steps using linear programming and heuristic methods and providing a single output file. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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Specification