Custom-made manufacturing system and custom-made manufacturing method

• US 5,357,439 A
• Filed: 03/11/1991
• Issued: 10/18/1994
• Est. Priority Date: 03/09/1990
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Matsumoto, Yoshio, Mita, Toru, Imai, Kaoru, Taniguchi, Ichiro, Uno, Masahito, Watanabe, Masahiro, Suzuki, Hideaki, Sugimoto, Koichi, Matsuzaki, Kichie, Matoba, Hideaki, Onari, Hisashi, Inaba, Hidetoshi
• Primary Examiner(s): Smith, Jerry
• Assistant Examiner(s): TRAMMELL, JAMES P
• Application Number:
  US07/666,927
• Time in Patent Office: 1,317 Days
• Field of Search: 364/468, 364/146, 364/188, 364/474.22
• US Class Current: 700/96
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/41865 characterised by job scheduling, process planning, material flow
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/31389 Pull type, client order decides manufacturing
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/32024 Remote ordering, electronic selection article and fitting to form of client
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/02 Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS]

Abstract

The present invention relates to a manufacturing system which accepts a custom order of product from a customer and custom manufactures a product without sacrificing manufacturing efficiency. The manufacturing system includes the featuring steps of inputting the required specification of a product, creating the product design based on the design information of the product transmitted from a designing department, status data from the production department, and the input required specification, showing the created product design to the customer, selectively indicating a product to be purchased, transmitting the specification of the selected product to the production department, and producing a product based on the selected product specification.

Claims

1. A custom manufacturing system comprising:

means for selectively indicating a particular product having custom product specifications required by a customer;

a product ordering department having means for receiving said required product specifications input by said customer;

a design department for designing custom product design information for said specified product according to said input required custom product specifications, said design department having means for storing said custom product design information;

a production department for manufacturing said product according to said custom product design information, said production department having means for outputting and storing production status information and means for storing end product manufacturing information, wherein said production department receives said custom product design information from said design department via a transmitting means;

means for estimating and showing at least one of completion time data and cost data according to said custom product design information and said production status information; and

means for creating and displaying a product design having said input custom required specifications, according to said product design information, said production status information and said end product information.

2. The custom manufacturing system according to claim 1 further comprising means for storing a manufacturing result of the product and wherein the product design based on the manufacturing result is shown to a customer.

3. The custom manufacturing system according to claim 1 further comprising means for, if the product design meeting the input custom required specification of the product is not shown, transmitting said required specification to said design department, and

means for, after the product meeting said input custom required specification is designed, transmitting said design information to means for storing the design information of said product so that said storing means can newly store said design information.

4. The custom manufacturing system according to claim 1 further comprises means for transmitting information indicating a production feature of the production department to the design department, and means for designing the product based on the feature information of the production department and transmitting the design information to the production department.

5. The custom manufacturing system according to claim 1 wherein said production department comprises production planning means for creating production planning information for the product ordered by said customer, and means for manufacturing the product based on said production planning information.

6. The custom manufacturing system according to claim 5, wherein said production planning means includes a database for storing feature data of parts composing each product, product structure data, and assembly knowledge based on the function performance of manufacturing equipment, and means for defining an assembling sequence, machinery, and an equipment layout for manufacturing said product.

7. The custom manufacturing system according to claim 5, wherein said means for manufacturing the product includes at least one pair of a positioning means, having a three-dimensional mechanism and a place conveying mechanism, and a posture positioning means providing a plane conveying mechanism in a three-dimensional posture positioning mechanism,

said manufacturing means further comprising a position recognizing device for recognizing relative positional relation between moving mechanisms.

8. The custom manufacturing system according to claim 1, wherein said means for inputting the input custom required specification of said product has a function for inputting a three-dimensional form and color of a sample as an outer appearance specification.

9. The custom manufacturing system according to claim 1, wherein said means for inputting the required specification of said product has a function for inputting quantity and type specifications.

10. The custom manufacturing system according to claim 1, wherein said means for inputting a selective indication of the product to be purchased has a function of for inputting a proper specification selected from two or more recommended specifications.

11. The custom manufacturing system according to claim 1, wherein said means for inputting the required specification of said product has a function of changing an input outer appearance specification.

12. The custom manufacturing system according to claim 1, wherein the production status information of said production department is the data representing the production stage in process and the operating state of the equipment in the production department.

13. A custom manufacturing system according to claim 1 wherein said end product manufacturing information comprises cost of the manufactured product and date of completion of production.

14. A custom manufacturing system according to claim 1, wherein completion time data and cost data are estimated according to previous end product information stored in said production department and said production status information output by said production department.

15. A custom manufacturing system comprising:

means for storing an input of required specifications of a product,

means for collecting a plurality of required specifications stored in said storing means and transmitting said plurality of required specifications to a designing department,

means for designing a product choosing from required specifications most frequently input based on said plurality of required specifications,

means for storing design information for said product,

means for producing said product according to said required specifications,

means for transmitting said design information of said product having selected required specifications, chosen from said plurality of required specifications, to said means for storing the design information of said product, and

means for transmitting said design information for said product from said means for designing said product to said means for producing said product.

16. A custom manufacturing method comprising the steps of:

inputting a plurality of required specifications of a product,

collecting the plurality of required specifications;

transmitting the plurality of required specifications to a design department,

determining the product design using required specifications most frequently input based on the data about said collected plurality of required specifications,

designing the product based on the determined product design information chose from the frequently required specifications, and

transmitting the product design to a production department, and

producing the product according to the product design information.