Materials, Operations and Tooling Interface and Methods for Managing a Remote Production Facility

• US 20080281455A1
• Filed: 05/11/2007
• Published: 11/13/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/11/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Kenneth Swegman
• Original Assignee: Kenneth Swegman
• Inventors: Swegman, Kenneth
• Application Number:
  US11/747,484
• Publication Number:
  US 20080281455A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/107
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders

Abstract

A system and method for managing a remote manufacturing facility are described. The system includes a network, data store, interface, and a processor. The interface is located at a manufacturing facility. The processor and data store are located at a location removed from the manufacturing facility. The network communicatively couples the interface to the data store and the processor. The data store includes information that directs technicians through the steps associated with manufacturing sub-assemblies and assemblies. The information includes bill-of-materials, manufacturing instructions, partially completed quality assurance documents, part identifiers and part parameters, tool identifiers and tool parameters, as well as annotations and images.

Claims

1. A method for managing a remote production facility, comprising:

providing instructions for manufacturing assemblies and sub-assemblies;

providing information responsive to parts, tools and operations referenced in the instructions for manufacturing each of the assemblies and sub-assemblies;

providing a set of quality assurance documents referenced in the instructions for manufacturing each of the assemblies and sub-assemblies; and

controllably granting access to a network coupled interface that exposes the instructions, information related to the parts, tools and quality assurance documents.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein providing instructions for manufacturing comprises storing information that directs a user of the network accessible interface to complete steps in manufacturing an engine.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein providing instructions for manufacturing comprises storing a bill-of-materials used in manufacturing the engine.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein providing instructions for manufacturing comprises storing both annotation and image information.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein providing instructions for manufacturing comprises storing information that directs a user of the network accessible interface to complete steps in manufacturing a modular component used in manufacturing an engine.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein providing instructions for manufacturing comprises storing both annotation and image information.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein providing information related to parts, tools and operations referenced in the instructions comprises hierarchically associating the information.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing a report responsive to a user input indicative of one of assembly parts and tools or sub-assembly parts and tools.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing a report responsive to a user input indicative of an operation.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein providing a set of quality assurance documents comprises providing one of an assembly instruction sheet, a stop order, a traceability record and a build sheet.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing a user form for communicating a change request.

12. A system for guiding technicians through manufacturing tasks, comprising:

a network;

a data store coupled to the network, the data store comprising information associated hierarchically, the information including at least a bill-of-materials, manufacturing instructions, partially completed quality assurance documents, part identifiers and parameters, tool identifiers and parameters;

a first interface located at a manufacturing site and communicatively coupled to the data store via the network; and

a processor coupled to the data store and the interface via the network, the processor configured to enable a user of the interface to controllably access the data store.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the network comprises one of a local-area network, a publicly accessible wide-area network, a virtual private network, and a proprietary network.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the partially completed quality assurance documents comprise an assembly instruction sheet, a stop order, a traceability record and a build sheet.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the data store further comprises annotation and image information.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the data store further comprises a user form for communicating a change request.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the processor is configured to provide limited access to the data store via the first interface.

18. The system of claim 12, further comprising:

a management interface coupled to the data store via the network, wherein the processor is configured to provide edit privileges to an operator of the management interface.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the operator of the management interface is permitted to modify information responsive to a change request.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the operator of the management interface is permitted to modify one or more of assembly, sub-assembly, part, tool, operation, and partially completed quality assurance document information.