Logistics planning of the IC manufacturing industry: A method based on the SAP-APO

The SAP-APO is an IT-solution for the supply network planning of global enterprise. It provides a decision support for the business operations in terms of long-terms as well as mid-terms business logistics optimization. This paper develops a logistics solution based on the framework of SAP-APO for the IC manufacturing industry. In it, an integrated solution framework is proposed and some planning algorithms are developed. In the viewpoint of IC manufacturing logistics, because of complex product-mix, the planning issues in terms of demand planning, production planning, capacity planning as well as material planning are quite complex and are hard to be considered in an integrated manner, the proposed solution considers the planning into two phases: the first phase coordinates the demand planning and production planning, and the second phase coordinates the production planning and MRP. These two solution phases execute their planning issues independently and then collaborates their solutions in the mid-term master planning level. This solution framework is suitable for the IC manufacturing companies which have already implemented SAP R/3 system as their planning platform.