Systems engineering and design of high-tech factories

Abstract

Contemporary technology for Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) integrates computer aided design (CAD) and engineering analysis (CAE) to support rapid, distributed, team-oriented product data development and management, including high fidelity simulation on demand. This technology potentially provides a platform for creating a new generation of factory design tools which enable "on demand" simulation and analytic model results to be used by factory designers. This paper describes the opportunity, and provides an illustration in the context of semiconductor wafer fab design. © 2006 IEEE.