Two-phase cost-sensitive-learning-based framework on customer-side quality inspection for TFT-LCD industry

The Covid-19 outbreak in 2020 boosted the stay-at-home economy, causing a surge in electronics industry demand, especially benefiting the LCD panel sector. However, as the pandemic situation improved, countries revised policies, leading to the gradual discontinuation of remote work arrangements in various industries. This resulted in declining dividends for the stay-at-home economy. The decreased demand created intense competition within the TFT-LCD industry, urging panel companies to prioritize product quality enhancement to meet customer expectations. Panel quality inspection heavily relied on manual labor, causing varying inspection levels due to subjective judgments. Understanding and aligning with customer expectations regarding product quality inspections became imperative. Identifying defective products during inspection led to additional costs for the companies. Balancing customer product quality requirements and re-inspection costs became crucial for optimal benefits. This study addresses the binary classification problem of customer-side quality inspection through cost-sensitive learning. The predictive model considers panel process yield, production history, customer feedback, inspection capacity constraints, and cost minimization to predict panel quality as accepted or defective. To tackle the highly imbalanced data, a two-phase cost-sensitive-learning-based framework is proposed, combining data preprocessing methods and models, while considering re-inspection capacity constraints and costs to enhance accuracy. The model’s evaluation uses key performance indicators like AUC and G-mean. Actual inspection cost and defective parts per million (DPPM) are calculated based on the company’s practical assessment. Two products are used for experimentation to validate the proposed model, demonstrating over 50% reduction in inspection cost and over 10% improvement in DPPM.