A due-date based production control policy using WIP balance for implementation in semiconductor fabrications

Production control policies are critical in the re-entrant processes of semiconductor fabrication. Manufacturing control policies such as input dispatching rules, CONWIP, and optimization-based rules have been implemented according to the managerial objectives of the wafer fabrication line. When few semiconductor wafer fabrication facilities were available, and the semiconductor industry was a seller's market, fabrications were operated to achieve both a high rate of production and high utilization of equipment. With the availability of more fabrications and the gradual shift to a buyer's market, customer satisfaction became a major measure of performance in semiconductor manufacturing. In this paper, due-date based production control policies for semiconductor fabrications are suggested, and their performances evaluated. Target balance (TB) optimization models using production target, due-dates, and WIP (work-in-process) are presented. The evaluation result shows that the TB models perform better than the ones cited in the literature.