Solving the problem of product-conversion in semiconductor assembly and test manufacturing system by a novel heuristic scheduling algorithm

In this paper, a novel heuristic scheduling algorithm is proposed to solve the problem of product-conversion in semiconductor assembly and test manufacturing (ATM) system. The phenomenon of product-conversion is frequent and takes a lot of time in ATM enterprise. In order to reduce the frequency of product-conversion and minimize the conversion time in product-conversion station, the novel algorithm has predicted and limited the number of the permissible assigned machines for each type of products according to the processing conditions before scheduling; and takes processing conditions as the priority principle of assignment in the follow-up process; in addition, the algorithm sets up a decision-making mechanism when the machine should convert the product. Finally, comparing the algorithm with two traditional methods, the results show that the scheduling using the novel algorithm has an obvious advantage, it improves the utilization rate of equipment and productiveness.