Quality management by validating a bill of materials in event-based product manufacturing

• US 20030150909A1
• Filed: 11/27/2002
• Published: 08/14/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Callahan Cellular LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Kimberly-Clark Worldwide Incorporated (Kimberly-Clark Corporation)
• Inventors: Meissner, Jolene Marie, Goggans, Gary Lee, Reynders, John L., Markham, Charles Earl, Pokorny, Michael Roy, Reade, Walter Caswell, Hise, John Harland, Ihde, Sheryl Annette, Nygaard, Kurt Sigurd, Shaffer, Gregory Duncan, Lindsay, Jeffrey Dean, Yosten, Roger Dale, Barber, Douglas Gordon Barron, Mork, Jamie Scott, Park, Scott Jeffrey, Boyd, Amy Hancock
• Granted Patent: US 8,799,113 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/376
• CPC Class Codes: B23Q 35/12 involving electrical means programme recording for copying purposes in a separate apparatus G05, G11
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 13/0285 using neural networks and fuzzy logic
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/048 Fuzzy inferencing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/00 Information and communication technology [ICT] specially adapted for implementation of business processes of specific business sectors, e.g. utilities or tourism healthcare informatics G16H
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/04 Manufacturing
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/30 Computing systems specially adapted for manufacturing

Abstract

Providing quality management by validating a bill of materials in event-based product manufacturing. Some of the disclosed embodiments include a system and method for validating materials during manufacture of a product. Also disclosed are a method of validating that acceptable materials are being used on a machine during manufacture of a product, and one or more computer-readable media for storing a data structure representing a product specification in an event-based manufacturing system. The embodiments are operable in an intelligent manufacturing system including a process for converting raw materials to a product, a process control system including one or more sensors capable of generating an alarm in response to an event that results in one of waste, machine delay, or decrease product quality, a data logger associated with the process control system for obtaining event parameters associated with the event, a database on a server for recording event parameters obtained by the data logger, and a reporting system cooperatively associated with the database for reporting productivity parameters regarding the process derived at least in part from the event parameters.

Claims

1. A method for validating materials during manufacture of a product, the method comprising:

obtaining a bill of materials associated with a product to be manufactured, the bill of materials comprising a specification for manufacturing the product;

obtaining data associated with a material to be used in manufacturing the product;

comparing the obtained data with the obtained bill of materials; and

validating, in response to the comparing, the material for use in manufacturing the product.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising prompting, in response to the comparing, a human operator to enter an override code to continue manufacturing.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising receiving, in response to the prompting, an override code from the human operator, wherein the override code comprises a justification to continue manufacturing.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the comparing results in a delay, and further comprising determining if the received override code corresponds to a type and duration associated with the delay.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining data comprises:

obtaining at least one identifier associated with the material; and

obtaining data associated with each obtained identifier.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining data comprises:

receiving, from a scanning device, at least one identifier associated with the material; and

obtaining the data associated with the material via the received identifier.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining data comprises obtaining the data associated with the material from a memory device located proximal to the material.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining data comprises obtaining the data associated with the material over a radio frequency from a device located proximal to the material.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining data comprises:

receiving, from a human operator, at least one identifier associated with the material; and

obtaining the data associated with the material via the received identifier.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising modifying operation of the production in response to the comparing.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the modifying comprises halting the production if the obtained data exceeds a threshold identified in the obtained bill of materials.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising authenticating the material in response to the comparing.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying at least one replacement for the material in response to the obtaining a bill of materials.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one machine manufactures the product, and further comprising invoking a setting change for the machine in response to the comparing.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein a human operator performs the invoking.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein a computing device automatically performs the invoking.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the invoking comprises changing a grade for the product.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the bill of materials comprises a plurality of product and process variables for manufacturing the product stored on a computer-readable medium, further comprising modifying the bill of materials by modifying at least one of the product and process variables stored on the computer-readable medium.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the material comprises a raw material.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the material comprises packaging for the product.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining a bill of materials occurs via a network.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining data occurs by accessing, via a network, a database storing the data.

23. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the data from a plurality of manufacturers; and

storing the received data in a database, wherein the obtaining data associated with a material comprises accessing the database to retrieve the stored data.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining a bill of materials comprises obtaining a transitional bill of materials associated with a transition product to be manufactured during a grade change, and obtaining data comprises obtaining data associated with a material presently loaded in a manufacturing system to be used in manufacturing the transition product.

25. The method of claim 1, wherein one or more computer-readable media have computer-executable instructions for performing the method of claim 1.

26. A method to validate that acceptable materials are being used on a machine during manufacture of a product, wherein each of the materials has one or more recommended specifications, the method comprising:

obtaining production information for a material;

comparing the obtained production information against a recommended specification for the material in a process, the recommended specification comprising a threshold; and

in response to the comparing, implementing remedial action if the obtained production information violates the threshold.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprising storing an identifier associated with the material in an electronic record.

28. The method of claim 26, further comprising storing a production history for the product in an electronic record, the production history comprising data generated during manufacture of the product.

29. The method of claim 28, further comprising storing an identifier associated with the product in the electronic record, wherein the identifier is associated with a bar code or a radio frequency identifier device located proximal to the product.

30. The method of claim 29, further comprising obtaining the production history for the product by:

scanning the bar code or the radio frequency identifier device to obtain the identifier; and

retrieving, via the obtained identifier, the electronic record storing the production history.

31. The method of claim 26, wherein the obtaining comprises:

receiving, from a scanning device, at least one identifier associated with the material; and

obtaining the production information associated with the material via the received identifier.

32. The method of claim 26, wherein the obtaining comprises obtaining the production information associated with the material from a memory device located proximal to the material.

33. The method of claim 26, wherein the obtaining comprises obtaining the production information associated with the material over a radio frequency from a device located proximal to the material.

34. The method of claim 26, wherein the obtaining comprises:

receiving, from a human operator, at least one identifier associated with the material; and

obtaining the production information associated with the material via the received identifier.

35. The method of claim 26, wherein the implementing comprises modifying operation of the process.

36. The method of claim 26, further comprising:

receiving the production information from a plurality of manufacturers; and

storing the received production information in a database for access during the obtaining.

37. The method of claim 26, wherein the obtaining occurs via a network.

38. The method of claim 26, wherein one or more computer-readable media have computer-executable instructions for performing the method of claim 26.

39. A method comprising:

identifying a bill of materials for a product to be manufactured during a process, the bill of materials matching a specification to a machine setting and to a material specification; and

storing the identified bill of materials in electronic format for access during manufacture of the product to validate a raw material to be used in manufacturing the product.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein one or more computer-readable media have computer-executable instructions for performing the method of claim 39.

41. One or more computer-readable media having stored thereon a data structure representing a product specification in an event-based manufacturing system, the data structure comprising:

one or more name fields, each of the name fields identifying a specification associated with manufacture of a product; and

for each of the name fields, a data field describing characteristics of the identified specification.

42. The computer-readable media of claim 41, wherein the specification represents at least one machine setting and/or at least one material specification.

43. The computer-readable media of claim 41, wherein the data field identifies a type of material.

44. The computer-readable media of claim 41, wherein the data field stores instructions for creating a product with the identified material.

45. The computer-readable media of claim 41, wherein the data field stores machine settings for the identified material.

46. The computer-readable media of claim 45, wherein the machine settings comprise a machine speed and/or a machine temperature.

47. The computer-readable media of claim 41, wherein the material comprises a raw material and/or packaging for the product.

48. A system for validating materials during manufacture of a product, the system comprising:

a control module for obtaining a bill of materials associated with a product to be manufactured, wherein the bill of materials comprises a specification for manufacturing the product; and

an interface module for obtaining data associated with a material to be used in manufacturing the product, wherein the control module compares the obtained bill of materials with the obtained data and validates the material for use in manufacturing the product.

49. The system of claim 48, wherein the interface module comprises a scanning device.

50. The system of claim 49, wherein the scanning device comprises a bar code reader or a radio frequency identifier reader or both.

51. The system of claim 48, wherein the specification represents a machine setting or a material specification or both.

52. The system of claim 51, wherein the machine setting comprises a machine speed or a machine temperature or both.