JPH0888157A - Production process schedule method and device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To make always a manufacturing schedule to all lots at a high efficiency in spite of the rate of undefined lots. CONSTITUTION: A production scheduler is used to defined lots to make automatically the manufacturing schedule of the defined lots (a step 101), a hand input is applied to undefined lots to make the manufacturing schedule of the undefined lots by a hand operation (a step 102), this manufacturing schedule made automatically and the manufacturing schedule made by the hand operation are merged (are coupled together) into each other (a step 103), corrections are made in the merged manufacturing schedule (a step 104) and a manufacturing schedule to all the lots is made to complete (a step 105).

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a special purpose LSI
The present invention relates to a production process schedule method and apparatus for creating a production schedule for all lots to be produced in a line such as a high-mix low-volume production line such as (ASIC) or a research and development line.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The production of LSI is carried out by processing hundreds of steps on a wafer such as silicon or gallium arsenide.
The production line is composed of a group of hundreds of devices used for this processing. In the conventional low-mix, high-volume production line, almost all lots are manufactured according to the same processing sequence (process flow) and processing conditions, so the production progress status of each lot is not paid attention to. Production control was performed by monitoring the number of lots waiting for work and the number of lots waiting to be processed.

On the other hand, in a high-mix low-volume production line,
Usually, lot size (number of wafers included in lot), delivery date, and priority are different for each lot.
In addition to this, there are cases where the process flow differs for each lot. Further, it is necessary to divide a lot and use different process flows after the process concerned, to consolidate lots to the contrary, or to perform complicated production such as processing under different processing conditions for each wafer in the same lot. Has occurred.

In order to deal with such a case, a production process scheduler (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-324664)
Has been proposed and used. If you use this production process scheduler, you can specify lot size, priority, process flow, processing condition for each process, operator, etc. for all lots to be manufactured in a line, and for each lot,
By efficiently allocating resources (manufacturing equipment, operators, etc.) on the line, it is possible to determine the execution time and execution operator of all lots and all processes. Also,
A production process scheduler and a lot tracking system (a system that monitors the progress of lots in real time) are combined to monitor the status of lines in real time, as well as various information necessary for production management (operation rate of equipment and operators, equipment). A system has been developed that can automatically collect the failure rate).

[0005]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the case of performing a version upgrade in a small-quantity, high-mix type production line to support the production of more advanced types, or in a research and development line, it is almost fixed on the line. In addition to the lot of the process flow (hereinafter, this lot is referred to as a confirmed lot), there are some lots whose process flow is not yet confirmed at the time of line introduction (hereinafter, this lot is referred to as an unconfirmed lot). In such an undetermined lot, the processing result is inspected for each process and reflected in the processing conditions of the next process, or a new lot is suddenly added and a new experiment is conducted to reflect the result. It is necessary to do such things as Therefore, in the undetermined lot, the process flow is changed, the priority of the lot is changed, and the processing condition is changed very frequently.

[0006] In such a line operation mode, if it is attempted to create a manufacturing schedule for all lots including undetermined lots by using the production process scheduler, a lot of information is input to the production process scheduler very frequently and quickly. However, it is necessary to recalculate the manufacturing schedule. For this reason, it may be more time-consuming to input the latest information into the production process scheduler and recalculate than the degree of efficiency improvement by automatically creating a manufacturing schedule (automatic creation). In some cases, it may be more efficient for the process manager to manually create the manufacturing schedule (manually create) using a word processing function or a spread sheet.

However, in a line in which fixed lots and unfixed lots coexist, when the proportion of unfixed lots is small, automatic creation using the production process scheduler is more efficient than manual creation, and undefined When the ratio of lots is large, manual creation is more efficient than automatic creation using the production process scheduler, and a manufacturing schedule for all lots can be created with high efficiency regardless of the ratio of undetermined lots. I couldn't say that.

The present invention has been made in order to solve such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to make it possible to create a manufacturing schedule for all lots with high efficiency at all times regardless of the proportion of undetermined lots. Another object of the present invention is to provide a method and an apparatus for scheduling various production processes.

[0009]

In order to achieve such an object, the first invention (the invention according to claim 1) of the first invention (the invention according to claim 1) automatically creates a manufacturing schedule for a fixed lot by using a production process scheduler. The manufacturing schedule for undetermined lots shall be manually created by manual input, and the manufacturing schedule for all lots shall be created by combining this automatically created manufacturing schedule and the manually created manufacturing schedule. It is something that is done.

The second invention (the invention according to claim 2)
Connects a personal computer to a workstation equipped with a production process scheduler via a network, and the production schedule automatically created by the production process scheduler sent from the workstation to the personal computer is input to the scheduling result display means. Interface means for converting, and schedule combining means for combining the manufacturing schedule manually created as an input format of the scheduling result display means with the manufacturing schedule converted into the input format of the scheduling result display means by the interface means are provided. , The manufacturing schedule combined by the schedule combining means is displayed on the screen of the personal computer in an editable form in the form of an image or a line table by using the scheduling result display means. It is obtained by way.

The third invention (the invention according to claim 3)
In the second invention, a personal computer is connected to a lot tracking means via a network, and the production schedule for all lots combined by the schedule combining means and the progress of each lot given via the lot tracking means are recorded in the personal computer. It is designed to be displayed on the screen so that they can be compared.

[0012]

Therefore, according to the present invention, in the first invention,
The manufacturing schedule of the fixed lot that is automatically created and the manufacturing schedule of the undetermined lot that is manually created are combined to create the manufacturing schedule for all lots.
As a result, when a process change occurs for an unconfirmed lot, the manufacturing schedule of this manually corrected unconfirmed lot and the automatically-created confirmed lot manufacturing schedule are manually corrected by manually inputting the manufacturing schedule. And are combined to create a new manufacturing schedule for all lots without having to recalculate the manufacturing schedule using the production process scheduler.

According to the second aspect of the invention, the automatically created manufacturing schedule is converted into the input format of the scheduling result display means, and is combined with the manually created manufacturing schedule as the input format of the scheduling result display means, so that the personal It is displayed on the computer screen in the form of an image or a line chart so that it can be edited. In the third invention,
In the second invention, the manufacturing schedule for all lots and the progress status of each lot are displayed on the screen of the personal computer in a comparable manner.

[0014]

EXAMPLES The present invention will now be described in detail based on examples. [Embodiment 1] FIG. 2 is a system configuration diagram schematically showing a first embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 1 is a workstation, 2 is a personal computer, 3 is a printer, and the workstation 1, the personal computer 2 and the printer 3 are connected by a network.

The workstation 1 includes a production process scheduler 1-1 and interface software (transmitter) 1
-2 is implemented. Devices and operators on the line are registered in the production process scheduler 1-1. The production process scheduler 1-1 inputs, for each lot, a priority, a lot size, a process flow, a device used for each process, processing conditions, etc. Performs schedule calculations to optimize equipment, processing operators, etc. The production schedule scheduler 1-1 is used to calculate the manufacturing schedule of the fixed lot (step 101 shown in FIG. 1), and the calculation result is sent to the personal computer 2 via the interface software 1-2.

The personal computer 2 is equipped with interface software (reception unit) 2-1 and application software 2-2. In the personal computer 2, the manufacturing schedule of the undetermined lot is manually created by manual input (step 102). The manufacturing schedule of this undetermined lot is input in the form of a data file of the application software 2-2. The production schedule of the fixed lot from the production process scheduler 1-1 is converted into the data file format of the application software 2-2 by the interface software 2-1. The personal computer 2 completes the manufacturing schedule for all lots in the data file format of the application software 2-2 by merging (combining) these schedule results (step 103) and correcting (step 104) (step). 105).

The detailed flow of schedule creation according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 3 is an example of an output file of a production schedule of a fixed lot automatically created by the production process scheduler 1-1. The production process scheduler 1-1 outputs the process start time, the process end time, the device used, the processing condition used, the processing operator, etc. in a text format for each lot and process. This output is input to the interface software 1-2, where a file (for example, M
It is converted into an S-DOS text format) and transmitted as an intermediate file to the personal computer 2 through the network.

In the personal computer 2, the interface software 2-1 receives the intermediate file from the workstation 1, and further the application software 2
-2 (for example, spread sheet or image drawing software). In order to assist this conversion and to match the format with the manually created production schedule data file of the undetermined lot, prepare the template (data file of application software containing only the time axis and ruled lines) as shown in Fig. 4 in advance. I'll do it.

By comparing the time axis scale of the template with the process start and end times contained in the intermediate file, a schedule file in a format in which the schedule of each lot can be seen at a glance, for example, a line table format, is created. An example of the schedule file is shown in FIG. After the conversion, the schedule file can be freely edited as a data file of the application software 2-2.

On the other hand, for the undetermined lot, the process manager manually creates the manufacturing schedule in the form of a data file of the application software 2-2 (for example, spread sheet or image drawing software). Here, using the same template (FIG. 4) as when the manufacturing schedule automatically created by the production process scheduler 1-1 is converted into the data file format of the application software 2-2, the manufacturing of the undetermined lot is manually performed. Manually create a schedule. This makes it possible to easily combine the manufacturing schedule of the fixed lot and the manufacturing schedule of the unfixed lot. An example of a manually created schedule file is shown in FIG.

The personal computer 2 merges both schedule files and displays them on the screen.
The manufacturing schedule for all lots as shown in FIG. 7 is completed by slightly modifying the displayed schedule as needed. This is printed by the printer 3 and used as a work instruction sheet for all operators of several tens to several hundreds.

Here, when a process change occurs in an undetermined lot, the manufacturing schedule is manually corrected by manual input. As a result, the manually corrected unfixed lot manufacturing schedule and the automatically created fixed lot manufacturing schedule are combined, and the entire manufacturing schedule is recalculated without using the production process scheduler 1-1. A new manufacturing schedule for will be created.

FIG. 8 shows the effect of this embodiment in comparison with the conventional one. In the figure, I, II, and III represent the characteristics of plotting the man-hours (arbitrary unit) required to create a schedule for the high-mix low-volume LSI production line with an annual production volume of about 1000 lots against the ratio of undetermined lots to all lots I indicates the characteristics when a manufacturing schedule for all lots including unconfirmed lots is created only by automatic creation, II is the characteristics when the manufacturing schedule for all lots including unconfirmed lots is created only by manual creation, and III is Method according to this embodiment (automatic creation + manual creation)
Shows the characteristics when a manufacturing schedule is created for all lots.

As can be seen from this characteristic, when the number of undecided lots is small, automatic creation using the production process scheduler leads to a great improvement in efficiency, but when the ratio of undecided lots becomes large, it is rather created manually. Is more efficient. On the other hand, according to the combined method of automatic creation and manual creation according to the present embodiment, the advantages of both are taken, and it is possible to create a production schedule for all lots with high efficiency at all times regardless of the ratio of undetermined lots. become able to.

That is, in the LSI research and development line and the small-quantity multi-product production line, there is a small number of undetermined lots, which requires excessive flexibility in the process management system, and double operation of manual work and FA system. In many cases, there is a need for management, which may be an obstacle to the full-scale introduction of FA and SIM. In this embodiment, all the lots including the undetermined lot and all the processes are put under the control of the process control system while leaving some of the manual work, and the flexibility of the manual work and the production control schedule by the computer. I try to balance the efficiency of creation.

[Second Embodiment] FIG. 9 is a system configuration diagram showing the outline of a second embodiment of the present invention. In this example,
Many bar code readers 4 are arranged on the factory floor as lot tracking means, and these bar code readers 4 are connected to the personal computer 2 via a network.

According to this embodiment, the bar code attached to each lot is read by the bar code reader 4 at the start and end of each process, so that the progress of processing of the lot can be monitored by the personal computer 2 for all lots. It can be monitored in real time on the screen.

In other words, in this embodiment, the manufacturing schedule created for all lots and the progress status (tracking data) of each lot given via the bar code reader 4 are displayed on the screen of the personal computer 2. By displaying comparatively, it is possible to easily compare the actual values with respect to the production plans in real time. In addition, statistically processing the difference between the planned processing time of each lot and each process and the actual processing time makes it easy to statistically process important information for line management, such as line availability and equipment failure rate. it can.

[Third Embodiment] FIG. 10 is a system block diagram showing the outline of a third embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, a small personal computer (hereinafter referred to as a small PC) 5 is used instead of the dedicated hardware such as the bar code reader 4 as the lot tracking means.
Is used.

In this embodiment, the schedule file is copied from a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as a server PC) 2 storing the original schedule file to a small PC 5 in the factory through a LAN (local area network). To be done. When a process is started or finished, the operator marks the started or finished process in the schedule file on the small PC 5. Then, this mark is a small PC / 5 and a server PC
-It is copied on all PCs by the communication function with 2.

As a result, the process manager and the operator in the factory can confirm the progress of the process on the schedule file in real time. By mounting a multi-window OS, the small PC / 5 can be used for multiple purposes such as information communication and data analysis in addition to schedule display and lot tracking, so compared to when using a single-function barcode reader. The advanced line management function can be realized with less hardware installation space.

[0032]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, in the first invention, the manufacturing schedule is automatically created for the fixed lot by using the production process scheduler, and the unfixed lot is determined. For this, the manufacturing schedule is manually created by manual input, and the manufacturing schedule for all lots is created by combining the automatically created manufacturing schedule and the manually created manufacturing schedule. When a process change occurs for a fixed lot, the manufacturing schedule of the manually fixed unfixed lot and the automatically created manufacturing schedule of the fixed lot are combined by manually correcting the manufacturing schedule manually. , Without having to recalculate the manufacturing schedule using the production process scheduler, New manufacturing schedule is assumed to be created for Tsu bets, it is possible to create a production schedule for all lots at all times a high efficiency irrespective of the percentage of undetermined lots.

According to the second aspect of the invention, the automatically created manufacturing schedule is converted into the input format of the scheduling result display means, and is combined with the manually created manufacturing schedule as the input format of the scheduling result display means. It will be displayed on the computer screen in the form of an image or line table so that it can be edited, and by automatically creating the manufacturing schedule for the fixed lot and manually creating the manufacturing schedule for the unfixed lot, As an easy-to-read format, it is possible to create a production schedule for all lots with high efficiency regardless of the proportion of undetermined lots.

Further, in the third invention, in the second invention,
The manufacturing schedule for all lots and the progress status of each lot are displayed comparably on the screen of the personal computer. In addition to the effect of the second invention, the actual values for the production plans can be easily compared in real time. Will be able to.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing an outline of a production process schedule method according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a system configuration diagram showing an outline of a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of an output file of a manufacturing schedule of a fixed lot automatically created by a production process scheduler.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a template file for application software on a personal computer.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a schedule file in which an output file of a production process scheduler is converted into a template using interface software.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a manually created schedule file for an undetermined lot.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a schedule file (completion image) in which the schedule file shown in FIG. 5 and the schedule file shown in FIG.

[Figure 8] Man-hours required to create a schedule (arbitrary unit)
It is a figure which shows the characteristic in each case which plotted with respect to the ratio of the undetermined lot with respect to all lots.

FIG. 9 is a system configuration diagram showing an outline of a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a system configuration diagram showing an outline of a third embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Workstation, 1-1 ... Production process scheduler, 1-2 ... Interface software (transmission unit), 2 ... Personal computer, 2-1 ... Interface software (reception unit), 2-2 ... Application software, 3 ... Printer 4 ... Bar code reader, 5 ... Small personal computer.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A production schedule for a fixed lot is automatically created by using a production process scheduler, and a production schedule is manually created for an unfixed lot by manually inputting the production schedule automatically created. A production process schedule method, wherein a production schedule for all lots is created by combining with a manually created production schedule. 2. A workstation equipped with a production process scheduler, and a personal computer connected to the workstation via a network, wherein the personal computer is automatically operated by the production process scheduler sent from the workstation. Interface means for converting the created manufacturing schedule into an input format of the scheduling result display means, a manufacturing schedule manually created as an input format of the scheduling result display means, and input of the scheduling result display means by the interface means Schedule combining means for combining the production schedules converted into the format, wherein the scheduling result display means comprises the manufacturing schedules combined by the schedule combining means. Production schedule system, characterized in that it has a function to allow displaying edited Joule in the form of images and Senpyo on the screen of the personal computer. 3. The personal computer according to claim 2, wherein the lot tracking means is connected to the personal computer via a network, and the manufacturing schedule for all lots combined by the schedule combining means and the progress status of each lot given through the lot tracking means. , A production process schedule device, which is displayed on a screen of a personal computer in a comparable manner.