IMPReSS: An Automated Production-Planning and Delivery-Quotation System at Harris Corporation—Semiconductor Sector

IMPReSS, an optimization-based production planning system at Harris Corporation's semiconductor sector, generates capacity-feasible production schedules for a worldwide manufacturing network and quotes product delivery dates in response to customer inquiries. The planning engine of IMPReSS is the Berkeley Planning System (BPS), which models the problem in a form that permits linear programming optimization. BPS embeds formulation techniques for planning the requirements of binning and substitutable products, for representing dynamic capacity consumption by reentrant process flows, and for developing multiple optimization calculations that reflect marketing priorities. It uses a heuristic decomposition strategy to break the overall problem into several manageable calculations. Its implementation raised on-time deliveries of line items from 75 to 95 percent without increasing inventories, enabled the sector to expand its markets and its market share, and helped move the sector from a loss of $75 million to profit of over $40 million annually.