Apparatus for control and evaluation of pending jobs in a factory
First Claim
1. A factory for processing jobs-in-progress, and producing completed work, said factory comprising:
- a plurality of machines for receiving and processing ones of said jobs-in-progress and at least a portion of said plurality of machines having waiting queues, said machines providing status information relating to respective ones of said waiting queues;
a source of orders;
a source of user-selected job release criteria, said criteria including at least one of a respective utilization factor and a respective job on-time factor assigned to respective ones of said machines;
storing means, responsive to said source of orders, for storing pending orders, and for releasing a selected order for inclusion in said jobs-in-progress in response to selection information; and
means, responsive to information from said storing means, to said source of job release criteria and to said machine status information, for producing and revising said selection information so as to establish a Factory Profile curve of an optimum release strategy for said factory, determining a corresponding curve of predicted actual processing for each of said jobs from a trial start date through the expected completion of said job in said factory, comparing said actual job curve for each of said jobs with said Factory Profile optimum curve, and accepting said job for processing by said factory on said trial start date if said actual job curve closely follows said Factory Profile curve, within predefined bounds, throughout the processing time for said job, and otherwise determining a new curve of predicted actual processing for said job from a new trial start date and repeating said comparison.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
An improved system and method for scheduling a plurality of orders into a factory for processing by one or more of a plurality of machines located therein, based on the use of a Continuity Index job release strategy. The system and method is particularly addressed to the enhancement of such a job release strategy by introduction of Factory Profile and priority criteria and an algorithm for automatic determination of an optimum job release point based on such criteria. The scheduling methodology is characterized by defining a Continuity Index (CI) for each of the jobs as the ratio of the actual time the job is being processed by such one or more machines to the total time from release of the jobs into a shop wherein such machines are located until the completion of the job, establishing a Factory Profile curve of optimum CI value over time, determining a curve of actual CI for each of the jobs being tested for release beginning from a trial start date and extending through the expected completion of the job, comparing the actual CI curve for each of such jobs with the Factory Profile optimum CI curve and accepting the job for processing by the shop on the trial start date if the actual CI curve closely follows the Factory Profile curve throughout the processing time for the job, and otherwise determining a new curve of actual CI for the job from a new trial start date and repeating the comparison.
104 Citations
8 Claims
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1. A factory for processing jobs-in-progress, and producing completed work, said factory comprising:
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a plurality of machines for receiving and processing ones of said jobs-in-progress and at least a portion of said plurality of machines having waiting queues, said machines providing status information relating to respective ones of said waiting queues; a source of orders; a source of user-selected job release criteria, said criteria including at least one of a respective utilization factor and a respective job on-time factor assigned to respective ones of said machines; storing means, responsive to said source of orders, for storing pending orders, and for releasing a selected order for inclusion in said jobs-in-progress in response to selection information; and means, responsive to information from said storing means, to said source of job release criteria and to said machine status information, for producing and revising said selection information so as to establish a Factory Profile curve of an optimum release strategy for said factory, determining a corresponding curve of predicted actual processing for each of said jobs from a trial start date through the expected completion of said job in said factory, comparing said actual job curve for each of said jobs with said Factory Profile optimum curve, and accepting said job for processing by said factory on said trial start date if said actual job curve closely follows said Factory Profile curve, within predefined bounds, throughout the processing time for said job, and otherwise determining a new curve of predicted actual processing for said job from a new trial start date and repeating said comparison. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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Specification