A simulation-based dynamic scheduling and dispatching system with multi-criteria performance evaluation for Industry 3.5 and an empirical study for sustainable TFT-LCD array manufacturing

As the existing manufacturing systems may not be ready to support flexible decisions for smart production with increasing product mix and shortening product life cycle, it is crucial to rapidly respond to dynamic needs to improve bottleneck productivity and ensure the throughput of the whole manufacturing system. Limitations of the existing approaches can be traced in part to the lack of a framework within which different decisions in real settings can be integrated and aligned in light of the changes of manufacturing contexts. To fill the gaps, this study aims to develop a dynamic scheduling and dispatching system with the constructed discrete event simulation model to optimise the scheduling for bottleneck and associated dispatching rules for remaining processes, while considering the manufacturing system as a whole to empower smart manufacturing and reduce waste for sustainable production. A hybrid genetic algorithm is developed to minimise photolithography capacity loss, while considering the waiting time constraints and determining the optimal dispatching rules for non-bottleneck workstations by the design of experiments and multi-criteria decision analysis to integrate related decisions for the manufacturing system as a whole. An empirical study was conducted for validation. The results have shown its practical viability.