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Vol: 53(67) No: 4 / December 2008 

A Scheduling Strategy for Flexible Job Shop Factories with Probabilistic Events, Applicable in Semiconductor Industry
Artur M. Kuczapski
Computer and Software Engineering Department, “Politehnica” University of Timisoara, V. Parvan Blvd., 2, 300223 Timisoara, Romania
Silviu M. Trebuian
Advanced clean production Information Technology (acp-IT), Celebi Evlia 16, 300226 Timisoara, Romania
Mihai G. Novac
Computer and Software Engineering Department, “Politehnica” University of Timisoara, V. Parvan Blvd., 2, 300223 Timisoara, Romania
Mihai V. Micea
Computer and Software Engineering Department, “Politehnica” University of Timisoara, V. Parvan Blvd., 2, 300223 Timisoara, Romania
Vladimir I. Cretu
Computer and Software Engineering Department, “Politehnica” University of Timisoara, V. Parvan Blvd., 2, 300223 Timisoara, Romania
Laurentiu A. Maniu
Advanced clean production Information Technology (acp-IT), Celebi Evlia 16, 300226 Timisoara, Romania


Keywords: Scheduling, Flexible Job Shop, Composite Dispatching Rules, Genetic Programming, Semiconductor Manufacturing, Petri Nets.

Abstract
he paper proposes and analyzes a scheduling strategy and a prediction method for flexible job shops with probabilistic events. The presented strategy uses several scheduling heuristics and simulation methods in order to predict and mitigate the impact of unexpected events, like machine breakdowns, rework cycles and scrapping, which could influence the efficiency of the production. The solution uses Genetic Programming to generate Composite Dispatching Rules that lead to better results and still present robustness against unscheduled events. These dispatching rules are evaluated by advanced simulation methods based on Timed Petri Nets and the Proxel simulation method. The advantage of the Proxel method is that it is able to simulate in parallel multiple execution scenarios and hence make the estimation of the average performance of the production possible. By using the results of the simulation, a better execution forecast is obtained and the generated dispatching rules are thoroughly evaluated. An important feature of the proposed method is that the used algorithms are chosen in such a way that the required computational power makes the solution applicable to large factories like those in the semiconductor industry. In the presented paper, all the measurements and experiments are realized on a virtual semiconductor factory extended from the Intel Five-Machine Six-Step Mini-Fab model.

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