Simultaneous cycle-time reduction and output enhancement in a fully loaded foundry wafer fab

A case study is reported in how cycle-time reduction and output enhancement were accomplished simultaneously in a fully loaded foundry wafer fab. Within one-year period of time, a 50 K per month capacity 6" foundry fab improved its overall cycle-time by 35% with a concurrent fab wafer-output increase of over 20%. In the mean time, the fab WIP level was reduced by more than 20% without any compromise in line-yield or customer delivery.