Reducing the start-up process duration for semiconductor facilities

Summary form only given. In the current market situation, compounded with the nature of short life cycle of technology generation, high tech organizations are required to reduce the "start-up cycle time," for facility building. Therefore, the objective is to shorten the time between the planning phase to the operational phase in the most cost efficient manner. Under these circumstances, the basic process stages need to overlap. By creating the overlap, uncertainty is introduced to the process, which forces management to make complex decisions. This paper is intended to provide an insight to solutions that support project management in overcoming the difficult situations encountered during the start-up phase of a new semiconductor facility. This paper presents a combination of solutions and a methodology to handle the uncertainty. The suggested methodology provides means to deal with information management and decision making, during the various phases and transitions, between them. This is important since decisions must be made at the beginning of one phase without the complete knowledge about the results of the previous phase. The solution suggested is through analysis of consequences and probabilities of events according to several optional scenarios. The suggested tool is a relational database that provides a flexible and stable tool to manage the data through the process stages. The suggested output is a "tool library" that is being built during the process phases and is being used as a correction and training tool for future planning and execution of later expansions. This document includes also a brief description of the process stages (preplanning, planning, execution, and documentation) and transitions between phases.