A system for operating or designing building equipment is configured to provide a user interface comprising a workspace with selectable symbols representing multiple devices of building equipment, evaluate a user input defining a connection between at least two of the selectable symbols on the workspace according to a set of rules to determine whether the connection is valid or invalid, prevent the user from making the connection in response to determining that the connection is invalid, generate a valid model of a system comprising the multiple devices of building equipment in response to determining that the connection is valid, execute a model-based control process or simulation using the valid model to generate control decisions or design decisions for the multiple devices of building equipment, and operate or design the multiple devices of building equipment in accordance with the control decisions or the design decisions.

A Multi-Purpose Dynamic Simulation and run-time Control platform includes a virtual process environment coupled to a physical process environment, where components/nodes of the virtual and physical process environments cooperate to dynamically perform run-time process control of an industrial process plant and/or simulations thereof. Virtual components may include virtual run-time nodes and/or simulated nodes. The MPDSC includes an I/O Switch which delivers I/O data between virtual and/or physical nodes, e.g., by using publish/subscribe mechanisms, thereby virtualizing physical I/O process data delivery. Nodes serviced by the I/O Switch may include respective component behavior modules that are unaware as to whether or not they are being utilized on a virtual or physical node. Simulations may be performed in real-time and even in conjunction with run-time operations of the plant, and/or simulations may be manipulated as desired (speed, values, administration, etc.). The platform simultaneously supports simulation and run-time operations and interactions/intersections therebetween.

A production line scheduling method, adapted to a plurality of jobs passing a bottleneck station having at least one manufacturing machine, the jobs respectively correspond to a plurality of job conditions, and the method comprises: performing a plurality of times of a schedule simulation algorithm on the jobs to sequentially establish a plurality of schedule simulation trees, and obtaining a job schedule and a simulated finishing period of each job based on the schedule simulation trees, wherein each schedule simulation tree comprises at least one scheduling route, and each scheduling route is generated from one schedule simulation algorithm; and calculating a plurality of expected feeding times of each job at a plurality of stations comprising the bottleneck station, wherein the schedule simulation algorithm comprises: performing a node expansion step based on at least one node expansion condition and the job conditions to obtain the scheduling route.

A semiconductor fabrication scheduling method includes creating a load scheduling data schema including facility data of product lots to be dispatched to a plurality of workstations; generating a load schedule profile using a load-balancing model and based on the load scheduling data schema, wherein the load-balancing model includes one or more objective functions and there is at least one weight factor in an objective function; generating a current load schedule based on the load schedule profile; dispatching the product lots to the plurality of workstations using the current load schedule to complete fabrication of the product lots; obtaining a set of current key performance indicators (KPIs) of the completed fabrication of the product lots; and automatically adjusting the weight factors of the objective functions of the load-balancing model based on the current KPIs using a big-data architecture to generate a next load schedule for next cycle of fabrication.

A Multi-Purpose Dynamic Simulation and run-time Control platform includes a virtual process environment coupled to a physical process environment, where components/nodes of the virtual and physical process environments cooperate to dynamically perform run-time process control of an industrial process plant and/or simulations thereof. Virtual components may include virtual run-time nodes and/or simulated nodes. The MPDSC includes an I/O Switch which delivers I/O data between virtual and/or physical nodes, e.g., by using publish/subscribe mechanisms, thereby virtualizing physical I/O process data delivery. Nodes serviced by the I/O Switch may include respective component behavior modules that are unaware as to whether or not they are being utilized on a virtual or physical node. Simulations may be performed in real-time and even in conjunction with run-time operations of the plant, and/or simulations may be manipulated as desired (speed, values, administration, etc.). The platform simultaneously supports simulation and run-time operations and interactions/intersections therebetween.

A Multi-Purpose Dynamic Simulation and run-time Control platform includes a virtual process environment coupled to a physical process environment, where components/nodes of the virtual and physical process environments cooperate to dynamically perform run-time process control of an industrial process plant and/or simulations thereof. Virtual components may include virtual run-time nodes and/or simulated nodes. The MPDSC includes an I/O Switch which delivers I/O data between virtual and/or physical nodes, e.g., by using publish/subscribe mechanisms, thereby virtualizing physical I/O process data delivery. Nodes serviced by the I/O Switch may include respective component behavior modules that are unaware as to whether or not they are being utilized on a virtual or physical node. Simulations may be performed in real-time and even in conjunction with run-time operations of the plant, and/or simulations may be manipulated as desired (speed, values, administration, etc.). The platform simultaneously supports simulation and run-time operations and interactions/intersections therebetween.

A Multi-Purpose Dynamic Simulation and run-time Control platform includes a virtual process environment coupled to a physical process environment, where components/nodes of the virtual and physical process environments cooperate to dynamically perform run-time process control of an industrial process plant and/or simulations thereof. Virtual components may include virtual run-time nodes and/or simulated nodes. The MPDSC includes an I/O Switch which delivers I/O data between virtual and/or physical nodes, e.g., by using publish/subscribe mechanisms, thereby virtualizing physical I/O process data delivery. Nodes serviced by the I/O Switch may include respective component behavior modules that are unaware as to whether or not they are being utilized on a virtual or physical node. Simulations may be performed in real-time and even in conjunction with run-time operations of the plant, and/or simulations may be manipulated as desired (speed, values, administration, etc.). The platform simultaneously supports simulation and run-time operations and interactions/intersections therebetween.

A method and system relate to executing, by a processing device, a first simulation of operations of a semiconductor manufacture plant without imposing a Q-time constraint on a Q-zone, determining a kanban capacity value associated with the Q-zone based on results from the first simulation, executing a second simulation of operations of the semiconductor manufacture plant using the kanban capacity value under the Q-time constraint, determining whether results of the second simulation meet performance indices, and responsive to determining that the results of the second plant simulation meet the performance indices, providing the kanban capacity value to a manufacture execution system to operate the semiconductor manufacture plant using the kanban capacity value.

A semiconductor fabrication scheduling method includes creating a load scheduling data schema including facility data of product lots to be dispatched to a plurality of workstations; generating a load schedule profile using a load-balancing model and based on the load scheduling data schema, wherein the load-balancing model includes one or more objective functions and there is at least one weight factor in an objective function; generating a current load schedule based on the load schedule profile; dispatching the product lots to the plurality of workstations using the current load schedule to complete fabrication of the product lots; obtaining a set of current key performance indicators (KPIs) of the completed fabrication of the product lots; and automatically adjusting the weight factors of the objective functions of the load-balancing model based on the current KPIs using a big-data architecture to generate a next load schedule for next cycle of fabrication.

A system and method for controlling manufacturing of an item may include associating information usable as part of performing at least one manufacturing step for the item with a label and encapsulating the information to produce an encapsulated information object and publishing the label. A system and method for controlling manufacturing of an item may receive a selection of a label and may enable to perform the at least one manufacturing step in accordance with encapsulated information associated with a selected label but without revealing encapsulated information to the user.