Patent ID: 6876894

Claim:
A method for scheduling fabrication and testing of product within a manufacturing line comprising the steps of: a) creating a process equipment model for equipment and processes within said manufacturing line; b) generating a potential product dispatch schedule for the product to be fabricated within said manufacturing line; c) defining an equipment dispatch schedule for equipment employed in fabrication and testing of said product to be fabricated according to said product dispatch schedule; d) simulating said potential product dispatch schedule; e) determining if said potential product dispatch schedule is optimized; f) if said product dispatch schedule is not optimized, generating another potential product dispatch schedule for said product and performing steps b) through e); and g) if said product dispatch schedule is optimized, dispatching said products for fabrication and test according to said schedule; wherein the process equipment model is described as a Petri-Net model to express the function of the process equipment during fabrication and test of said product.