OPERATION SUPPORTING APPARATUS, OPERATION SUPPORTING METHOD, AND PROGRAM

• US 20120059834A1
• Filed: 07/07/2009
• Published: 03/08/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/07/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation (Nippon Steel Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation (Nippon Steel Corporation)
• Inventors: Shimoi, Shinichirou, Nakamura, Hideto, Oshita, Isao
• Application Number:
  US13/261,015
• Publication Number:
  US 20120059834A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/758
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063 Operations research, analysis or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/04 Manufacturing
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/30 Computing systems specially adapted for manufacturing

Abstract

An acquisition unit acquires operation process data (including first process data operable by an operator and second process data different from the first process data) of a manufacturing facility from a facility management apparatus. A search unit searches past operation process data similar to current operation process data based on the first or second process data. A search unit searches action data related to the past operation process data searched by the search unit from action data determined by an action determination unit based on the first process data. An evaluation unit uses the second process data to evaluate the action data searched by the search unit. As a result, the operator can determine what kind of an operation related to an operation of the manufacturing facility should be performed in the future.

Claims

1. An operation supporting apparatus that supports an operation of a manufacturing facility that manufactures a product, comprising:

an operation process data acquisition arrangement for acquiring operation process data that is process data related to the operation of the manufacturing facility and that includes first process data as a performance value which is set based on an operation by an operator in the manufacturing facility and second process data including data related to a quality of the product or a quality of the operation;

an operation process data storage arrangement for storing past operation process data in past operations of the manufacturing facility that is stored in the past and current operation process data in a current operation of the manufacturing facility, the past operation process data and the current operation process data being the operation process data acquired by the operation process data acquisition arrangement;

a similar operation search arrangement for searching past operation process data similar to the current operation process data from the past operation process data based on the first process data or the second process data in the current operation process data;

an action determination arrangement for determining whether there is an action of an operation by the operator in the operation in the first process data based on the first process data;

an action data storage arrangement for storing action data related to the action determined by the action determination means;

an action past operation search arrangement for searching the action data related to the past operation process data searched by the similar operation search arrangement from the action data stored in the action data storage arrangement; and

an evaluation arrangement for evaluating the action data searched by the action past operation search arrangement using the second process data.

2. The operation supporting apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising;

an indication control arrangement for controlling to indicate the action data searched by the action past operation search arrangement along with an evaluation result in the evaluation arrangement.

3. The operation supporting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the operation process data acquisition arrangement acquires, as the second process data, similar operation search target process data in addition to evaluation target process data as data related to the quality of the product or the quality of the operation,

the similar operation search arrangement searches the past operation process data similar to the current operation process data from the past operation process data based on the similar operation search target process data, and

the evaluation arrangement evaluates the action data searched by the action past operation search arrangement using the evaluation target process data.

4. The operation supporting apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the similar operation search target process data includes at least one of a measurement value by a sensor arranged on the manufacturing facility and a performance value related to a state of the manufacturing facility.

5. The operation supporting apparatus according to claim 3, wherein:

the operation process data acquisition arrangement acquires a plurality of evaluation target process data in one of the operation process data, and

the evaluation arrangement calculates an evaluation value of the action data searched by the action past operation search arrangement for each of the evaluation target process data to evaluate the action data based on each of the calculated evaluation values.

6. The operation supporting apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a manufacturing condition data acquisition arrangement for acquiring manufacturing condition data related to a manufacturing condition of the manufacturing facility; and

a manufacturing condition data storage arrangement for storing past manufacturing condition data and current manufacturing condition data in the manufacturing facility, the past manufacturing condition data and the current manufacturing condition data being manufacturing condition data acquired by the manufacturing condition data acquisition arrangement;

wherein;

the operation process data acquisition arrangement acquires the operation process data in association with the manufacturing condition data,

the operation process data storage arrangement stores the past operation process data in association with the past manufacturing condition data and stores the current operation process data in association with the current manufacturing condition data, and

the similar operation search arrangement searches past manufacturing condition data similar to the current manufacturing condition data in the current operation process data from the past manufacturing condition data and sets the past operation process data associated with the searched past manufacturing condition data as a search range to search the past operation process data similar to the current operation process data.

7. The operation supporting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the action determination arrangement determines that there is the action if a variation relative to a predetermined time of the first process data is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold.

8. The operation supporting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the action data storage arrangement stores the action data with time information, and

when the action past operation search arrangement searches the action data related to the past operation process data searched by the similar operation search arrangement, the action past operation search arrangement searches the action data within a range of a predetermined period before and after a corresponding an equivalent time of the past operation process data corresponding equivalent to a current time of the current operation process data.

9. The operation supporting apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the indication control arrangement controls to classify the action data based on the evaluation results by the evaluation arrangement to display the action data on a display device to indicate the action data.

10. An operation supporting method by an operation supporting apparatus that supports an operation of a manufacturing facility that manufactures a product, the opera method comprising:

acquiring operation process data that is process data related to the operation of the manufacturing facility and that includes first process data as a performance value which is set based on an operation by an operator in the manufacturing facility and second process data including data related to a quality of the product or a quality of the operation;

storing, in an operation process data storage arrangement of the operation supporting apparatus, past operation process data in past operations of the manufacturing facility that is stored in the past and current operation process data in a current operation of the manufacturing facility, the past operation process data and the current operation process data being the operation process data acquired in the operation process data acquisition step;

searching past operation process data similar to the current operation process data from the past operation process data based on the first process data or the second process data in the current operation process data;

determining whether there is an action of an operation by the operator in the operation in the first process data based on the first process data;

storing, in an action data storage arrangement of the operation supporting apparatus, action data related to the action determined in the action determination step;

searching the action data related to the past operation process data searched in the similar operation search step from the action data stored in the action data storage arrangement; and

evaluating the action data searched in the action past operation search step using the second process data.

11. The operation supporting method according to claim 10, further comprising;

controlling to indicate the action data searched in the action past operation search step along with an evaluation result in the evaluation step.

12. The operation supporting method according to claim 10, wherein:

in the operation process data acquisition step, similar operation search target process data is acquired as the second process data in addition to evaluation target process data as data related to the quality of the product or the quality of the operation,

in the similar operation search step, the past operation process data similar to the current operation process data is searched from the past operation process data based on the similar operation search target process data, and

in the evaluation step, the action data searched in the action past operation search step is evaluated using the evaluation target process data.

13. The operation supporting method according to claim 12, wherein the similar operation search target process data includes at least one of a measurement value by a sensor arranged on the manufacturing facility and a performance value related to a state of the manufacturing facility.

14. The operation supporting method according to claim 12, wherein:

in the operation process data acquisition step, a plurality of the evaluation target process data is acquired in one of the operation process data, and

in the evaluation step, an evaluation value of the action data searched in the action past operation search step is calculated for each evaluation target process data to evaluate the action data based on each of the calculated evaluation values.

15. The operation supporting method according to claim 10, further comprising:

a manufacturing condition data acquisition step of acquiring manufacturing condition data related to a manufacturing condition of the manufacturing facility; and

a manufacturing condition data storage step of storing, in manufacturing condition data storage arrangement of the operation supporting apparatus, past manufacturing condition data and current manufacturing condition data in the manufacturing facility, the past manufacturing condition data and the current manufacturing condition data being manufacturing condition data acquired in the manufacturing condition data acquisition step, wherein

in the operation process data acquisition step, the operation process data is acquired in association with the manufacturing condition data,

the operation process data storage arrangement stores the past operation process data in association with the past manufacturing condition data and stores the current operation process data in association with the current manufacturing condition data, and

in the similar operation search step, past manufacturing condition data similar to the current manufacturing condition data in the current operation process data is searched from the past manufacturing condition data, and the past operation process data associated with the searched past manufacturing condition data is set as a search range to search the past operation process data similar to the current operation process data.

16. The operation supporting method according to claim 10, wherein:

in the action determination step, it is determined that there is the action if a variation relative to a predetermined time of the first process data is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold.

17. The operation supporting method according to claim 10, wherein:

the action data storage arrangement stores the action data with time information, and

in the action past operation search step, when the action data related to the past operation process data searched in the similar operation search step is searched, the action data is searched within a range of a predetermined period before and after a corresponding time of the past operation process data corresponding to a current time of the current operation process data.

18. The operation supporting method according to claim 11, wherein:

in the indication control step, control is performed to classify the action data based on the evaluation results in the evaluation step to display the action data on a display device to indicate the action data.

19. A computer readable medium having a computer program, which is executable by a processor, comprising:

a program code arrangement having program code for causing execution of an operation supporting task by an operation supporting apparatus that supports an operation of a manufacturing facility that manufactures a product, by performing the following;

acquiring operation process data that is process data related to the operation of the manufacturing facility and that includes first process data as a performance value which is set based on an operation by an operator in the manufacturing facility and second process data including data related to a quality of the product or a quality of the operation;

storing, in operation process data storage arrangement of the operation supporting apparatus, past operation process data in past operations of the manufacturing facility that is stored in the past and current operation process data in a current operation of the manufacturing facility, the past operation process data and the current operation process data being the operation process data acquired in the operation process data acquisition step;

searching past operation process data similar to the current operation process data from the past operation process data based on the first process data or the second process data in the current operation process data;

determining whether there is an action of an operation by the operator in the operation in the first process data based on the first process data;

storing, in action data storage arrangement of the operation supporting apparatus, action data related to the action determined in the action determination step;

searching the action data related to the past operation process data searched in the similar operation search step from the action data stored in the action data storage arrangement; and

evaluation step of evaluating the action data searched in the action past operation search step using the second process data.

20. The computer readable medium according to claim 19, further performing the following:

controlling to indicate the action data searched in the action past operation search step along with an evaluation result in the evaluation step.