An order fulfillment model with periodic review mechanism in semiconductor foundry plants

In today's globalization competition, manufacturing firms are using an order fulfillment system to give available-to-promise (ATP) capacity efficiently. An ordinary order fulfillment system will plan capacity based on forecasts and assign ATP quotas to incoming orders. Its basic idea is to enhance capacity utilization and avoid poor customer service. However, in the semiconductor industry, demand is highly volatile, and a make-to-order (MTO) manufacturer often runs the risk of cancelled committed demands. In this research, we propose an integrated order fulfillment model for a MTO semiconductor foundry fab to maximize corporate profit. Specifically, we suggest a periodic allocation review mechanism to reallocate unused ATP quotas. We examine the model performance based on different data sets. Results showed that capacity utilization and profitability are improved substantially with the periodic review mechanism, especially when demand forecast is not reliable.