On-time Delivery Rate Research Articles

Promised Delivery Time and Capacity Games in Time-Based Competition

We investigate firms' competitive behaviors in industries where customers are sensitive to both promised delivery time (PDT) and quality of service (QoS) measured by the on-time delivery rate. To study the competition in PDT at the marketing level, we construct an oligopoly game with an external QoS requirement. We show that there exists a unique Nash equilibrium, and the equilibrium QoS exhibits a switching surface structure with respect to capacities. To study the competition in capacity at the strategic level, we construct a two-stage game in which the firms compete in terms of their capacities in stage 1 and in terms of PDT in stage 2. We show the existence of two different types of pure strategy equilibria and characterize them. This study provides the following insights: an index of time-based competitive advantage (ITCA) and the first-mover advantage determine the positions of the firms in time-based competition; either the well-known prisoner's dilemma or off-equilibrium behaviors due to different preferences for equilibria (when multiple equilibria exist) may lead the firms to overinvest in capacity, but no one may gain a competitive advantage; a uniform improvement in internal efficiency (i.e., a uniform capacity cost reduction) may harm everyone; quality differentiation (i.e., going beyond the QoS benchmark) plays a dual role in time-based competition, either helping a firm with a larger ITCA to compete more effectively, or helping a firm possibly with a smaller ITCA to preempt competitors and protect its market advantage. This paper was accepted by Paul H. Zipkin, operations and supply chain management.

An efficient job-releasing strategy for semiconductor turnkey factory

The semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) industry in Taiwan plays a significant role in the world, and accounts for a major market share of packaging and testing. Past studies have discussed job-releasing models for upstream IC manufacturing industries, but only few have discussed from an IC turnkey perspective for IC testing and assembly processes. This article proposes a job-releasing strategy for an IC turnkey factory that achieves the following objectives under limited resources: (1) increasing the overall equipment efficiency of IC test equipments, (2) reducing IC fabrication cycle time and (3) increasing on-time delivery rate. To balance capacity utilisation between IC assembly and testing operations, this study uses a genetic algorithm with workload regulation heuristics to find a good job-releasing plan. The proposed strategy is implemented in an IC turnkey factory and is found to outperform the conventional strategy.

Dispatching for make-to-order wafer fabs with machine-dedication and mask set-up characteristics

This paper develops a dispatching algorithm to improve on-time delivery for a make-to-order semiconductor wafer fab with two special characteristics: mask set-up and machine dedication. A new algorithm is proposed for dispatching series workstations. Simulation experiments show that the algorithm outperforms the previous methods both in on-time delivery rate, cycle time, and only slightly less than the best benchmark in throughput. The experiments are carried out in 10 test scenarios, which are created by the combination of two product-mix ratios and five mask set-up times.

Due-date performance improvement using TOC’s aggregated time buffer method at a wafer fabrication factory

Due-date performance is one of the most important production indexes for success utilized by wafer fabrication factories. Traditionally, the industry sets a specific due-date tightness level and a dispatching rule based on the total processing time, the production capacity, pre-defined order release criteria and historical data, to ensure deliveries are made on-time. However, such policies typically do not solve the due-date performance problem at wafer fabrication factories, since the processes are highly complex. This investigation explores the due-date performance problem using the concept of the aggregated time buffer in critical chain project management (CCPM), which was developed by Dr. Goldratt. A simulation model was constructed and the performance of the proposed method is evaluated based on four dispatching rules at a wafer fabrication factory. The findings reveal that applying aggregated time buffer control system improved the overall due-date control, in terms of on-time delivery rate, average tardiness, and variances in average tardiness and lateness.

A study of the flexible job shop scheduling problem with parallel machines and reentrant process

This paper develops a scheduling algorithm for the job shop scheduling problem with parallel machines and reentrant process. This algorithm includes two major modules: the machine selection module (MSM) and the operation scheduling module (OSM). An order has several jobs and each job has several operations in a hierarchical structure. The MSM helps an operation to select one of the parallel machines to process it. The OSM is then used to schedule the sequences and the timing of all operations assigned to each machine. A real-life weapons production factory is used as a case study to evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm. Due to the high penalty of delays in military orders, the on-time delivery rate is the most important performance measure and then makespan is the next most important measure. Well-known performance measures in the scheduling literature, such as maximum lateness and average tardiness, are also evaluated. The simulation results demonstrate that the MSM and OSM using the combination of earliest due date (EDD), the operations’ lowest level code (LLC) of the bill of materials (BOM), and the longest processing time (LPT) outperforms the other scheduling methods.

Scheduling a hybrid MTO/MTS semiconductor fab with machine-dedication features

A semiconductor foundry is essentially a make-to-order (MTO) factory. Yet, in a low-demand season, it may enter into a hybrid business model—producing make-to-stock (MTS) as well as MTO products to maintain high utilization of machines. This research proposes a scheduling method for such a hybrid MTO/MTS system with machine-dedication characteristics, a constraint imposed on the process route caused by the advance of manufacturing technology. The scheduling method aims to achieve a high on-time delivery rate for MTO products as well as a high throughput for MTS products. Simulation experiments show that the proposed scheduling method outperforms representative methods in the literature.

An analysis of the factors influencing marketing performance of semiconductor manufacturers in China

This paper focuses on the decomposition of the factors influencing marketing performance of semiconductor products. The four dimensions that influence the marketing performance of semiconductor product are production infrastructure resource, customer–supplier relationship, marketing channel and customer service. Our findings suggest that all the dimensions are found to have influences on the marketing performance of semiconductor product except marketing channel. In detail, the key factors that influence marketing performance of semiconductor product are emergency treatment systems in production, support from top management teams, shortening production cycle time, insistence on honesty and morality, satisfying mutual benefit, rapid confirmation to order, on-time delivery rate and customer satisfaction to supplier's introduction of product and service.

Lower In-Process Inventories and Better On-Time Performance at Tanner Companies, Inc.

In the early 1990s, Tanner Companies had a 74 percent on-time delivery rate and high levels of work in process. To increase on-time deliveries and raise customer service levels, the company focused on production planning and scheduling for the first time. In developing a short-term planning system, we began by designing a garment information system which provided the basis for an analytical heuristic-based scheduling model. During the development process, we actively involved users and managers at all levels to ensure employee support and smooth installation. As a result, the scheduling model was a big success. In one year, it decreased WIP levels by $200,000 and increased on-time deliveries to over 90 percent. The garment information and scheduling system has been well received and has become an integral part of daily operations at Tanner Companies.