Abstract
Short product development lead time is one of the most important competitive advantages in TFT-LCD industry. Design Verification Testing (DVT) process accounts for much of this lead time. In this research, we propose a new DVT process by overlapping some of the activities to shorten the product development lead time. In addition, we develop mathematical models to evaluate the expected DVT times of both original and overlapped DVT processes as well as the probability of inventory lost for the overlapped process. By comparing the expected product development lead times of these two processes against the risk of inventory loss of the overlapped process, the company can evaluate the benefit of adopting the overlapped process against its potential risks. Three product types are studied to determine the conditions under which the overlapped process is preferred. Once the overlapped process is adopted, the optimal date to release production order for front-end process is also studied.