System and methods for managing changes to a product in a manufacturing environment including conversion of an engineering bill of material to a manufacturing bill of material

• US 10,664,783 B2
• Filed: 01/08/2016
• Issued: 05/26/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 01/08/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Original Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Inventors: DiPippo, Edward A., Hagberg, Kyle Kurtis, Carpenter, Christopher Luis, Jensen, Max Neal, Williams, Anthony John
• Primary Examiner(s): Rotaru, Octavian
• Application Number:
  US14/991,261
• Publication Number:
  US 20170200121A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,600 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063114 Status monitoring or status determination for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06315 Needs-based resource requirements planning or analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/067 Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0875 Itemisation or classification of parts, supplies or services, e.g. bill of materials

Abstract

A manufacturing process management (MPM) computer device is provided. The MPM computer device is configured to store an engineering bill of materials for a product to be assembled including a first plurality of parts, store a manufacturing bill of materials for the product to be assembled including a second plurality of parts and a status, receive a request from a user to change the status of the manufacturing bill of materials, compare the first plurality of parts with the second plurality of parts, determine whether the first plurality of parts matches the second plurality of parts based on the comparison, if the comparison matches, change the status of the manufacturing bill of materials, and if the comparison does not match, prevent the status of the manufacturing bill of materials from changing.

Claims

1. A manufacturing process management (MPM) computer device comprising a processor and at least one non-transitory memory device, wherein said processor is in communication with said at least one non-transitory memory device, said MPM computer device configured to:

store an engineering bill of materials for an aircraft to be assembled including a first plurality of parts;

determine based on lead times and a change among the first plurality of parts, that a bottleneck exists in the engineering bill of materials;

store a manufacturing bill of materials, for a first configuration of the aircraft to be assembled, including a second plurality of parts and a status of the change, wherein the change includes a plug insertion at a location corresponding to a station line, a water line or a buttock line of the aircraft;

receive schedule information on first and second production lines configured to manufacture the aircraft at different speeds based on the manufacturing bill of materials;

determine a first production schedule for the first production line based on the manufacturing bill of materials and the received schedule information;

after production has begun on the first production line to manufacture a complete version of the first configuration of the aircraft, receive a second manufacturing bill of materials for a second configuration of the aircraft;

determine a second production schedule for the second production line based on the second manufacturing bill of materials and the received schedule information, wherein the second production line is configured to manufacture a complete version of the second configuration of the aircraft by extending the first configuration from the location of the plug insertion;

compare the engineering bill of materials with the manufacturing bill of materials, and based on the comparison;

determine that the aircraft of the first configuration will be completed on the first production line after the aircraft of the second configuration on the second production line based on the different manufacturing speeds in the first and second production lines;

identify respective differences between each of the first plurality of parts and the second plurality of parts;

generate a three dimensional view of an area of the first configuration of the aircraft and the second plurality of parts;

trigger the change, in the three dimensional view based on the plug insertion;

determine a first grid overlay, for the first configuration, from a nose of the aircraft to a tail of the aircraft;

determine a second grid overlay for the second configuration;

display the second configuration including the second grid overlay;

shift a part of the first configuration and further shift the changed three dimensional view together with the shifted part, wherein the shifted three dimensional view is associated with a part of the second plurality of parts included in the three dimensional view; and

further shift the three dimensional view when displaying the second configuration of the aircraft to correspond to the associated part, wherein the displayed second configuration includes a zoom-in of a location of installation of the associated part from an overhead view of the aircraft by referencing to the station line, the water line, or the buttock line of the aircraft in order to differentiate the associated part from other multiple parts of a same part number.

2. The manufacturing process management (MPM) computer device of claim 1, wherein said MPM computer device is further configured to:

generate a report based on comparing the first plurality of parts with the second plurality of parts; and

provide the report to a user.

3. The manufacturing process management (MPM) computer device of claim 2, wherein the report identifies the respective differences between the each of the first plurality of parts and the second plurality of parts.

4. The manufacturing process management (MPM) computer device of claim 2, wherein said MPM computer device is further configured to:

receive a temporary removal part from the user;

add the temporary removal part to the manufacturing bill of materials; and

issue a work order to remove the temporary removal part.

5. The manufacturing process management (MPM) computer device of claim 1, wherein the engineering bill of materials includes two instances of a first part in the first plurality of parts, and wherein the MPM computer device is configured to:

store a first instance number with the first part at a first location in the aircraft; and

store a second instance number with the first part at a second location in the aircraft.

6. The manufacturing process management (MPM) computer device of claim 1, wherein said MPM computer device is further configured to:

determine a date needed for each part of the first plurality of parts based on the manufacturing bill of materials and the lead times.

7. The manufacturing process management (MPM) computer device of claim 6, wherein said MPM computer device is further configured to:

generate a lead time report based on the bottleneck.

8. A computer implemented method comprising:

storing, by a processor, an engineering bill of materials for an aircraft to be assembled including a first plurality of parts;

determining, by the processor, based on lead times and a change among the first plurality of parts, that a bottleneck exists in the engineering bill of materials;

storing, by the processor, a manufacturing bill of materials for a first configuration of the aircraft to be assembled including a second plurality of parts and a status of the change, wherein the change includes a plug insertion at a location corresponding to a station line, a water line or a buttock line of the aircraft;

receiving, by the processor, schedule information on first and second production lines configured to manufacture the aircraft at different speeds based on the manufacturing bill of materials;

determining, by the processor, a first production schedule for the first production line based on the manufacturing bill of materials and the received schedule information;

after production has begun on the first production line to manufacture a complete version of the first configuration of the aircraft, receiving, by the processor, a second manufacturing bill of materials for a second configuration of the aircraft;

determining, by the processor, a second production schedule for the second production line based on the second manufacturing bill of materials and the received schedule information, wherein the second production line is configured to manufacture a complete version of the second configuration of the aircraft by extending the first configuration from the location of the plug insertion;

comparing, by the processor, the engineering bill of materials with the manufacturing bill of materials, and based on the comparison;

determining, by the processor, that the aircraft of the first configuration will be completed on the first production line after the aircraft of the second configuration on the second production line based on the different manufacturing speeds in the first and second production lines;

identifying, by the processor, respective differences between each of the first plurality of parts and the second plurality of parts;

generating, by the processor, a three dimensional view of an area of the first configuration of the aircraft and the second plurality of parts;

triggering, by the processor, the change, in the three dimensional view based on the plug insertion;

determining, by the processor, a first grid overlay, for the first configuration, from a nose of the aircraft to a tail of the aircraft;

determining, by the processor, a second grid overlay for the second configuration;

displaying, by the processor, the second configuration including the second grid overlay;

shifting, by the processor, a part of the first configuration and further shift the changed three dimensional view together with the shifted part, wherein the shifted three dimensional view is associated with a part of the second plurality of parts included in the three dimensional view; and

further shifting, by the processor, the three dimensional view when displaying the second configuration of the aircraft to correspond to the associated part, wherein the displayed second configuration includes a zoom-in of a location of installation of the associated part from an overhead view of the aircraft by referencing to the station line, the water line, or the buttock line of the aircraft in order to differentiate the associated part from other multiple parts of a same part number.

9. The computer implemented method of claim 8, further comprising:

generating, by the processor, a report based on comparing the first plurality of parts with the second plurality of parts; and

providing, by the processor, the report to a user.

10. The computer implemented method of claim 9, wherein the report identifies the respective differences between the each of the first plurality of parts and the second plurality of parts.

11. The computer implemented method of claim 9, further comprising:

receiving, by the processor, a temporary removal part from the user;

adding, by the processor, the temporary removal part to the manufacturing bill of materials; and

issuing, by the processor, a work order to remove the temporary removal part.

12. The computer implemented method of claim 8, wherein the engineering bill of materials includes two instances of a first part in the first plurality of parts, and further:

storing, by the processor, a first instance number with the first part at a first location in the aircraft; and

storing, by the processor, a second instance number with the first part at a second location in the aircraft.

13. The computer implemented method of claim 8, further comprising:

determining, by the processor, a date needed for each part of the first plurality of parts based on the manufacturing bill of materials and the lead times.

14. The computer implemented method of claim 13, further comprising:

generating, by the processor, a lead time report based on the bottleneck.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon, which, when executed by a processor, cause said processor to:

store an engineering bill of materials for an aircraft to be assembled including a first plurality of parts;

determine based on lead times and a change among the first plurality of parts, that a bottleneck exists in the engineering bill of materials;

store a manufacturing bill of materials for a first configuration of the aircraft to be assembled including a second plurality of parts and a status of the change, wherein the change includes a plug insertion at a location corresponding to a station line, a water line or a buttock line of the aircraft;

receive schedule information on first and second production lines configured to manufacture the aircraft at different speeds based on the manufacturing bill of materials;

determine a first production schedule for the first production line based on the manufacturing bill of materials and the received schedule information;

after production has begun on the first production line to manufacture a complete version of the first configuration of the aircraft, receive a second manufacturing bill of materials for a second configuration of the aircraft;

determine a second production schedule for the second production line based on the second manufacturing bill of materials and the received schedule information, wherein the second production line is configured to manufacture a complete version of the second configuration of the aircraft by extending the first configuration from the location of the plug insertion;

compare the engineering bill of materials with the manufacturing bill of materials, and based on the comparison;

determine that the aircraft of the first configuration will be completed on the first production line after the aircraft of the second configuration on the second production line based on the different manufacturing speeds in the first and second production lines;

identify respective differences between each of the first plurality of parts and the second plurality of parts;

generate a three dimensional view of an area of the first configuration of the aircraft and the second plurality of parts;

trigger the change, in the three dimensional view based on the plug insertion;

determine a first grid overlay, for the first configuration, from a nose of the aircraft to a tail of the aircraft;

determine a second grid overlay for the second configuration;

display the second configuration including the second grid overlay;

shift a part of the first configuration and further shift the changed three dimensional view together with the shifted part, wherein the shifted three dimensional view is associated with a part of the second plurality of parts included in the three dimensional view; and

further shift the three dimensional view when displaying the second configuration of the aircraft to correspond to the associated part, wherein the displayed second configuration includes a zoom-in of a location of installation of the associated part from an overhead view of the aircraft by referencing to the station line, the water line, or the buttock line of the aircraft in order to differentiate the associated part from other multiple parts of a same part number.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 15, wherein the embodied computer-executable instructions are further executed by the processor to:

generate a report based on comparing the first plurality of parts with the second plurality of parts; and

provide the report to a user.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 16, wherein the report identifies the respective differences between the each of the first plurality of parts and the second plurality of parts.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 16, wherein the embodied computer-executable instructions are further executed by the processor to:

receive a temporary removal part from the user;

add the temporary removal part to the manufacturing bill of materials; and

issue a work order to remove the temporary removal part.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 15, wherein the engineering bill of materials includes two instances of a first part in the first plurality of parts, and wherein the embodied computer-executable instructions are further executed by the processor to:

store a first instance number with the first part at a first location in the aircraft; and

store a second instance number with the first part at a second location in the aircraft.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 15, wherein the embodied computer-executable instructions are further executed by the processor to:

determine a date needed for each part of the first plurality of parts based on the manufacturing bill of materials and the lead times.

21. The non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 20, wherein the embodied computer-executable instructions are further executed by the processor to:

generate a lead time report based on the bottleneck.