A case study on the operator allocation decision for TFT-LCD inspection and packaging process

• Published in: Journal of manufacturing technology management Vol. 17; no. 3; pp. 363 - 375
• Main Authors: Kuo, Yiyo, Yang, Taho
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bradford Emerald Group Publishing Limited 01.01.2006
• Subjects: Allocations; Case studies; Cellular telephones; Customer services; Flat panel displays; Integer programming; LCDs; Liquid crystal displays; Literature reviews; Manufacturing; Operations management; Quality control; Studies; Thin films; Transistors; Work stations; Workforce planning; Taiwan; Thin films; Programming; Operations management; Liquid crystal polymers
• ISSN: 1741-038X; 1758-7786
• DOI: 10.1108/17410380610648317

Purpose - Thin film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) is the primary flat panel display (FPD) technology, which is quickly becoming pervasive in many applications including computers, mobile phones, TV monitors, and so on. The finished product of a TFT-LCD display device is called "module". A module is subject to a final inspection and packaging (I P) process before it is shipped to the customer. The I P operations are primarily manual and the present study seeks to focus on these. The I P process is strategically important since it directly impacts on both customer service and out-going quality levels. The operator allocation decision for I P operations determines the through-put of the I P line, and is a function of demand requirement, operator availability, and product dedication.Design methodology approach - This research proposes to solve the I P process operator allocation problem by mixed-integer programming formulations. A practical case study has been adopted for the empirical illustrations.Findings - Empirical results are promising. The potential improvement is ranging from 9 to 20 percent against the current practice at the case study company.Originality value - A structured experimental design shows the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed formulations in solving the problem of the case study.