The Research of Capability Model and Implementation Approach from Equipment Engineering System to Engineering Chain Management System

This research, referred to the concept of CMMI, has defined a simple and generic methodology, Capability Model, for the IC makers to measure the progress from APC, FDC, EES, e-Manufacturing to ECMS systems implementation. Based on the Capability Model, this research has further defined the Framework, Dimensions versus Capability Levels, for APC, FDC, EES, e-Manufacturing and ECMS, respectively. These Capability Models and Frameworks will facilitate the industry to derive the future development directions and approaches for APC, FDC, EES, e-Manufacturing and ECMS implementation.

In this research, the “FDC Errors” and “FDC system Egg Diagram” were defined to measure FDC system performance and implementation capability on a quantifiable basis. In addition, a FDC system continuous improvement cycle was further derived, which clearly defined the approaches for FDC system performance improvement step-by-step on a quantifiable basis.

From EES to e-Manufacturing, the integration of YMS and EES will enable IC makers to discover the know-how of product yield variation versus process and equipment parameters deviation. This capability will be a decisive differentiation among IC makers.

According to the related works study, information system implementation should align with company’s strategy, organization, technology and management approaches. Thus, either EES or e-Manufacturing implementation, the IC makers should align with these factors first. Otherwise, these systems implementation won’t succeed thoroughly. Moreover, in this research, we derived why ECMS implementation will be much more difficult than EES and e-manufacturing implementation. That is because ECMS implementation involves with cross companies’ collaboration. Before ECMS can be successfully implemented, the related companies’ strategy, organization, management, technology and information systems should be aligned first. And, it will be a difficult challenge.

At the end of this research, a spiral implementation approach was proposed for EES, e-Manufacturing and ECMS implementation, i.e. these systems can be level-by-level and concurrently implemented. It is a long way journey, the Odyssey, for the IC makers to migrate from EES, to e-Manufacturing, then to ECMS. However, following the spiral implementation approach, step-by-step and concurrently, the IC makers will realize the Design collaboration and Engineering collaboration among the industry some day in the future.