A system and method of controlling a cluster tool apparatus, wherein the cluster tool includes one or more processing modules and a robot that is configured to move a semiconductor product to and from the one or more processing modules, the cluster tool configured for processing semiconductor products. The method of controlling the cluster tool apparatus to perform a processing cycle includes receiving a plurality of system parameters from a user interface, wherein the system parameters relate to one or more processing steps of the processing cycle, determining a schedule for performing the processing cycle utilizing the one or more processing modules, wherein the schedule being determined based on a semiconductor product residency parameter.