Interim equipment shutdown planning for a wafer fab during economic downturns

Because of the low equipment utilization during periods of economic recession, managers of wafer fabs are forced to plan equipment shutdowns in order to reduce variable cost and reallocate resources. Unfortunately, few studies have proposed effective solutions for equipment shutdown planning in response to economic downturns. Taking into consideration the product mix, corresponding output target, excessive capacity, production performance impact and the variable cost savings, this paper presents a new mechanism for equipment shutdown planning using a developed integer programming model. The proposed mechanism effectively provides valuable recommendations for the managements of wafer fabs regarding the type and quantity of equipment to shut down.