Fab Alert · Semiconductor operations · 2024
Turn a factory alert into a clear response.
I designed a connected monitoring and mobile response concept for semiconductor operations. The product decision was to preserve severity and equipment context as a team moves from identifying a factory alert to investigating one machine.
Preserve the alert context from detection to response.
A factory overview can show many equipment states at once, while a technician responding to one alert needs a narrow, actionable view. Repeating the same dashboard on a phone would bury the decision; stripping away too much context would make the alert hard to trust.
A visible alert is only the start of a response.
Domain input → information needs → surface responsibilities
I combined domain-expert input with a review of semiconductor monitoring conventions. The key distinction was the decision being made: teams scan many facilities to prioritise attention, while a responder needs enough context to investigate one machine.
Monitoring wall
Operators need to spot where an issue sits, how severe it is and which facility needs attention.
Mobile response
Once an alert is selected, the responder needs the affected equipment, its state and a clear path to investigate.
One alert, different hierarchies
Preserve alert identity across surfaces while changing the density of information for the task at hand.
Scan broadly, then narrow to the affected fab.
Prioritisation before investigation
I prioritised location, severity, and alert volume in the monitoring view. Progressive disclosure then narrows the scope from facility to zone. This preserves a broad operational picture while reducing the information to review at each investigation step.
Why this hierarchy: keep the regional view scannable, then reveal the facility and zone detail when the operator commits to investigating an alert.
Carry context down to the equipment.
From highlighted zone to machine state
I compared layout directions against the customer-demo task: locate an alert, identify the affected equipment, and inspect its history. I selected a sequence that retains alert context as detail increases, rather than asking the operator to reconstruct the incident across screens.
Design trade-off: the wall can show more parallel states; equipment detail gives one responder a focused view. The layouts are related, rather than duplicated.
Take the same alert into a mobile response.
A portable sequence for field review
The mobile concept moves from site overview to affected fab, zone, alert and machine. Each screen answers a smaller question; none tries to reproduce the monitoring wall on a phone.
Six mobile screens · Swipe or use the arrows to follow the response.
Measure the response, not the dashboard activity.
The deliverable was a customer-demonstration concept with a shared wall-to-mobile information hierarchy. A plant pilot would test severity comprehension, equipment identification, and the next action, then assess response time and false-alarm handling. Production impact has not been measured.