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Capacity planning with ant colony optimization for TFT-LCD array manufacturing

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Abstract

Array manufacturing in thin film transistor-liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) production network is characterized as a capital-intensive and capacity-constrained production system with re-entrance and batch operations. Effectively using associated machines through optimal capacity planning and order scheduling decisions is a critical issue for array manufacturing. This study develops a capacity planning system (CPS) for TFT-LCD array manufacturing. CPS uses information including master production schedule, order due date, process routing, processing time, and number of machines. In addition, CPS derives the order release time, estimated machine start and finish time, machine allocation, and order completion time to maximize machine workload, improve lateness, and eliminate setup time. This research also develops ant colony optimization (ACO) to seek the optimal order release schedule to maximize a combination of the above objectives. The preliminary experiments are first applied to identify the optimal tuning parameters of the ACO algorithm. Computational experiments are then conducted to evaluate the significance and the robustness of the proposed algorithm compared with other competitive algorithms by full factorial experimental design.

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Acknowledgments

The research was supported in part by National Science Council of Taiwan, ROC (Contract Nos. NSC 99-2221-E-007-129-MY3, 100-2622-E-007-022-CC2) and Chunghwa Picture Tubes (CPT) Ltd., Taiwan ROC.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan

    James C. Chen

  2. Department of Information Management, Fu Jen Catholic University, New Taipei, Taiwan

    Tzu-Li Chen

  3. Department of Industrial Management, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei, Taiwan

    Bayu Rezki Pratama & Qian-Fang Tu

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  1. James C. Chen
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  2. Tzu-Li Chen
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  3. Bayu Rezki Pratama
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Correspondence to Tzu-Li Chen.

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Chen, J.C., Chen, TL., Pratama, B.R. et al. Capacity planning with ant colony optimization for TFT-LCD array manufacturing. J Intell Manuf 29, 1695–1713 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10845-016-1207-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10845-016-1207-0

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