Regression trees approach for flow-time prediction in wafer manufacturing processes using constraint-based genetic algorithm

Understanding the factors associated with the flow-time of wafer production is crucial for workflow design and analysis in wafer fabrication factories. Owing to wafer fabrication complexity, the traditional human approach to assigning the due-date is imprecise and prone to failure, especially when the shop status is dynamically changing. Therefore, assigning a due-date to each customer order becomes a challenge to production planning. The paper proposes a constraint-based genetic algorithm approach to determine the flow-time. The flow-time prediction model was constructed and compared with other approaches. Better computational effectiveness and prediction results from the constraint-based genetic algorithm are demonstrated using experimental data from a wafer-manufacturing factory.