ILOG Fab PowerOps Delivers Higher Throughput, Faster Hot Lot Processing,
Increased Tool Utilization and Reduced Capital Equipment Costs
SEMICON West, SAN FRANCISCO, July 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- ILOG(R)
(Nasdaq: ILOG; Euronext: ILO, ISIN: FR0004042364) today unveiled ILOG Fab
PowerOps(TM) -- the first software package to comprehensively address
production scheduling for all essential front-end process areas within a
300 millimeter semiconductor fabrication plant (fab). Unlike other
solutions, ILOG Fab PowerOps (FPO) can create optimal, forward-looking
production schedules for all tools within a given fab process area, as well
as create new schedules every five minutes. Available immediately and
offered as a suite of modules, ILOG FPO enables detailed scheduling that
allows users to automatically and continuously respond to the realities of
the fab environment, resulting in improved throughput, shortened hot-lot
cycle times, increased tool utilization, reduced capital equipment costs
and faster response times to unplanned events. The announcement was made at
SEMICON West, being held at the Moscone Convention Center, July 10-14.
Semiconductor scheduling is extremely specialized and complex. Each
process flow in a wafer fab can contain 200-500 processing steps and
utilize more than one hundred machines, each costing as much as tens of
millions of dollars. Even small increases in efficiency yield enormous
benefits, so semiconductor fabs need real-time detailed production
scheduling software to shorten production lead times, reduce capital
equipment costs and accelerate new product introductions.
Despite the significant impact of efficient fab scheduling, prior to
the availability of ILOG FPO, semiconductor manufacturers had few choices
for production scheduling. Generic scheduling modules within Enterprise
Resource Planning (ERP) and Supply Chain Management (SCM) packages address
neither the unique requirements nor the complexities of the semiconductor
fab environment. Other widely-used solutions from specialized vendors can
sort lot lists for single process steps, but cannot assign and balance work
in progress (WIP) across all tools in a process area.
Previously-available solutions also do not support tool dedication,
which allow for WIP on one machine to return to the same machine later in
the process, nor do existing solutions simultaneously schedule across all
tools within a process area.
Leveraging ILOG's market-leading optimization, business rule and
visualization technologies combined with detailed fab operational models,
ILOG FPO addresses production scheduling issues across the following
process areas: diffusion, photo, etch, thin films, chemical mechanical
polishing (CMP) and implant. ILOG FPO delivers schedules based on the
evaluation of the WIP, tools, steps and process timing constraints in
multiple alternative schedules before recommending the optimal schedule for
a process area. With ILOG FPO, a scheduling problem can be addressed based
on the real conditions of the fab environment, giving users more control
over unplanned events, such as tool interruptions, recipe qualifications
and hot lots (urgent orders). The tool can also reduce capital equipment
outlay by leveraging existing capacity. In addition, the custom
configuration ability of FPO means that each process can be tailored to
meet the requirements of each individual customer's fab facility.
ILOG FPO can also handle re-entrant flows. This support is essential
for photolithography process scheduling and is also important for creating
better yield and quality. And because it is based on the advances in ILOG's
visualization technology, ILOG FPO not only provides superior operational
visibility for FPO users, it is also the first product in semiconductor
manufacturing to offer a Gantt chart display for scheduling. ILOG's
business rule management technology in the product means that FPO is
adaptable, and that as scheduling parameters change, users can easily write
new rules without re-coding.
ILOG FPO has already been used to optimize production scheduling at a
leading-edge 300 millimeter fab in the U.S. The implementation of ILOG FPO
increased production throughput and reduced hot lot processing time in a
target process area. ILOG's solution for real-time, detailed production
scheduling in semiconductor manufacturing, also improved visibility over
fab status.
ILOG FPO has three main parts:
-- Dedicated scheduling engines with detailed tool models for each process
area -- Diffusion, Photo, Etch, Thin Films, CMP and Implant.
-- Analyzer: FPO's graphical user interface, which allows tool operators
and industrial engineers to monitor schedules and key performance
indicators, such as cycle times, queue time, process time and idle time
by tool, tool type or for the entire process area.
-- Backbone: This is the middleware portion of ILOG FPO, which connects
FPO to the manufacturing execution system (MES) or other data source.
It also contains the Rule Builder for editing data processing rules and
manufacturing logic.
The ILOG PowerOps Suite of applications leverages ILOG's decade-long
track record of providing optimization-based planning and scheduling
solutions to more than 1,000 commercial customers, including 160 members of
the Global 500, such as Airbus, Coors, Dell, Hansol Paper, Michelin,
Mitsubishi Chemicals, Nippon Steel, Nissan, Porsche, Saint Gobain, Thyssen
Krupp, and Toyota. ILOG's planning and scheduling solutions, which comprise
tools, engines and applications are also used by leading Supply Chain
Management software vendors, including Infor, Manhattan Associates, JDA
Software/Manugistics, Oracle, and SAP, as well as in research programs at
over 1,000 universities around the world. For more information on ILOG Fab
PowerOps please visit http://fpo.ilog.com . For more information on the
ILOG PowerOps Suite, please visit http://applications.ilog.com .
About ILOG
ILOG delivers software and services that empower customers to make
better decisions faster and manage change and complexity. Over 2,500 global
corporations and more than 465 leading software vendors rely on ILOG's
market-leading business rule management system (BRMS), optimization and
visualization software components, to achieve dramatic returns on
investment, create market-defining products and services, and sharpen their
competitive edge. ILOG was founded in 1987 and employs more than 730 people
worldwide. For more information, please visit http://www.ilog.com.
NOTE: ILOG is a registered trademark, and ILOG Fab PowerOps is a
trademark, of ILOG. All other trademarks are the properties of their
respective owners.
SOURCE ILOG
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Related links:
http://www.ilog.com/
CONTACT:
Monika Raj, PR Manager, US of ILOG,
+1-650-567-8128
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