the current process step nominal wip and wip of subsequent process steps candidate lots for skipping process steps are identified by referencing a matrix of parameters that includes yield and criticality application_number US 76914407 A description the present invention and the various features and advantageous details thereof are explained more fully with reference to the non limiting embodiments that are illustrated in the accompanying drawings and detailed in the following description a preferred embodiment will now be described with reference to fig4 that shows an illustrative flowchart to be taken in conjunction with fig1 through 3 that graphically illustrate the results of executing the various steps illustrated in the aforementioned flow chart referring now to fig4 a periodic sampling of wip fig4 step 101 monitors the amount of wip at each process and or measurement step in the production line following the sampling of wip the data is preferably reviewed fig4 step 102 to determine if a high wip situation exists at any point of the production line high product wip build up in view of specific processes and or measurement steps in a production route are referred to as a wip bubble to most effectively address this situation and keep the production line running smoothly the wip in each wip bubble must be prioritized to identify candidate lots fig4.