Patent ID: 7302307

Claim:
A computer implemented method of monitoring activity in an automated fabrication facility occurring as part of a manufacturing process in which work-in-process material lots undergo events including multiple manufacturing operations and storage operations, the method comprising: tracking processing load and unload times of the work-in-process material lots at each of the manufacturing operations; tracking processing start and stop times of each of the manufacturing operations performed on the work-in-process material lots; tracking movement of automatically guided vehicles and associated cassettes containing the work-in-process material lots for purposes of transferring the work-in-process material lots between the manufacturing and storage operations; tracking storage load and unload times of the work-in-process material lots stored in the intermediate storage operations; tracking requests for the automated transfer of work-in-process lots and a time each automated transfer request is made; and combining the processing load and unload times, the processing start and stop times, the storage load and unload times, the times associated with the requests for automated transfer, and information regarding the movement of the guided vehicles to generate a report.