A simulation model based on a real wafer fabrication is used to investigate the robustness of the two boundary (TB) production control strategy to the existing uniform loading policy used in a semiconductor fab. Our findings confirm that the TB policy is the most robust of all when random...

A single-machine multiproduct manufacturing system with random breakdowns and random repair times is considered. Under a weak capacity condition on the system it is shown that the total work-in-progress (WIP) is a recurrent stochastic process. By replacing the stochastic model by a deterministic...

In this paper, we consider a production planning problem in a two-machine flowshop subject to breakdown and repair of machines and subject to non-negativity constraints on work-in-process. The machine capacities and demand processes are assumed to be finite state Markov chains. The problem is to...

The mean flow time problem and the mean absolute deviation problem for multiple uniform parallel machines are shown to be equivalent. For multiple unrelated parallel machines, a reduction of the mean absolute deviation problem into a transportation problem is presented

A single machine processing different types of parts is considered. Switching from one type to another involves a setup time. The part types may have different processing times. The resulting scheduling problem is treated as a dynamical system for which several feedback policies that are...

This paper describes a flow rate control policy to manage the production of a wafer fabrication facility. The policy is derived by formulating and solving a stochastic control problem. The results are then used to develop two sets of production control rules. The first one adjusts the lot...

In many manufacturing systems, parts must be fed to automatic machines in a specific orientation. This is often accomplished by what are known as part-orienting systems (POSs). A POS consists of one or more separate devices that orient parts, usually with multiple orientations. A theoretical...

We consider a problem of controlling the production rate of a single machine, single product, stochastic manufacturing system in order to minimize the total discounted inventory /backlog costs. The demand has two components: one is deterministic with constant rate d and the other is stochastic...

This paper compares for production control policies in terms of their robustness against random disturbance such as machine failures and demand fluctuations. A simulation model based on a VLSI wafer fabrication facility is used to test the performance of the policies. Several criteria including...