Preventative maintenance scheduling incorporating facility and loop optimization

1. A method for scheduling preventative maintenance tasks, comprising:

defining a set of global time periods;

scheduling members of a set of preventative maintenance tasks associated with a plurality of machines for execution during the global time periods based on capacities of the machines and production targets for the machines;

defining a plurality of time slots for a selected global period having a selected preventative maintenance task scheduled for execution therein; and

scheduling a selected time slot from the plurality of time slots for performing the selected preventative maintenance task based on work in process levels for with the associated machine over the time slots.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the machines are grouped into manufacturing loops, and the production targets comprise loop counts associated with the manufacturing loops.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein each manufacturing loop is operable to fabricate a layer on a semiconductor substrate.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein scheduling members of the set of preventative maintenance tasks during the global time periods further comprises maximizing a latest completion time of the preventative maintenance tasks.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein scheduling members of the set of preventative maintenance tasks during the global time periods further comprises determining machine capacities required to meet the production targets.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein scheduling members of the set of preventative maintenance tasks during the global time periods further comprises scheduling the global time periods based on a labor capacity associated with the preventative maintenance tasks.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein a subset of the machines is grouped into a machine family including the associated machine, and scheduling the selected time slot further comprises scheduling the selected time slot based on work in process levels associated with the machine family.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein scheduling the selected time slot further comprises scheduling the selected time slot to minimize a maximum work in process for the associated machine family over the time slots.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein scheduling the preventative maintenance tasks further comprises optimizing at least one objective function subject to a plurality of constraints.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising performing the selected preventative maintenance task during the scheduled time slot.

11. A method for scheduling preventative maintenance tasks, comprising:

defining a set of global time periods;

performing a global optimization to schedule members of a set of preventative maintenance tasks associated with a plurality of machines grouped into machine families for execution during the global time periods based on capacities of the machine families and production targets;

defining a plurality of time slots for each of the global periods having at least one of the preventative maintenance tasks scheduled for execution therein; and

performing a local optimization to schedule selected time slots within the global time periods for performing the preventative maintenance tasks based on work in process levels for selected machine families associated with the preventative maintenance tasks.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein performing the global optimization further comprises optimizing an objective function configured to maximize latest completion times of the preventative maintenance tasks subject to a first plurality of constraints.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein performing the local optimization further comprises optimizing an objective function configured to minimize maximum work in process associated with the machine families over the time slots subject to a second plurality of constraints.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein the machines are grouped into manufacturing loops, and the production targets comprise loop counts associated with the manufacturing loops.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein each manufacturing loop is operable to fabricate a layer on a semiconductor substrate.

16. The method of claim 12 , wherein performing the global optimization further comprises determining capacities of the machine families required to meet the production targets.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein performing the global optimization further comprises scheduling the global time periods based on a labor capacity associated with the preventative maintenance tasks.

18. The method of claim 11 , further comprising performing a selected preventative maintenance task during the scheduled time slot.

19. A system, comprising:

a plurality of machines for processing workpieces in a process flow; and

a preventative maintenance scheduling unit operable to define a set of global time periods, schedule members of a set of preventative maintenance tasks associated with the plurality of machines for execution during the global time periods based on capacities of the machines and production targets for the machines, define a plurality of time slots for a selected global period having a selected preventative maintenance task scheduled for execution therein, and schedule a selected time slot from the plurality of time slots for performing the selected preventative maintenance task based on work in process levels for with the associated machine over the time slots.

20. A system, comprising:

means for defining a set of global time periods;

means for scheduling members of a set of preventative maintenance tasks associated with a plurality of machines for execution during the global time periods based on capacities of the machines and production targets for the machines;

means for defining a plurality of time slots for a selected global period having a selected preventative maintenance task scheduled for execution therein; and

means for scheduling a selected time slot from the plurality of time slots for performing the selected preventative maintenance task based on work in process levels for with the associated machine over the time slots.