Patent ID: 7925380

Claim:
A factory automation system for a wafer fabrication facility (“fab”) comprising a plurality of bays, wherein each of the bays comprise a plurality of equipment interconnected by an intrabay overhead transport (“OHT”) system, and first and second interbay OHT systems each for interconnecting the intrabay OHT systems, the factory automation system comprising: a manufacturing execution system (“MES”) for providing lot information regarding wafers being processed in the fab; a material control system (“MCS”) for providing traffic information regarding transportation of wafers in the fab; and an integrated transportation control (“ITC”) system for using the lot information from the MES and the traffic information from the MCS for selecting a destination and a route to the selected destination for a wafer carrier containing wafers in response to a transfer request; wherein the ITC system includes a super hot lot control mechanism for reducing traffic on the first interbay OHT system.