Time-based, demand-pull production

• US 10,417,595 B2
• Filed: 05/05/2017
• Issued: 09/17/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 05/05/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DeHart Consulting, LLC
• Original Assignee: DeHart Consulting, LLC
• Inventors: DeHart, Dale, Cota, Norm
• Primary Examiner(s): Anderson, Folashade
• Application Number:
  US15/588,084
• Publication Number:
  US 20180322425A1
• Time in Patent Office: 865 Days
• Field of Search: 705 727
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0633 Workflow analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders

Abstract

Work at each Work Center in a production system is authorized by a demand-pull system. The demand-pull system can be based on the time for the oldest unauthorized work order in upstream adjacent WCs to get to the next WC and whether that WC will be ready to receive it.

Claims

1. A method for managing time-based demand-pull production of work orders, the method comprising:

identifying, by a processor at a server, a plurality of connections between the server and a plurality of electronic devices, each of the electronic devices respectively corresponding to a work center from among a plurality of work centers, each work center having a corresponding work order queue; and

controlling, by the processor, authorizing new work orders at the work centers by;

storing, by the processor, status information from the electronic devices and company databases regarding the state of the work centers, including a subject work center and adjacent work centers that are immediately upstream of the subject work center, the status information comprising status of work orders for the subject and adjacent work centers, the capacity of the subject and upstream adjacent work centers, and the transit times between the subject and upstream adjacent work centers;

querying, by the processor, data from a database to identify a next work order to be authorized for production at one of the upstream adjacent work centers based on a priority-setting rule;

determining, by the processor, need time comprising an amount of time until the subject work center is available to start work on the next work order in accordance with an amount of time to clear the corresponding work order queue of the subject work center, and an amount of time to clear authorized work orders of the upstream adjacent work centers;

determining, by the processor, arrival time comprising an amount of time until the next work order will arrive at the subject work center if immediately authorized in accordance with one or more of;

(i) remaining clear time for the upstream adjacent work center in which the next work order is located;

(ii) an amount of time to clear any previously authorized work orders in the corresponding work queue of the upstream adjacent work center in which the next work order is located;

(iii) an amount of time needed to process the next work order through the upstream adjacent work center in which the next work order is located; and

(iv) an amount of time to transit the next work order from the upstream adjacent work center in which the next work order is located to the subject work center;

determining, by the processor, for each work center, in accordance with time-based demand pull authorization, whether the arrival time is greater than or equal to the need time of the subject work center;

transmitting, by the processor, an authorization signal to authorize production of the next work order at the upstream adjacent work center if the arrival time is greater than or equal to the need time of the subject work center;

modifying, by the processor, the corresponding work order queue of the upstream work center in response to the authorization signal; and

repeating the controlling step upon a change of state of at least one work center, for repetitively generating signals to dynamically authorize the movement of work orders across multiple work centers.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing, by the processor, transactional data, the transactional data comprising:

start and finish times and quantities and defects for work orders;

authorization times for work orders;

hold status changes;

work center capacities; and

work center work schedules.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein work orders are pulled from the corresponding work order queue of the work centers based on the authorization times for the work orders.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the processor, a query from one or more of the electronic devices; and

in response to the query, transmitting, by the processor, a signal to the one or more of the electronic devices for displaying authorization and status information on a display associated with the one or more electronic devices.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the priority-setting rule is first-in first-out.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the priority-setting rule is based on due-date slack.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the priority-setting rule is based on expedite policies.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the priority-setting rule is based on a numerical priority setting.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising adjusting, by the processor, the remaining clear time based on defect data corresponding to the work center.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising authorizing, by the processor, incoming work based on throughput of the work center.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising adjusting the amount of time until the work center is available based on a splitting of a work order into multiple batches.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising setting a queue policy for each work center, the queue policy adjusting a maximum queue level for the corresponding work order queue of the work center.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising, after transmitting the authorization signal to initiate the next work order, assigning a pull tag for storing production data for the next work order at the work center.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising continuously maintaining the database, by the processor, with the status information received from the electronic devices regarding the state of each of the work centers and the corresponding work order queues,

wherein the controlling authorizing new work orders at the work centers is performed in accordance with the status information most recently obtained from the work centers.

15. A system for managing time-based demand-pull production of work orders, the system comprising:

a server comprising a processor; and

a memory coupled to the processor, wherein the memory stores instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to;

identify a plurality of connections between the server and a plurality of electronic devices, each of the electronic devices respectively corresponding to a work center from among a plurality of work centers, each work center having a corresponding work order queue; and

control authorizing new work orders at the work centers, such that the instructions further cause the processor to;

store status information from the electronic devices and company databases regarding the state of the work centers and work orders, including a subject work center and adjacent work centers that are immediately upstream of the subject work center, the status information comprising status of work orders for the subject and adjacent work centers, the capacity of the subject and upstream adjacent work centers, and the transit times between the subject and upstream adjacent work centers;

query data from a database to identify a next work order to be authorized for production at one of the upstream adjacent work centers based on a priority-setting rule;

calculate need time comprising an amount of time until the subject work center is available to start work on the next work order in accordance with an amount of time to clear the corresponding work order queue of the subject work center, and an amount of time to clear authorized work orders of the upstream adjacent work centers;

compare arrival time comprising an amount of time until the next work order will arrive at the subject work center if immediately authorized in accordance with one or more of;

(i) remaining clear time for the upstream adjacent work center in which the next work order is located;

(ii) an amount of time to clear any previously authorized work orders in the corresponding work queue of the upstream adjacent work center in which the next work order is located;

(iii) an amount of time needed to process the next work order through the upstream adjacent work center in which the next work order is located; and

(iv) an amount of time to transit the next work order from the upstream adjacent work center in which the next work order is located to the subject work center;

determine for each work center, in accordance with time-based demand pull authorization, whether the arrival time is greater than or equal to the need time of the subject work center;

transmit an authorization signal to authorize production of the next work order at the upstream adjacent work center if the arrival time is greater than or equal to the need time of the subject work center;

modify the corresponding work order queue of the upstream work center in response to the authorization signal; and

repeat the controlling step upon a change of state of at least one work center, for repetitively generating signals to dynamically authorize the movement of work orders across multiple work centers.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to store transactional data, the transactional data comprising:

start and finish times and quantities and defects for work orders;

authorization times for work orders;

hold status changes;

work center capacities; and

work center work schedules.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein work orders are pulled from the corresponding work order queue of the work centers based on the authorization times for the work orders.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to:

receive a query from one or more of the electronic devices; and

in response to the query, transmit a signal to the one or more of the electronic devices for displaying authorization and status information on a display associated with the one or more electronic devices.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the priority-setting rule is first-in first-out.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the priority-setting rule is based on due-date slack.

21. The system of claim 15, wherein the priority-setting rule is based on expedite policies.

22. The system of claim 15, wherein the priority-setting rule is based on a numerical priority setting.

23. The system of claim 15, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to adjust the remaining clear time based on defect data corresponding to the work center.

24. The system of claim 15, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to authorize incoming work based on throughput of the work center.

25. The system of claim 15, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to adjust the amount of time until the work center is available based on a splitting of a work order into multiple batches.

26. The system of claim 15, wherein the instructions allow a queue policy to be set for each work center, the queue policy adjusting a maximum queue level for the corresponding work order queue of the work center.

27. The system of claim 15, wherein, after transmitting the authorization signal to initiate the next work order, a pull tag is assigned for storing production data for the next work order at the work center.

28. The system of claim 15, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to continuously maintain the database with the status information received from the electronic devices regarding the state of each of the work centers and each of the corresponding work order queues,

wherein the instructions further cause the processor to control the authorizing new work orders in accordance with the status information most recently obtained from the work centers.