Scalable multi-agent reinforcement learning for factory-wide dynamic scheduling in semiconductor manufacturing

Real-time dynamic scheduling in modern manufacturing is highly complex due to frequent disturbances and intricate operational constraints. While reinforcement learning (RL) has shown promise, existing approaches often rely on extensive dispatching rules and struggle to scale to factory-wide settings. This study introduces a scalable multi-agent RL (MARL) framework with a leader–follower structure, enabling decentralized agents to handle sub-problems while maintaining global coordination through abstract goals. To further enhance robustness, a limited rule-based conversion algorithm is proposed to mitigate performance degradation from poor agent decisions. Our experimental results demonstrate that the proposed model outperforms the state-of-the-art deep RL-based scheduling methods in various aspects. Additionally, the proposed model provides the most robust scheduling performance to demand changes. Overall, the proposed MARL-based scheduling model presents a promising solution to the real-time scheduling problem, with potential applications in various manufacturing industries.