Stocker

1 . A stocker within a fabrication facility having a ceiling-based interbay material transport system for moving a container between tool bays and a floor-based intrabay material transport system for moving a container within a tool bay, the stocker comprising:

a container storage area for storing at least one container;

a ceiling-based input conveyor being adapted to receive a container from the ceiling-based interbay material handling system and moving the container into said container storage area;

a floor-based conveyor for moving a container between said container storage area and the floor-based intrabay material handling system; and

a robotic mechanism for moving a container between said ceiling-based input conveyor, said container storage area and said floor-based conveyor.

2 . The stocker as recited in claim 1 , wherein said container storage area comprises a plurality of container storage shelves.

3 . The stocker as recited in claim 2 , wherein said robotic mechanism also moves containers between said plurality of container storage shelves.

4 . The stocker as recited in claim 1 , further including a vertical transfer module for transferring a container between said ceiling-based input conveyor and the floor-based intrabay material handling system.

5 . The stocker as recited in claim 1 , wherein said floor-based conveyor comprises an input conveyor for moving a container from the floor-based intrabay material handling system into said container storage area.

6 . The stocker as recited in claim 1 , wherein said floor-based conveyor comprises an output conveyor for moving a container from said container storage area onto the floor-based intrabay material handling system.

7 . The stocker as recited in claim 4 , wherein said ceiling-based input conveyor further being adapted to move a container onto said vertical transfer module.

8 . A stocker within a fabrication facility having a ceiling-based interbay material handling system for moving a container between tool bays and a floor-based intrabay material handling system for moving a container within a tool bay, comprising:

a container storage area;

a ceiling-based input conveyor for receiving a container from the ceiling-based interbay material handling system and moving the container into said container storage area;

a ceiling-based output conveyor for moving a container out of said container storage area;

a floor-based input conveyor for moving a container from the floor-based intrabay material handling system into said container storage area; and

a floor-based output conveyor for moving a container from said container storage area onto the floor-based intrabay material handling system; and

a robotic mechanism for moving a container between said ceiling-based input conveyor, said ceiling based output conveyor, said floor-based input conveyor, said floor-based output conveyor and within said container storage area.

9 . The stocker as recited in claim 8 , wherein said container storage area comprises a plurality of container storage shelves.

10 . The stocker as recited in claim 9 , wherein said robotic mechanism moves containers between said plurality of container storage shelves.

11 . A method for optimizing container movement along a material handling system between a loading zone portion of the material handling system and a stocker, comprising the steps of:

(a) preparing the loading zone portion of the material handling system for receiving multiple containers;

(b) loading multiple containers, in parallel, onto the loading zone portion of the material handling system;

(c) moving the containers loaded in said step (b) proximate to a stocker; and

(d) loading the containers moved to the stocker in said step (c) from the material handling system to the stocker.