Patent ID: 6684118
Filing Date: 2004-01-27
Classification: G05B,G06Q

Abstract:
A method for approximating a cycle time within a fabrication facility comprising:providing a fabrication facility for fabricating a product having a minimum of one process sequence; determining from historic data for fabricating the product within the fabrication facility a positive value of h such as to minimize: &Sgr;i(mâˆ’>n)(Wiâˆ’(h*Ti))2 â€ƒwhere: Wi is the work in process quantity of the product on day; Ti is the cycle time per process sequence of the product on day i; m and n bound an arbitrarily chosen historic date range; approximating a future work in process quantity of the product for a future start date within the fabrication facility; and approximating a cycle time for the future work in process quantity of the product within the fabrication facility using the equation: CTf=Wf*(1/h)*L â€ƒwhere: CTf is the cycle time approximated for the future work in process quantity of the product; Wf is the approximated future work in process quantity of the product; and L is the number of process sequences in the product.