Patent ID: 8712569

Claim:
A system comprising: a lot consolidation manager (LCM) module for determining a list of potential lots for consolidation, the LCM module comprises a database and an input for receiving a triggering event, wherein the triggering event comprises a reduction in the number of wafers in a first lot at any stage of processing, and the database contains a set of consolidation rules for determining a list of potential lots for consolidation, the potential lots are contained in carriers, wherein the LCM module, upon receiving the triggering event relating to the first lot at the input of the LCM module, retrieves the consolidation rules from the database of the LCM module, and initiates and performs a consolidation analysis to determine the list of potential lots for consolidation with the first lot based on the consolidation rules, wherein the consolidation analysis determines a selected consolidation step for consolidation which can be at any stage of processing, the first lot and the one or more lots from the list of potential lots for consolidation continue processing until reaching the selected consolidation step to form a single consolidated lot, and the consolidation comprises physically merging wafers of the first lot with one or more lots from the list of potential lots for consolidation into a same carrier at the selected consolidation step for subsequent processing of the wafers.