A GA-based method to reduce material handling: the case of TFT-LCD array Fabs in Taiwan

Abstract

This study proposes a genetic algorithm (GA)-based Material Handling Strategy Function (MHSF) method to increase the productivity of a TFT-LCD array fabrication to improve the traditional FIFO method in TFT-LCD fabrication by the reduction of the material handling for a Rail Guided Vehicle (RGV), because costs of material handling count up to about 50% of production costs. In this article, the MHSF is provided to help material handling commands choice, where a novel GA approach is used to adapt the weights of affecting factors in the function. Finally, to evaluate the performance of the proposed method, experiments using the data from a major TFT-LCD manufacturing plant in Taiwan have been carried out, and the results indicate that it can indeed reduce fabrication time and increase productivity.