Job release based on WIPLOAD control in semiconductor wafer fabrication

This paper presents and evaluates a new job release methodology, WIPLOAD Control, in semiconductor wafer fabrication environment. The performance of the proposed methodology is evaluated using simulation experiments under different system configurations, in comparison with two widely discussed existing job release methodologies, CONWIP and Workload Regulating. A case study is also conducted by simulating a real-life wafer fabrication facility. Based on the experimental results, it appears that WIPLOAD Control is a reliable job release methodology, which can efficiently reduce average cycle time and standard deviation of cycle time for a given throughput level