A DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR WAFER PROBE CARD PRODUCTION SCHEDULING.

This paper describes the development of a scheduling paradigm for wafer probe card manufacturing, which systematically generates a set of feasible schedule plans. As opposed to the commonly used operations research approach, a knowledgebased decision process is applied to model the observed behavior. The paradigm was tested using real data collected from a leading wafer probe card manufacturer during low and high seasons. The computational results indicate that the proposed paradigm is feasible and is able to allocate the capacity more efficiently and effectively when compared with a manual scheduling plan. This research contributes to the literature by identifying scheduling principles/rules, critical factors and constraints for the wafer probe card production scheduling problem. It also contributes by developing a deployable paradigm for enabling planning personnel to efficiently schedule wafer probe card production in real time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]