COST-OF-OWNERSHIP ISSUES IN A FLEXIBLE MANUFACTURING ENVIRONMENT

Cost-of-ownership (COO) analysis has started to gain acceptance in the semiconductor industry as a tool for evaluating potential cost and be nefit tradeoffs of purchased equipment. However, use of the technique has so far been optimized for traditional high-volume wafer fabs. Furt hermore, standard COO analysis models are usually applied to a single process step (i.e., to alternatives for one piece of equipment). This article examines the impact of flexible manufacturing on analyses that use current COO models. Also, the author explores possible extensions of COO analysis to better address costs and benefits in a flexible ma nufacturing environment, which allows fast cycle times and extensive e quipment reuse and includes powerful computer-integrated manufacturing capabilities.