Computer system including means for decision support scheduling

• US 5,596,502 A
• Filed: 11/14/1994
• Issued: 01/21/1997
• Est. Priority Date: 11/14/1994
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Nmetric, LLC
• Original Assignee: Sunoptech, Ltd.
• Inventors: Henderson, Kenneth R., Koski, Robert E., Barlow, Christopher R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Ruggiero, Joseph
• Application Number:
  US08/339,520
• Time in Patent Office: 799 Days
• Field of Search: 364/468, 364/478, 364/401-403, 395/919, 395/925, 395/926, 395/904, 395/650
• US Class Current: 700/95
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 706/919 Designing, planning, programming, CAD, CASE

Abstract

A demand driven pull-through computerized decision support scheduling system-- The Cube System-- employing a CUBEBOOKING Program operating in near real time to load Jobs (a sequence of predefined process) in CubeCells at a Workspace in Time defined in a selected Cube World in response to demand placed on the Cube World by a customer order, which program allocates the best available resources to produce products (Product Resources) composed of materials (Material Resources on a Positive Bill of Materials) having Features (contained in a Negative Bill of Materials). The Cube System operates to keep track of alternate probable process paths by scoring systems and retains resource usage production history patterns as Prime Data to resolve conflicts between capacity-limited resources (Resource Contentions). The CUBEVIEW Program provides three dimensional representations of Demand and Supply of Resources (displayed on the z axis) at Workspaces (displayed on the y axis) in Time (displayed on the x axis) by a series of Cube Views, and displays Resource contentions, the presence of which requires user intervention to rotate the cube display to examine the z, y axis (Resources, z, on the horizontal axis; Workspaces y, again on the vertical axis, at time=0, a given Time Cell) for contentions. Using the view the system recommends alternative reallocation of Resources to other Workspaces to eliminate Resource Contentions in the various Cube Cells.

Claims

1. Method of computerized real time scheduling of production of products or delivery of services by a future time certain employing a computer system having one or more central processing units containing logic circuits configured by software contained in memory and one or more display menus, said computer system being controlled by user manipulation to perform, in any sequence, the steps of:

a) describing products to be produced or services to be performed in terms of features;

b) determining capabilities of available, callable, resources, including at least one physical workspace;

c) deriving and cataloging doability of features from the determination of said physical workspace and resource capabilities;

d) upon order entry, making one or more production or delivery time appointments at one or more physical workspaces when all said resources may be made simultaneously available to at least one of said physical workspaces to produce one or more of said features by a time certain.

2. Method of computerized decentralized real time scheduling of product production or performance of service by a computer system having one or more central processing units containing logic circuits configured by software contained in memory and having at least one display means, said computer system being controlled by user manipulation to perform;

in any sequence, the steps of;

a) predetermining features of said product or service, said features including the physical location for production or performance thereof;

b) assigning a unique prime data identifier to said product or service;

c) entering an order for said product or service only if it is doable, said order entry including said prime data identifier;

d) storing said order entry as data in unalterable and retrievable form in an archival portion of said memory, said order being date and time stamped upon storing;

e) providing time and resource allocation control programs to one or more marketing, order entry, shipping, shop, accounting, engineering, professional, assembly, materials, inventory, quality control, service and management operational functions;

f) retrieving said prime data identifier(s) from said archival memory by at least one of said allocation programs;

g) assigning specified ones of said product or service features to one or more of said operational functions as task(s) to be completed in accord with said allocation program(s);

h) assigning task completion identifiers to said prime data identifier as each of said tasks is completed to create updated prime data identifiers;

i) storing said updated prime data identifiers and data in unalterable and retrievable form in said archival memory, said updated prime data identifiers being date and time stamped upon storing;

j) each of said allocation programs interrogating said archival memory for updated prime data identifiers of interest to relevant tasks assigned the respective operational functions to which said allocation program relates;

k) said allocation programs initiating the one or more tasks assigned to its operational function upon identifying a next preceding updated prime data identifier in said archival memory to provide non-iterative task completion without central control or central monitoring in a proactive, demand-driven, resource contention avoidance pull-through production system.

3. Method for computerized implementation of a demand-driven pull-through manufacturing system by use of a computer system having one or more central processing units and a memory containing software configuring said computer to perform, in any sequence, the steps of:

a) providing a product or part order;

b) deriving a Negative Bill of Materials (NBOM) from said product or part order when said order does not include a related NBOM;

c) archiving said NBOM in said computer memory;

d) permitting access to said NBOM by one or more of order entry, primary handling, secondary handling, shops, accounting, engineering, professional, assembly, materials, inventory, packaging, shipping and quality control functions;

e) inputting status reports as work is completed in one or more of order entry, primary handling, secondary handling, shops, accounting, engineering, professional, assembly, materials, inventory, packaging, shipping and quality control functions to said memory, said status reports being uniquely identified as related to said NBOM for query by said other functions.

4. A method of display of contentions between availability of resources to be provided to workspaces in time to fulfill product or service production orders, requests or demands (jobs), comprising the steps of:

a) providing a computer display means driven by a CPU having memory and logic circuits configurable by software;

b) providing software configuring said CPU logic circuits in response to said user control to display;

i) time on a first axis in a plurality of discreet unit cells, time zero (T₀) being at a defined position on said axis;

ii) workspaces or jobs assigned to a given workspace on a second axis;

iii) resources on a third axis; and

iv) at least two of said axes being simultaneously displayable orthogonal to each other;

c) determining any conflicts in availability of resources, which are required to produce said product or perform said service, deliverable to said workspace; and

d) displaying such conflicts as resource contentions on said display means.

5. A resource contention display method as in claim 4 which includes the step of:

a) successively incrementing the display of time cells from future time toward t₀ along said time axis while displaying at least one of said contentions, jobs, workspaces or resources.

6. A resource contention display method as in claim 5 which includes the step of:

a) resolving resource contentions.

7. A near real time job scheduling system software program that, when installed in a computer system having logic circuits configured by said software, enables a user to perform, upon data input and control by said user, the functions of:

a) identifying features necessary to produce a product, a service or supply a resource (job) by a defined time;

b) identifying resources necessary to create said features;

c) identifying workspaces at which identified resources are to be mustered for a necessary time period to create the identified features;

d) determining availability of said identified resources at said workspaces before said defined time;

e) detecting contentions in availability of resources or workspaces;

f) tracking alternate probable paths by scoring the success of production operations, and storing resource history patterns as prime data to assist in resolving conflicts between capacity-limited resources;

g) ranking said probable paths;

h) displaying to said user any resource contentions which are detected so that said user may reallocate resources to other workspaces to eliminate resource contentions for said job before said defined time occurs; and

i) said program providing a demand-driven pull-through feature-based system for making appointments for operating in near real time to make appointments for said jobs at said workspace in predetermined units of time in a selected environment in response to a demand for activity placed on said environment by a customer order.

8. A near real time scheduling software program as in claim 7 wherein:

a) said step of identifying features includes defining processes performed at a workspace by selected resources and providing them to memory in a cubic coordinate system having orthogonal axes with a single 0,0,0 origin.

9. A scheduling decision support program for scheduling jobs to be performed by a defined time, said program installed in a computer system having logic circuits configured thereby to enable a user to perform, upon data input and control of said computer by said user, the functions of:

a) developing at least one prioritized list of primary and alternate workspaces in which said job can be performed;

b) developing a list of floating resources that could be employed to complete a specified job without considering availability of these resources at said workspaces;

c) dividing time between the time of order until the defined time into time blocks;

d) attempting to load jobs into at least one workspace during at least one time block to determine if necessary floating resources will be available in said time block;

e) for a given job, identifying and locating any resources missing from at least some of said workspaces;

f) attempting to make appointments for missing resources at a workspace during at least one of said time blocks;

g) determining if there are contentions for resources during the time block(s) picked;

h) attempting to shift jobs into other time block(s) or other workspace(s) prior to said defined time in order to provide resources at a workspace to complete said job; and

i) highlighting scarce resources so they can be monitored and allocated by said user.

10. A scheduling support display program for display of job scheduling in unit blocks of time before a defined due date, said program installed in a computer system having logic circuits configured by said program to enable a user to perform, upon data input and control by said user, the functions of;

a) display of unit blocks of time along a first, horizontal X axis with time moving dynamically from right to left, with "now" in time normally at the left end of the line and the immediate future to the right of now and the distant future further right;

b) display of a job queue for at least one selected workspace, selected from workcenters for fixed resources and storage places for floating resources, along a second, vertical, Y axis;

c) optionally displaying at least selected ones of all resources necessary to perform a job at a given workspace along a third, front-to-back, Z axis;

d) receiving data on job progress at said workspaces including job completion data;

e) moving jobs upon completion off the left end of the time axis;

f) adding new jobs in a workspace job queue;

g) display of presence or absence of necessary floating resources along with present reported location of missing resources and whether there are contentions for commitment of said resources at other workspaces or for other jobs during at least part of said time block;

h) halting movement of the job queue for a given workspace when a workspace or resource becomes unavailable; and

i) moving said halted job queue for said workspace back to the future along said time axis.

11. A general purpose computer having installed therein and capable of executing software having functions to support decisions to muster resources at one or more workspaces (workspace inventory) in time to fulfill a job order by a defined time, said software functions comprising;

a) initializing a job order, said initialization further comprising the functions of;

i) identifying the object of the job order and a defined time for delivery;

ii) analyzing said object to provide a Negative Bill Of Materials (NBOM) for said object, said NBOM listing the features which characterize said object in a three dimensional orthogonal system;

iii) determining the capability of providing the features of said object;

iv) communicating a rich response to the customer if unable to provide said capability by said defined time;

v) querying the resource inventory to determine availability of resources for production of said object within the defined time, and scheduling said resources;

vi) communicating a rich response to the customer if there are insufficient resources to provide all of the features within the defined time;

vii) querying the workspace inventory to determine availability of at least one workspace to provide said features;

viii) continuously assessing the "best path" to complete the job using non-deterministic methods and lopping off paths as they become impossible;

ix) booking jobs in at least one queue for at least one workspace; and

x) creating a three-dimensional orthogonal coordinate system for each job booked with time on one axis, resources on a second axis linked to the time axis, and jobs queued in a workspace on a third axis linked to said time axis;

b) querying said feature inventory to ensure availability of features yet to be provided;

c) querying said resource inventory to ensure availability of sufficient resources to provide said features;

d) querying workspace inventory to ensure availability of workspace;

e) comparing feature supply with feature demand;

f) comparing resource demand with resource supply;

h) dynamically adjusting queued job location along the time cell axis to accommodate changes or contentions in resource or workplace availability to produce the demanded features by a time certain, selected from the original job order time for delivery or any rescheduled time.