PREDICTION BASED OPTIMIZATION OF A SEMICONDUCTOR SUPPLY CHAIN USING AN ADAPTIVE REAL TIME WORK-IN-PROGRESS TRACKING SYSTEM

A work-in-progress (WIP) tracking system is used to coordinate a semiconductor supply chain operation. The WIP tracking system receives WIP updates from semiconductor supply chain vendors and generates a WIP tracking report in which the volume of WIP is measured in expected good parts. In one variation, rather than reporting the WIP currently located at each step of a vendor's process, the WIP tracking report reflects the WIP located at various stages of the semiconductor manufacturing process, where the vendor's steps are mapped to a fewer number of stages.