Generating a reliability analysis by identifying causal relationships between events in an event-based manufacturing system

• US 20050278052A1
• Filed: 06/15/2004
• Published: 12/15/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 06/15/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kimberly-Clark Worldwide Incorporated (Kimberly-Clark Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kimberly-Clark Worldwide Incorporated (Kimberly-Clark Corporation)
• Inventors: Reade, Walter Caswell, Irwin, Michelle Renee, Ungpiyakul, Tanakon, Cannady, Jeremy Brian, Bett, Thomas Arthur, Bedenbaugh, Babe
• Granted Patent: US 7,221,987 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/108
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/31485 Verify and update all related data in relational database
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0229 knowledge based, e.g. expert systems; genetic algorithms
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0267 Fault communication, e.g. human machine interface [HMI]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/80 Management or planning

Abstract

Analyzing an event chronology record to permit identification of periods of a production sequence that correspond to a high probability of failure. Systems and methods include receiving an event chronology for a particular machine in the production sequence and for a particular time interval. A reliability analysis system accesses process flow information to determine whether a particular event in the event chronology is related to a subsequent adverse event within a predefined event window.

Claims

1. A method for analyzing reliability of a manufacturing system, said method comprising:

receiving an event chronology having a plurality of chronologically ordered event records, each of the plurality of chronologically ordered event records having a machine section value associated therewith;

identifying an adverse event record in the received event chronology;

determining a relationship between the adverse event record and at least one previous event record in the event chronology by comparing the machine section value of the identified adverse event record and the machine section value of the previous event record; and

incrementing a value representative of a correlation between the identified adverse event record and the previous event record as a function of the determined relationship.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the relationship comprises accessing a memory area storing process flow information, said process flow information identifying relationships between machine sections.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising storing the process flow information in the memory area.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the event chronology is associated with a particular converting line and further comprising acting on the incremented value by modifying the particular converting line based on the determined relationship.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising extracting machine subsection data from one or more data tables as a function of a particular machine section value.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising exporting the event chronology and the incremented value to an analytical environment for further processing.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the received event chronology comprises waste data, delay data, and material usage data collected from an event-based manufacturing system.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the received event chronology comprises data related to the manufacture of an absorbent article.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the incremented value is associated with one or more of the following:

the machine section value of the identified adverse event record, and the machine section value of the previous event record.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the relationship comprises determining whether the identified adverse event record and the previous event record are within a predefined event window.

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

12. One or more computer-readable media having computer-executable components for analyzing reliability of a manufacturing process, said components comprising:

an interface component for receiving an event chronology having a plurality of chronologically ordered event records, each of the plurality of chronologically ordered event records having a machine section value associated therewith;

a process flow component for identifying a causal relationship between the event records in the event chronology received by the interface component by identifying an adverse event record in the event chronology and determining if the machine section value of the identified adverse event record and the machine section value of at least one previous event record in the event chronology are related; and

a display component for displaying the identified causal relationship to a user.

13. The computer-readable media of claim 12, wherein the process flow component further increments a value representative of a correlation between the identified adverse event record and the previous event record responsive to the identified causal relationship.

14. The computer-readable media of claim 13, wherein the incremented value is associated with one or more of the following:

the machine section value of the identified adverse event record, and the machine section value of the previous event record.

15. The computer-readable media of claim 12, further comprising a chronology component for extracting delay data and raw material usage data from one or more data tables as a function of a time interval value and a target location value and merging the extracted delay data and raw material usage data into the event chronology.

16. The computer-readable media of claim 12, further comprising a subsection component for extracting subsection data from one or more data tables as a function of a particular machine section value.

17. The computer-readable media of claim 12, wherein the received event chronology comprises waste data, delay data, and material usage data collected from an event-based manufacturing system.

18. The computer-readable media of claim 12, wherein the received event chronology comprises data related to the manufacture of an absorbent article.

19. The computer-readable media of claim 12, further comprising a subsection component for extracting, as a function of a particular machine section value, subsection data from the event chronology received by the interface component.

20. The computer-readable media of claim 12, wherein the process flow component identifies the causal relationship further by determining whether the identified adverse event record and the previous event record are within a predefined event window.

21. A system for analyzing the reliability of a manufacturing process having one or more machine sections, said system comprising:

an event chronology having a plurality of chronologically ordered event records, each of the plurality of chronologically ordered event records having a machine section value associated therewith;

a memory area for storing process flow information identifying at least one relationship between machine section values; and

a processor configured to execute computer-executable instructions for identifying a causal relationship between at least two of the event records in the event chronology by accessing the process flow information stored in the memory area.

22. The system of claim 21, further comprising a user interface for displaying the identified causal relationship to a user.

23. The system of claim 21, wherein the processor is further configured to execute computer-executable instructions for identifying the causal relationship by identifying an adverse event record in the event chronology and determining if the machine section value of the identified adverse event record and the machine section value of a previous event record in the event chronology are related per the process flow information stored in the memory area.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the processor is further configured to execute computer-executable instructions for identifying the causal relationship by determining whether the identified adverse event record and the previous event record are within a predefined event window.

25. In a computer system having a user interface including a display and a user interface selection device, a method for enabling a reliability analysis of a production sequence, said method comprising:

displaying the user interface to a user on the display, the user interface defining a time interval form and a target location form;

receiving from the user via the user interface selection device a time interval value from the time interval form;

receiving from the user via the user interface selection device a target location value from the target location form;

receiving an extraction command from the user via the user interface selection device;

extracting, in response to the received extraction command, delay data and raw material usage data from one or more data tables as a function of the received time interval value and the received target location value;

merging the extracted delay data and raw material usage data into an event chronology, said event chronology comprising a plurality of chronologically ordered event records, each of the plurality of chronologically ordered event records having a machine section associated therewith;

identifying an adverse event record in the event chronology; and

if the machine section of the identified adverse event record and the machine section of at least one previous event record in the event chronology are related, incrementing a value on the display, said value being representative of a correlation between the identified adverse event record and the previous event record.

26. The method of claim 25, further comprising determining whether the identified adverse event record has a correlation to the previous event record by comparing a machine section value associated with the identified adverse event record with a machine section value associated with the previous event record.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein incrementing the value comprises incrementing the value if the machine section of the identified adverse event record and the machine section of the previous event record are the same.

28. The method of claim 25, further comprising displaying the event chronology on the display.

29. The method of claim 25, further comprising displaying on the display the value representing a correlation between the identified adverse event record and the previous event record.

30. The method of claim 25, further comprising receiving from the user via the user interface selection device a data set selection, and wherein extracting the data from the one or more data tables further comprises extracting the data from the one or more data tables as a function of the received data set selection.

31. The method of claim 25, further comprising extracting delay data, raw material usage data, and waste data from the one or more data tables as a function of the received time interval value and the target location value.

32. The method of claim 25, wherein extracting the data from the one or more data tables further comprises:

generating a query as a function of the received time interval value and the received target location value; and

submitting the generated query to the one or more data tables to obtain the data.

33. The method of claim 25, wherein receiving the target location value comprises receiving one or more of the following:

a mill identifier, a machine section identifier, and a machine identifier.

34. The method of claim 25, further comprising:

receiving a drill-down command from the user via the user interface selection device, said drill-down command including a machine section value;

extracting, in response to the received drill-down command, subsection data from the one or more data tables as a function of the received machine section value; and

displaying on the display the extracted subsection data.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein the extracted subsection data represents a cross-tabulation of a plurality of stop events to identify one or more delay subsections within the production sequence that account for the plurality of stop events in the machine section corresponding to the machine section value.

36. The method of claim 25, further comprising exporting the merged data to an analytical environment for further processing.

37. The method of claim 25, wherein extracting the data from the one or more data tables further comprises extracting waste data, delay data, and material usage data collected from an event-based manufacturing system.

38. The method of claim 25, wherein extracting the data from the one or more data tables comprises extracting data related to the manufacture of an absorbent article from the one or more data tables.

39. The method of claim 25, wherein the incremented value is associated with one or more of the following:

the machine section of the identified adverse event record, and the machine section of the previous event record.

40. The method of claim 25, wherein determining the relationship comprises determining whether the identified adverse event record and the previous event record are within a predefined event window.

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

42. A user interface for enabling a reliability analysis of a production sequence, said user interface having a display and providing a report and a data set used to generate the report, said user interface comprising:

a start-up reliability portion for displaying on the display a tabulation of start-up failure events for a target machine during a time interval; and

an efficiency portion for displaying on the display splice efficiency data for the target machine during the time interval.

43. The user interface of claim 42, further comprising a classification portion for displaying classification information on the display, said classification information specifying the target machine and the time interval.

44. The user interface of claim 42, further comprising a summary portion for displaying on the display a data set summary for the target machine during the time interval.

45. The user interface of claim 42, further comprising a delay event portion for displaying on the display a plurality of delay events for the target machine during the time interval categorized by process location.

46. A user interface for enabling a reliability analysis of a production sequence, said user interface having a display and providing a report and a data set used to generate the report, said user interface comprising:

a first field for displaying classification information on the display, said classification information specifying a target machine and a time interval;

a second field for displaying on the display a data set summary for the target machine during the time interval;

a third field for displaying on the display a plurality of delay events for the target machine during the time interval categorized by process location;

a fourth field for displaying on the display a tabulation of start-up failure events for the target machine during the time interval; and

a fifth field for displaying on the display splice efficiency data for the target machine during the time interval.

47. The user interface of claim 46, wherein the first field further displays an uptime computation for the target machine during the time interval.

48. The user interface of claim 46, wherein the second field further displays one or more of the following for the target machine during the time interval:

a count of process events organized into delay and material consumption categories, and a converting event reliability ratio measuring converting reliability as a count of consumption events divided by a count of delay events to indicate overall system health and efficiency.

49. The user interface of claim 46, wherein the fourth field further displays a count of repeat failures for the target machine during the time interval to provide a measure of difficulty during process re-start.

50. The user interface of claim 46, wherein the fifth field further displays one or more of the following for the target machine during the time interval:

a splice count per machine section, a process failure count per machine section, and a computed efficiency ratio of the splice count and the process failure count.

51. The user interface of claim 46, wherein the fifth field represents splice efficiency across a 1500 cut process event window.

52. The user interface of claim 46, wherein the fifth field displays the splice efficiency data having an event window length, said event window length being from about 0 cuts to about 3000 cuts.

53. The user interface of claim 46, wherein the data set comprises waste, delay, and material usage data collected from an event-based manufacturing system for the target machine during the time interval.

54. The user interface of claim 46, wherein the second field displays the data set summary relating to data collected by an event-based manufacturing system.

55. The user interface of claim 46, wherein the second field displays the data set summary relating to data pertaining to the manufacture of an absorbent article.

56. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a data structure representing process flow information in an event-based manufacturing process, said data structure comprising:

a first field storing a value identifying a machine section; and

a second field storing a plurality of values representing a list of machine sections related in the manufacturing process to the machine section identified in the first field.

57. The computer-readable medium of claim 56, wherein an event occurring in the machine section identified in the first field has a causal relationship with an event occurring in one of the machine sections from the list of machine sections identified in the second field.

58. A system for enabling a reliability analysis for a production sequence, said system comprising:

a chronology tool for building an event chronology from data collected from an event-based manufacturing system, said event chronology including a chronologically ordered sequence of event records pertaining to delay data and material usage data; and

a reliability analysis tool for producing a report from the event chronology built by the chronology tool, said report including the event chronology, said report further including a plurality of dimensions, said dimensions including a measure of reliability during machine start, a measure of reliability of a running operation, and a measure of reliability per asset in the production sequence and per time frame.

59. The system of claim 58, wherein the chronology tool builds the event chronology from data related to the manufacture of an absorbent article.

60. The system of claim 58, wherein the reliability analysis tool further produces a subsection report for a machine section, said subsection report representing a cross-tabulation of a plurality of stop events to identify one or more delay subsections for the machine section.

61. The system of claim 58, wherein the reliability analysis tool further produces a material converting report for a machine section, said material converting report representing a cross-tabulation of a plurality of stop events for the machine section to identify one or more material identifiers related to the plurality of stop events.

62. The system of claim 58, wherein the reliability analysis tool further produces a material converting report for a subset of machine sections, said material converting report representing a cross-tabulation of a plurality of stop events for the subset of machine sections to identify one or more material identifiers related to the plurality of stop events.

63. The system of claim 58, wherein the dimensions further include a measure of reliability of specific materials converted to a product.

64. The system of claim 58, wherein the measure of reliability of the running operation comprises one or more of the following:

splice event transient information for a machine section and splice-induced failure data for another, subsequent machine section in the event-based manufacturing system.

65. The system of claim 58, wherein the event chronology further includes a chronologically ordered sequence of event records pertaining to waste data.