JP2001249712A - Work instructing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve production efficiency by inputting an optimal work instruction to each processing facility in a process system producing factory adopting a job shop style production system. SOLUTION: A proper work-in-process capable of rapidly reducing that of each processing facility is set based on simulation, and a valid work-in-process being the target of each processing facility is obtained based on the proper work-in-process and the present work-in-process, and each processing facility is instructed to process the valid work-in-process in the order of the dates of delivery. Thus, the work-in-process quantity can be reduced according to the most valid mechanism state of each processing facility, and the work object of each processing facility can be limited to the valid work-in-process. Therefore, it is possible to improve the production efficiency by making the present work- in-process quickly approach the proper one.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a work instructing device, and more particularly to a work instructing device capable of giving an appropriate work instruction to each processing facility in a process-based production plant where production fluctuations are intense and the production process is complicated. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a process-based production plant for producing semiconductors and the like, since there are many types of products to be produced and the production process is complicated, it is not possible to take an in-line production form using a belt conveyor or the like. The production format is a job shop format in which each lot is transported to processing equipment and processed.

In such a job shop style production mode, the production factory is modeled on a computer, a simulation is performed, and the result is adopted as a work plan to improve production efficiency.

FIG. 19 is a schematic diagram of a semiconductor manufacturing plant which is an example of a process-based production plant. The semiconductor manufacturing plant has a sputter that performs various processes on the semiconductor wafer 80.
20, curve tracer 30, wafer prober 40, stepper 5
0, processing equipment such as an etching device 60, a grinding machine 70, and the like, and a work instruction device 10 for giving a work instruction such as a processing order to each processing equipment are provided. The semiconductor wafer 80 is transported to each processing facility in lot units according to the processing steps, and processed according to instructions from the work instruction device 10.

FIG. 20 shows an example of a semiconductor manufacturing process. The semiconductor is manufactured by performing various processes on the semiconductor wafer 80.
For example, an A step of polishing the surface of the semiconductor wafer 80 by the grinder 70, a B step of exposing the gate layer by the stepper 50, a C step of etching the gate layer by the etching device 60, and a D step of exposing the drain layer by the stepper 50 Step E of etching the drain layer by the etching apparatus 60, and Step F of forming aluminum wiring by sputtering 20.
There are processes.

As described above, a semiconductor is manufactured through various processes. However, in a process-based production plant, the same process such as the stepper 50 or the etching apparatus 60 is performed in different processes such as the B and D processes or the C and E processes. Equipment is often used repeatedly. For this reason, it is difficult to judge in what order the semiconductor wafers 80 having different processes are processed in each processing facility to improve the production efficiency, and the processing is usually performed in each processing facility in the order of the in-process delivery date.

[0007]

However, in a process-based production factory, production fluctuations are so severe that the production process is complicated. Therefore, if the processing in each processing equipment is simply processed in the order of delivery date, the processing in some processing equipment becomes excessive. In other processing facilities, a situation in which the work in process is insufficient occurs, and the production efficiency often decreases due to work congestion.

[0008] In a process-based production plant, the production efficiency is highest when there is an appropriate amount of work in each processing facility or each process. It is very difficult to find the right amount of work in equipment or each process.

For example, even when a work plan is made based on a simulation, the work plan does not consider the failure of the processing equipment or simply takes in the failure of the processing equipment stochastically. For this reason, unpredictable situations, such as a failure that actually occurs in the processing equipment and an operator's mistake in starting the work, disrupt the distribution state of the work in process, and significantly reduce the production efficiency.

[0010] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a work instruction apparatus capable of improving production efficiency by giving appropriate work instructions to each processing facility in a process-based production factory taking a production form of a job shop format. It is in.

[0011]

In order to achieve the above object, one aspect of the present invention is to set a proper work in which the work in each processing equipment can be rapidly reduced based on a simulation, The present invention is characterized in that an effective work in process of each processing equipment is obtained based on the work in progress and the current work in progress, and each processing equipment is instructed to process the effective work in order of delivery date. According to the present invention, the work target of each processing facility can be limited to the effective work that is effective in reducing the work, so that the current work can be quickly brought close to the proper work and the production efficiency can be improved.

In order to achieve the above object, another aspect of the present invention is a work instruction apparatus for instructing a plurality of processing facilities for performing different processings in a processing order of a plurality of processes manufactured in different processes. A long-term best solution simulation executing means for performing a simulation in which the plurality of processing facilities process the plurality of processes and obtaining a long-term best solution in which the processes of each processing facility converge to a predetermined value within a predetermined period; and Differentiating the in-process transition to determine the in-process fluctuation speed, and in-process fluctuation differentiating means for detecting the fluctuation range or stable area of the in-process transition, and when the in-process fluctuation differentiating means detects the fluctuation range, the long-term best solution In-process transition is differentiated twice to obtain the in-process fluctuation acceleration, and further, the in-process fluctuation energy is obtained by the product of the in-process fluctuation acceleration and the in-process, and the in-process fluctuation energy is maximized. A work area distribution of the long-term best solution at the point where the work-in-progress distribution of the long-term best solution in the stable area is detected. A stable area in-process generation means for making the in-process distribution an optimal in-process for each process in the stable area, and instructing each processing facility based on the appropriate in-process for the process in the variable area or the stable area. And

According to the present invention, when the number of works in each processing facility is large and it is necessary to reduce the work quickly, the work-in-progress distribution in a variable region where the work in the long-term best solution can be rapidly reduced is determined. If the processing can be performed stably in each processing facility, the processing distribution in the stable region of the long-term best solution is determined as the appropriate processing. Therefore, the appropriate work in process is the most effective work amount for reducing the work in progress according to the work state of each processing facility, so that the production efficiency of each processing facility can be improved.

Further, in the above-mentioned invention, a preferable aspect is that, based on the appropriate work in process in the above-mentioned fluctuation range or the stable range and the current work in each process, an effective work in each process to be worked in each process. Effective work in progress setting means to be calculated, and work instruction generating means for classifying the effective work in each process by processing equipment and instructing each processing equipment to process the effective work in each processing equipment based on a delivery date. It is characterized by.

According to the present invention, the current work-in-process is larger than the appropriate work-in-process in order not to use the current work-in-process as the work target of each processing facility but to set the effective work-in-process effective for the efficient processing of the work-in-process. Even in an excessive state, it is possible to narrow down the work targets, and to guide the current work in progress to an appropriate work in a short time.

Further, in the above invention, a preferable mode is that the long-term best solution simulation executing means re-simulates when the ratio between the effective work in progress and the current work in each process or each processing equipment is out of a predetermined range. And a proper work-in-process reset determination means for instructing to perform the process.

According to the present invention, a re-simulation is performed in accordance with the transition of the work in each processing facility, and a new proper work effective for reducing the work is set, so that the work in each processing facility is quickly brought close to the proper work. Production efficiency can be improved.

[0018]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. However, such embodiments do not limit the technical scope of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a work instruction device 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Work instruction device of the present embodiment
10 is a long-term best solution simulation execution device that performs a simulation until a stable production state is reached after a predetermined period from the start of production, based on a production amount, a processing time of a process, and the like.
100, an in-process variation differential analysis device 200 that determines whether the production status is fluctuating or stable from the simulation result, a fluctuation range in-process generation device 300 that calculates an appropriate in-process in the fluctuation range of the production status, and a production status And a stable area in-process generation device 400 that calculates an appropriate in-process in the stable area.

The work instructing device 10 further includes an effective in-work setting device 500 for obtaining an effective in-work which is an actual work target based on the appropriate in-process and the current in-progress, and a work instruction for instructing each processing facility in the working order of the effective in-work. It has a generation device 600 and an appropriate in-process resetting determination device 700 that reviews the appropriate in-process when the ratio of the effective in-process to the current in-process is out of a predetermined range.

The work instructing device 10 of the present embodiment sets an appropriate work that can rapidly reduce the work of each processing equipment based on a simulation, and sets the actual work of each processing equipment based on the appropriate work and the current work. Since the effective work in process is obtained and the work in each processing facility is limited to the effective work effective in reducing the work in progress, the current work in process can be quickly brought closer to the appropriate work in order to improve the production efficiency.

Next, the operation of the work instruction apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. First, in the long-term best solution simulation execution device 100, a simulation is performed for a process-related production plant in which the current work is in an excessive work-in-progress state, which is larger than the proper work-in-progress.
Then, simulations are performed a plurality of times while changing parameters such as the amount of work in process and the order of processing in each processing facility, and the work in progress of each processing facility converges on the proper work within a predetermined period, and during the working period of each processing facility. A simulation reference solution in which a certain turn or production amount achieves a target is selected as a long-term best solution (step S1). FIG. 4 described below is an example of a long-term best solution.

Next, the in-process variation differential analyzer 200 differentiates the in-process change of the long-term best solution to obtain the in-process reduction speed,
A fluctuation range or a stable range of the in-process is detected from the transition of the in-process reduction speed (step S2). FIG. 6 described later shows the in-process reduction speed and the in-process variation range.

When the fluctuation range is detected in step S2 (Yes), the fluctuation range in-process generation device 300 further differentiates the fluctuation speed of the progress in the fluctuation range to obtain the fluctuation in progress, and multiplies this by the amount of progress to calculate the fluctuation in the progress. Seeking energy. Then, the date when the in-process variation energy is maximized is set as an analysis point, and the in-process distribution of the long-term best solution at the analysis point is extracted, and the in-process distribution is tabulated for each process to obtain a proper in-process for each process (step S3). FIG. 8 to be described later shows changes in the in-process variation acceleration and the in-process variation energy.

On the other hand, if a stable region is detected in step S2 (No), the stable region in-process generator 400 extracts the average of the stable region as the analysis date and extracts the in-process distribution of the long-term best solution at this analysis point. Then, this work-in-progress distribution is tabulated for each process to obtain a proper work-in-process for each process (step S4). FIG. 11 to be described later shows an example of a stable region and an analysis point.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, when there is a large number of processes in each processing facility and it is necessary to reduce the processes quickly, the process distribution in a fluctuation range in which the processes in the long-term best solution can be rapidly reduced. Is appropriate, and if the processing can be performed stably in each processing facility, the in-process distribution in the stable region of the long-term best solution is determined as appropriate. Therefore, the proper work-in-progress is the most effective work-in-progress in reducing the work-in-progress in accordance with the work-in-process state of each processing facility, and the production efficiency of each processing facility can be improved.

Next, the effective work setting device 500 sets an effective work to be processed by each processing facility based on the proper work and the current work (step S5). In the present embodiment,
Instead of using the current work in process as the work target of each processing facility, the effective work that is effective for efficient processing of the work is set as the work target. For this reason, it is possible to narrow down the work targets even in the state of excess work in which the current work is larger than the appropriate work,
Current work in progress can be guided to appropriate work in a short period of time.

Next, the work instruction generation device 600 classifies the effective work in process for each processing facility and instructs each processing facility to perform processing in ascending order of the margin of the delivery date of each work (step S6). . As described above, in the present embodiment, since each processing facility is instructed to process the effective works effective in reducing the work in order of the due date, the current work can be quickly brought closer to the proper work.

By giving such a work instruction, the work in each processing facility is gradually reduced. However, the target effective work and appropriate work are reviewed according to the progress of the work. For this reason, the effective work-in-process resetting determination device 700 obtains the effective work-in-process ratio, which is the ratio of the effective work-in-progress to the current work-in-progress (step S7).
If the effective work-in-progress ratio is within the predetermined range (Yes), the appropriate work-in-progress is not changed, and a new effective work-in-process is obtained in steps S5 and S6 based on the current work-in-progress at that time, and the work is performed based on the new effective work-in-progress. Make instructions.

On the other hand, if the effective work-in-progress ratio is out of the predetermined range in step S7 (No), the process proceeds to step S1.
Then, the long-term best solution simulation is re-executed to set a new proper work, and to issue a work instruction based on the new proper work.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, a new effective work or an effective work that is effective in reducing the work is set in accordance with the change in the work in each processing facility, and a work instruction is issued based on the set value. As a result, the work in each processing facility can be quickly brought close to the proper work, and the production efficiency can be improved.

Next, the configuration of each section of the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the long-term best solution simulation execution device 100 of the present embodiment. The long-term best solution simulation execution device 100 is a parameter storage device that stores a plurality of parameters serving as simulation conditions.
It has a simulation 101 and a simulation execution device 102, and executes a simulation several times by changing parameters.

In each simulation, the simulation executing unit 103 generates parameters corresponding to the simulation conditions of each simulation by the parameter generation device 104, and receives necessary lot information from the input information storage device 105 and the in-process information storage device 106. , Simulator device 107
To execute a long-term simulation.

In this case, the simulation result is stored in the simulation result storage device 108. Since the simulation is performed a plurality of times, the simulation result storage device 108 stores the results of the simulation a plurality of times.

On the other hand, the factory target value storage device 109 stores data such as a target turn, a target work volume, and the like. And data such as the amount of work in process.

The convergence data and each simulation result stored in the simulation result storage device 108 are transferred to the convergence evaluation device 111, and the convergence evaluation device 111 compares each simulation result with the convergence data and evaluates it.

If there is no simulation result that satisfies the convergence data in the convergence evaluation device 111, an instruction to change parameters, target values, and the like is issued, the correction device 112 corrects the parameters, relaxes the target values, and the like. , A plurality of simulations are attempted.

On the other hand, when the simulation result converges to the convergence data, the evaluation result of the convergence evaluation device 111 is transferred to the best solution extraction device 113, and the best solution extraction device 113 has the highest evaluation in a plurality of simulations. The simulation result is extracted as the best solution, and the best solution is transferred to the in-process variation differential analysis device 200.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a long-term best solution in a simulation of a process-based production plant in which a current work is in an excessive work in excess of an appropriate work. This is one solution obtained by performing the long-term simulation a plurality of times by changing the parameters of the simulation variously.
Note that the horizontal axis is time and the vertical axis is the amount of work in progress.

The long-term best solution shows the transition of the work-in-progress distribution when the processing based on the simulation result is performed in each processing facility. In this example, the work-in-progress state at the present time point ta is not sufficient for a while. It changes without decreasing, and the work in progress decreases most around time tb, and reaches the target stable work in progress near time tc.

In the present embodiment, as a proper in-process at the present time point ta, the in-process distribution at the time tb when the in-process is most rapidly reduced in the simulation is adopted, and the time until a stable in-process is obtained is shortened. Therefore, it is necessary to detect the time tb at which the in-process is reduced most rapidly.

FIG. 5 shows an in-process variation differential analysis apparatus 200 for detecting the time tb at which the in-process is reduced most rapidly from the long-term best solution.
FIG. When the long-term best solution is transferred, first, the in-process change differentiation analyzer 200 differentiates the in-process change in the in-process change differentiator 201 to obtain the in-process reduction speed.

The in-process reduction speed obtained by the in-process shift differentiating device 201 is transferred to the reduced speed result storage device 202. Then, the data in the reduced speed result storage device 202 is transferred to the fluctuation range detection device 204 together with the set data of the stable range and the stable period stored in the stability threshold storage device 203. When the in-process reduction speed exceeds the stable range and continues for a stable period or more, the fluctuation range detection device 204 detects the period as a fluctuation range and transfers the detection result to the stability determination device 206.

On the other hand, if the fluctuation region is not detected by the fluctuation region detecting device 204, the stable region detecting device 205 attempts to detect a stable region. The stable range detection device 205
If the in-process reduction speed continues within the stable range stored in the stability threshold storage device 203 for a stable period or more, the period is detected as a stable region, and the detection result is used as the stability determination device 20.
Transfer to 6.

The stability discrimination device 206 issues a start instruction to the fluctuating region in-process generation device 300 described below when the fluctuation region is detected, and starts the stabilization region in-process generation device 400 when the stable region is detected. Give instructions.

FIG. 6 is a graph of the in-process change and the in-process reduction speed obtained by differentiating the in-process change, and is a differential analysis result when a fluctuation range is detected. The dotted line in the graph of the in-process reduction speed is the stable range stored in the stability threshold storage device 203. In FIG. 6, a period from time td to time te in which the in-process reduction speed exceeds the stable range and continues for the stable period or more is the fluctuation range.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the fluctuation range and the stable region of the progress of the in-process are discriminated based on the speed of the progress of the progress of the process which is obtained by differentiating the progress of the in-process. , A fluctuation range in-process generation device 30 described below
0 or calculated by the stable area in-process generation device 400.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory view of the fluctuation area in-process generation device 300, and FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of the in-process reduction acceleration and the in-process reduction energy required by the fluctuation area in-progress generation apparatus 300.

When the fluctuation range of the in-process change is detected, the second-order differentiating device 301 of the fluctuation range in-progress generator 300 generates the fluctuation range.
The in-process transition is second-order differentiated to obtain the in-process reduction acceleration. As shown by the dotted line in FIG. 8, the in-process reduction acceleration shows a large change in a fluctuation range in which the in-process change rapidly decreases.

Next, the variable energy generation device 302 calculates the in-process fluctuation energy by multiplying the in-process reduction acceleration by the in-process amount at each time point. The in-process variation energy corresponds to the in-process change in consideration of the in-process amount, and shows a large value when a large in-process amount rapidly changes. The calculated in-process fluctuation energy is transferred to the analysis point extraction device 303.

The analysis point extracting device 303 extracts, as analysis points, the date on which the in-process reduction energy is maximized. The analysis point is transferred to the in-process data extraction device 304, and the in-process data extraction device 304 extracts the in-process distribution of the long-term best solution at the analysis point. The analysis point is, as shown in FIG. 8, the date when the in-process reduction energy reaches a maximum, that is, the date of the time tb at which the graph of the in-process reduction energy intersects with the graph of the in-process transition.

The work-in-progress distribution extracted by the work-in-process data extracting device 304 is classified and tabulated by process by the proper work-in-progress generating device 305, and becomes a proper work-in-process for each process.
Transferred to 500. FIG. 9 shows the appropriate work in process in the fluctuation range generated by the appropriate work in progress generating device 305. The proper work-in-progress is an optimal work-in-progress amount for efficiently processing a work-in-process in each process, and by giving a work instruction to bring an actual work-in-progress to a proper work-in-progress, production efficiency can be improved.

On the other hand, when the in-process fluctuation differential analysis device 200 detects a stable region of the progress of the in-process, the stable region in-process generation device 400 is started. FIG. 10 shows a stable area in-process generation device 400.
FIG. FIG. 11 shows a stable area in-process generation device.
FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of analysis points obtained by 400.

The stable area average date extraction device 401 of the stable area in-process generation apparatus 400 extracts an analysis point in the stable area in response to a start command from the in-process variation differential analysis apparatus 200. That is, when the stable region is a period from time tf to time th shown in FIG. 11, an average date of the stable region, for example, an intermediate date is extracted as an analysis point. Then, the in-process data extraction device 402 extracts the in-process distribution of the long-term best solution at the analysis point from the long-term best solution simulation execution device 100.

The work-in-progress distribution of the long-term best solution extracted by the work-in-process data extracting device 402 is classified and tabulated for each process by the proper work-in-progress generating device 403, becomes a proper work-in-process for each process, and is transferred to the effective work setting device 500. FIG. 12 shows an example of an appropriate work in process in the stable region for each process.

As described above, in the present embodiment, when there are a large number of processes and it is necessary to reduce the processes quickly, the process is determined as an appropriate process with a process distribution in a fluctuation range capable of rapidly reducing the processes. If stable production is possible, the in-process distribution in the stable region is determined as the appropriate in-process. Thereby, processing according to the in-process distribution becomes possible, and the production efficiency of each processing equipment can be improved.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram of the effective work in process setting device 500 according to the present embodiment. The appropriate in-process generated in the variable area in-process generating device 300 or the stable area in-process generating device 400 is transferred to and stored in the appropriate in-process storage device 501 of the effective in-process setting device 500. On the other hand, the completion result storage device 502 stores the result value of the completed processing. These data are transferred to the completion request amount extraction device 503, and the completion request amount extraction device 503
In step (1), the required amount of work in process of each process on a predetermined date is obtained.

On the other hand, the current in-process storage device 504 stores the current in-process data, and the process disassembly device 505.
As a result, the current work in progress is classified and tabulated for each process. The required process amount extraction device 506 extracts the required amount of the process based on the proper work in progress and the required amount from the subsequent process, and sets the effective process setting device 507.
Sets the effective process of the process based on the current process and the required amount of the process.

In the effective work setting apparatus 500, the required amount of work in the process, the effective work in the process, and the required amount of the previous process are obtained in order from the last process in the following procedure.

The required amount of work in the final process is the sum of the proper work in the final process and the required amount from the post-process. However, in the final process, the required amount from the post-process is 0.
Appropriate work in process is defined as the required amount of work in the final process.

Next, the effective work in the final process is the smaller of the current work and the required amount of work in the final process. Further, the required amount of the immediately preceding process is obtained by subtracting the current in-process of the final process from the required amount of the in-process in the final process.

That is, the required amount of the work in progress of the process, the effective work in progress of the process, and the required amount of the previous process can be obtained by the following equations.

Required amount of work in process of the relevant process = appropriate work in process of the relevant process + required amount from the subsequent process ... (1) Effective work of the relevant process = MIN (current work of the relevant process, required amount of the relevant process) ... (2 ) Required amount for the previous process = Required amount for the process-Current work in progress for the process… (3) MIN in equation (2) is the smaller of the current work in progress for the process or the required amount for the process Means to select.

FIG. 14 shows the required amount of the work in the process, the effective work in the process, the current work in progress and the proper work in each process.
And a specific example of obtaining a required amount for the preceding process.

In step 21, which is the final step, the current in-process is (2
(0), the appropriate work in progress is (35), and the required amount from the post-process is (0), so the required amount of the work in process 21 is (35) from the above equation (1). In addition, the effective work in progress becomes (20) from equation (2), and the required amount for the previous process becomes (15) from equation (3).

Next, in step 20, the current work is (10), the proper work is (52), and the required amount from step 21 is (15). The quantity becomes (67). In addition, the effective work in progress is changed from equation (2) to equation (10), and the required amount for the previous process is changed from equation (3) to equation (57). In this way, an effective work in process is determined by going back to the previous process.

If the current work in process of a certain process is larger than the required amount of work in that process, there is no need to request a work in the previous process, and the required amount of the previous process in that process is zero. For example, in step 13, since the current work in progress (120) is larger than the required work in progress (65), the demand for the previous process is zero.

FIG. 15 is a graph of the effective work in process obtained by the effective work setting device 500 for each process.
In FIG. 15, a thick line graph indicates an effective device, a bar graph indicates a current device, and a thin line graph indicates an appropriate device.

According to the present embodiment, for example, in the step 13 or the like, only the effective processes smaller than the current processes can be set as the work targets, so that the current processes can be guided to the appropriate processes in a short period of time to improve the production efficiency. Can be done.

The effective work in process obtained by the effective work setting device 500 is transferred to the work instruction generating device 600,
Work instructions are given for each processing facility. FIG. 16 is an explanatory diagram of the work instruction generating device 600 according to the present embodiment. The effective work in process determined by the effective work setting device 500 is transferred to the effective work information storage device 601 of the work instruction generating device 600.

On the other hand, the lot information storage device 602 stores information on the current work in progress.
The margin rate is calculated from the remaining work turn and the scheduled completion date of the in-process information stored in the lot information storage device 602, and the lot information for each process is sorted in the order of the margin rate. The margin is calculated by the following equation.

Surplus rate = period until delivery date / remaining operation number (4) For example, when the period until the delivery date is 30 days and the remaining operation number is 20 days, the margin rate is 1.5. The smaller the margin is, the higher the urgency of the device is.

Next, the apparatus classifying apparatus 604 extracts lot information of each process according to the effective work in process, and classifies and totals the effective work in each processing facility. The effective work in progress for each processing facility is transferred to the margin rate classifying device 605 and rearranged in accordance with the margin rate, an actual work instruction for each processing facility is generated, and a work instruction is issued to each processing facility.

FIG. 17 is an example of a work instruction generated by the work instruction generation device 600. As shown in FIG.
For example, two lots of effective work are assigned to the BH curve tracer, which is one of the processing equipment, and a work instruction is issued to process the lot in that order. Also, six effective processes are assigned to the Wf prober, and a work instruction is issued so as to process in the order.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, each processing equipment is instructed to work only on the effective work in process that is effective in reducing the work in progress. It can process efficiently and improve production efficiency.

On the other hand, the processing time in each processing facility is different for each processing facility, and the distribution of the work in each processing facility changes over time. In addition, unexpected failure may occur in each processing facility. Therefore, it is necessary to review the appropriate in-process or effective in-process in accordance with the transition of the in-process distribution in each processing facility to further improve the production efficiency.

FIG. 18 is an explanatory view of an appropriate in-process resetting determination device 700 according to this embodiment. The effective work-in-progress information storage device 701 in the appropriate work-in-process resetting determination device 700 stores the current effective work-in-progress, and the current work-in-progress storage device 702 stores the current work-in-progress. The effective work in progress and the current work in progress are transferred to the effective work in progress ratio setting device 703, and the effective work in progress ratio, which is the ratio of the effective work to the current work in progress, is obtained by the following equation.

Effective work-in-process ratio = Effective work-in-process / Current work-in-process (5) The effective work-in-process ratio is transferred to the reset determination device 705. If the effective work-in-progress ratio is within the target range set in the determination range storage device 704, the reset determination device 705 determines that the target work-in-progress reduction has been substantially achieved. Then, by sending an instruction from the next target setting instructing device 706 based on the achievement of the target to the long-term best solution simulation executing device 100, a process of setting a proper in-process as a next target is performed.

On the other hand, the effective work-in-progress ratio is determined by the judgment range storage device 704.
If the determination is out of the determination range set in, it is in a state far from the target in-process distribution, the reset determination device 705,
It is determined that it is necessary to review the setting of the appropriate in-process.
Then, by sending an instruction from the target resetting instruction device 707 due to the target deviation to the long-term best solution simulation executing device 100, the process of resetting the proper work in progress is performed.

Note that the effective work-in-progress ratio is determined by the determination range storage device 704.
Is determined to be within the judgment range, the current work in process is determined to be approaching the proper work, and the proper work at that time is maintained. That is, by sending an instruction from the current state continuation device 708 to the effective work setting device 500, a new effective work is set based on the appropriate work in progress at that time and the current work in progress, and a work instruction is performed based on the new effective work.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the appropriate work-in-process or the effective work-in-process is reviewed according to the change of the work-in-progress of each processing facility.
Since a new appropriate in-process or effective in-process effective for reducing the in-process is set, it is possible to quickly bring the current in-process of each processing facility closer to the appropriate in-process to improve the production efficiency.

The scope of protection of the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, but extends to the inventions described in the claims and their equivalents.

[0083]

According to the present invention, when the number of processes in each processing facility is large and it is necessary to reduce the processes quickly, the process distribution in the fluctuation range where the processes can be rapidly reduced in the long-term best solution is determined. If the processing is appropriate and the processing of the processing is stable in each processing equipment, the processing in the stable region of the long-term best solution is determined as the appropriate processing. Therefore, the appropriate work in process is the most effective work amount for reducing the work in progress according to the work state of each processing facility, so that the production efficiency of each processing facility can be improved.

Further, according to the present invention, the current work in process is not the work target of each processing equipment as it is, but the effective work effective for efficient processing of the work is made the work target. It is possible to narrow down the work targets even in a state of excessive work in progress, and to guide the current work to an appropriate work in a short period of time.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a work instruction device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of the work instruction apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a long-term best solution simulation execution device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an example of a long-term best solution by simulation.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of an in-process variation differential analysis device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 shows the result of differential analysis of in-process variation.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of a variable area in-process generation device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of an in-process reduction acceleration and an in-process reduction energy.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of a proper work in a fluctuation range.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of a stable region in-process creation device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of a stable region and analysis points.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram of a proper work in a stable region.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram of an effective in-process setting device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a specific example of calculating effective work in progress.

FIG. 15 shows a setting result of an effective work in progress.

FIG. 16 is an explanatory diagram of a work instruction generating device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 17 is an explanatory diagram of a work instruction result.

FIG. 18 is an explanatory diagram of a proper in-process resetting determination device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 19 is a schematic view of a semiconductor manufacturing plant.

FIG. 20 is an example of a semiconductor manufacturing process.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Work instruction device 100 Long-term best solution simulation execution device 200 Work-in-process variation differentiation analysis device 300 Variable-range work-in-progress generator 400 Stable-range work-in-progress generation device 500 Effective work-in-progress setting device 600 Work-instruction generation device 700 Appropriate work-in-process resetting determination device

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Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A work instructing apparatus for instructing a plurality of processing facilities performing different processes in a processing order of a plurality of processings manufactured by different processes, wherein a simulation in which the plurality of processing facilities process the plurality of processings is performed. A long-term best solution simulation executing means for obtaining a long-term best solution in which the work in process of each processing facility converges to a predetermined value within a predetermined period; and obtaining a work-in-process variation speed by differentiating the progress of the work in progress of the long-term best solution. In-process fluctuation differentiating means for detecting the fluctuation range or stable range of the transition, and when the in-process fluctuation differentiating means detects the fluctuation range, obtain the in-process fluctuation acceleration by differentiating the in-process transition of the long-term best solution twice, furthermore The in-process variation energy is obtained by the product of the in-process variation acceleration and the in-process, and the in-process distribution of the long-term best solution at the time when the in-process variation energy is maximized is in a variation range. A variation range in-process generation means to be an optimal process for each process, and when the in-process variation differentiating means detects a stable range, the in-process distribution of the long-term best solution in the stable range is the optimal process for each process in the stable range. Having a stable area in-process generation means, based on the appropriate in-process for each step of the fluctuation area or the stable area,
A work instruction device for giving a work instruction to each processing facility. 2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of calculating an effective work-in-process for each process to be worked in each process based on the appropriate work-in-process for each process in the fluctuation range or the stable range and the current work-in-process for each process. Work in process setting means, and having a work instruction generating means for classifying the effective work in process for each process by processing equipment, and instructing each processing equipment to process the effective work in process for each processing equipment based on a delivery date, Work instruction device. 3. The long-term best solution simulation execution means according to claim 2, further comprising: when the ratio between the effective work in progress and the current work in each process or each processing facility is out of a predetermined range. A work in progress resetting means for instructing the work instructor.