He-Yau Kang

Developing new products with knowledge management methods and process development management in a network

When managing the problem of new product development (NPD), a firm needs to cooperate with or compete with its strategic partners in a network to survive in the industry. This paper first discusses the critical success factors (CSF) of NPD in a network, and then simplifies 37 CSFs into 10 items within 3 groups by factor analysis and Delphi method. While analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is capable of dealing with the NPD managerial problems by generalizing subjective judgment of experts, it cannot deal with the inter-relationship among factors or the usually imprecise and vague human judgment. To compensate this deficiency, analytic network process (ANP) incorporated with sensitivity analysis, instead of the popular fuzzy AHP model, is proposed, and a firm can make a decisive evaluation by applying the model. However, developing new products with strategic partners in a network is positively associated with efficiency and effectiveness and negatively with innovation. In order to lead a firm to operate efficiently, effectively and innovatively, the product lifecycle management (PLM) including suitable knowledge management (KM) and process development management is advised for the execution of the selected NPD mix. Balanced scorecard (BSC) using ANP with sensitivity analysis is then suggested to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed procedure and models.

Priority mix planning for semiconductor fabrication by fuzzy AHP ranking

Abstract With today’s keen competition, semiconductor market has changed from producer-oriented to customer-oriented. To be successful, companies need to consider both customer satisfaction in demand and the ultimate profit goal of companies. Semiconductor fabricators today must face an environment with multi-product types and multi-priority orders. Since semiconductor fabrication has a very complicated production process, the production planning of different products types and priority levels is an even more difficult task to experts. The objective of this study is to construct an analytical approach under a fuzzy subjective judgment environment, in which fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method with entropy weight is utilized to deal with uncertainty, to generate performance ranking of different priority mixes. The results provide guidance to experts in a fab regarding strategies for accepting orders with the consideration of manufacturing efficiency in the aspects of product , equipment efficiency and finance .

An evaluation framework for product planning using FANP, QFD and multi-choice goal programming

Technological innovation and satisfaction of customer needs are the keys to survival and success for firms, especially in global competitive high-tech industries. Since new products are usually a source of new sales and profits, the success of new product development (NPD) is essential to maintain a competitive edge and to make a decent profit in a longer term. Therefore, how to develop products that deliver the quality and functionality customers demand while generating the desired profits becomes an important task for the manufacturers. In this paper, a framework with two phases is constructed for facilitating the selection of engineering characteristics (ECs) for product design. In the first phase, quality function deployment (QFD) is incorporated with the supermatrix approach of analytic network process (ANP) and the fuzzy set theory to calculate the priorities of ECs with the consideration of the interrelationship among factors and the impreciseness and vagueness in human judgments and information. In the second phase, multi-choice goal programming model is constructed by considering the outcome from the first phase and other additional goals, such as NPD cost and manufacturability, in the attempt to select the most suitable ECs. A case study of the product design process of backlight unit (BLU) in thin film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) industry in Taiwan is carried out to verify the practicality of the proposed framework.

A fuzzy ANP model for supplier selection as applied to IC packaging

Supplier selection has been a popular topic since the selection of the most appropriate supplier for cooperation is being increasingly important for the success of an enterprise. The problem is multi-criteria in nature, and a variety of multi-criteria decision making methodologies have been proposed. However, most of them did not take into account the interrelationships among the critical success factors and the fuzziness of the data involved in deciding the preferences of the factors. The objective of this research is to propose a fuzzy analytic network process model to evaluate various aspects of suppliers. With the consultation with the experts, the proposed model can consider the feedback and interdependency of factors in a network, and the factors are pairwise compared under an uncertain environment. The weights of factors can be calculated, and the final priority of suppliers obtained. Semiconductor industry becomes increasingly globalize competitive nowadays, and a good supply chain relationship is essential for a company to survive and to acquire reasonable profit. Thus, a case study of IC packaging company selection in Taiwan is presented, and the proposed model is applied to facilitate the decision process. The priorities of the factors and the ranking of the suppliers can be a recommendation or reference for decision makers when making a supplier evaluation and selection decision.

A DEA window analysis on the product family mix selection for a semiconductor fabricator

In a competitive market, semiconductor fabricator must face an environment with multi-product types, multi-priority orders and demand changes in time. Since semiconductor fabrication has a very complicated production process, the above-stated characteristics make the production planning even more difficult. This paper applies data envelopment analysis (DEA) to find a set of product family mix that is efficient for the company to produce. To ensure long-term effectiveness in productivity and in profit gaining, window analysis is adopted to seek the most recommended set of product family mixes for manufacturing by measuring the performance changes over time. With this method, the performance of a mix in one period is compared not only with the performance of other mixes but also with its own performance in other periods. The proposed mechanism can provide guidance to the fabricator regarding strategies for aggregate planning so as to improve manufacturing efficiency.

Photolithography Control in Wafer Fabrication Based on Process Capability Indices With Multiple Characteristics

Photolithography, typically taking about one- third of the total wafer manufacturing costs, is one of the most complex operations and is the most critical process in semiconductor manufacturing. Three most important parameters that determine the final performance of devices are critical dimension (CD), alignment accuracy and photoresist (PR) thickness. Process yield, a common criterion used in the manufacturing industry for measuring process performance, can be applied to examine the photolithography process. In this paper, we solve the photolithography production control problem based on the yield index SPK. The critical values required for the hypothesis testing, using the standard simulation technique, for various commonly used performance requirements, are obtained. Extensive simulation results are provided and analyzed. The investigation is useful to the practitioners for making reliable decisions in either testing process performance or examining quality of an engineering lot in photolithography.

An Integrated Interpretive Structural Modeling–Fuzzy Analytic Network Process–Benefits, Opportunities, Costs And Risks Model For Selecting Technologies

Technology evaluation has been increasingly important because of the pressing needs of new product introduction in a competitive global market. To select the most appropriate technology, a firm needs to have a robust technology evaluation framework to evaluate several technology candidates based on multiple criteria and evaluated by multiple experts. Thus, this paper presents an integrated model for evaluating various technologies for New Product Development (NPD). A network that takes into account the benefits, opportunities, costs, and risks (BOCR) aspects of different technologies is constructed first, and interpretive structural modeling (ISM) is applied next to determine the interrelationships among the factors. Finally, fuzzy analytic network process (FANP) is used to facilitate the evaluation process of decision makers under an uncertain environment with interrelated factors. The proposed model is applied in a flat panel manufacturer in selecting the most suitable panel technology.

A mixed 0‐1 integer programming for inventory model: A case study of TFT‐LCD manufacturing company in Taiwan

Purpose – This paper seeks to construct a model for inventory management for multiple periods. The model considers not only the usual parameters, but also price quantity discount, storage and batch size constraints.Design/methodology/approach – Mixed 0‐1 integer programming is applied to solve the multi‐period inventory problem and to determine an appropriate inventory level for each period. The total cost of materials in the system is minimized and the optimal purchase amount in each period is determined.Findings – The proposed model is applied in colour filter inventory management in thin film transistor‐liquid crystal display (TFT‐LCD) manufacturing because colour filter replenishment has the characteristics of price quantity discount, large product size, batch‐sized purchase and forbidden shortage in the plant. Sensitivity analysis of major parameters of the model is also performed to depict the effects of these parameters on the solutions.Practical implications – The proposed model can be tailored an...

Multicriteria scheduling using fuzzy theory and tabu search

Scheduling problems are frequently encountered in manufacturing systems. The results of job scheduling can have a great impact on the throughputs of systems. To maintain a high level of productivity of the systems, many objectives have to be taken into account simultaneously while evaluating the results of a scheduling arrangement. Unfortunately, in the high-dimension environment of considering these objectives, the performance evaluation over the criteria of interest becomes rather vague. Thus, it is very difficult to apply the traditional numerical methods to construct the models, though the measurement of these may not be fully compatible with the criteria of the scheduling problems. In this paper, the linguistic values of fuzzy set theory are introduced to evaluate each criterion and to represent its relative weight for the schedules of a multicriteria environment. The basic operations for the triangular fuzzy numbers and the calculations for obtaining the ranking of each aggregated linguistic evaluation for the quality of the schedule are explained clearly. According to the complex property of scheduling problems, a heuristic approach of tabu search is applied to solve the problems. The basic mechanism and spirits of the tabu search are also interpreted here. The overall procedure of the proposed approach is addressed by a numerical example. The aim is to propose an approach that can more easily apply the multicriteria technique.

Operations management of new project development: innovation, efficient, effective aspects

The integration of distribution management systems (DMS) and feeder management systems (FMS) in China has become a trend in recent years, in addition to upgrading and rebuilding the existing energy management system and DMS. However, some management methods are different and contradictory, thus result in obstacles to innovation and effectiveness. Thus, firms still struggle to find effective process management that is associated with innovative project operations. In addition, there is no standard method to evaluate information technology (IT) projects, and at least 40% of IT projects realize no benefits. It is astonishing that none of the above-mentioned issues have been addressed or solved by previous literatures. In order to fill the vacancy, this paper first briefly introduces FMS and determines its critical success criteria, and then proposes suitable forms of organization for knowledge management. It also applies process management methods according to knowledge creation mode and maturity of the project. Finally, an analytic network process associated with benefits, opportunities, costs, and risks is constructed to compare the performance of different FMS projects with and without adopting the proposed methodology.