Apparatus and method for analysis of continuous process lines
First Claim
1. Apparatus for analyzing a system of continuous processes lines, comprising:
- a facilitator workstation with a facilitator display and data input means;
multiple participant workstations with participant displays and data input means and each participant workstation having means to control the functions of the workstation;
means to produce textual and graphical output;
team display means to communicate with the facilitator workstation and having a sufficiently large screen for viewing an image with several thousand characters of text from a plurality of participant workstations;
network means for communication between the facilitator workstation, the means to produce textual and graphical output, and a plurality of the participant workstations;
automatic means to control communication between the facilitator workstation, the means to produce textual and graphical output, and a plurality of the participant workstations and to control the functions of the facilitator workstation;
team decision support means to automatically collect data from a plurality of participant workstations and display the received data to a plurality of participants, and to provide for revising the data to resolve any inconsistencies in the received data;
database means for storing and retrieving data;
means for categorizing and organizing the data collected by the team decision support means and transmitting the organized data to the database means;
bridge means, including;
means for moving data from the database means, for further organizing the data and for transferring the further organized data to the means to produce textual and graphical output, and including;
means for creating data sheets from the database including means to report qualitative and quantitative data for a plurality of the process steps;
means for producing a graphical flow diagram of the process from the database, including a representation of multiple process steps and the relationships between process steps;
the database means for storing and retrieving information, including;
means for storing and retrieving multiple process steps of multiple process lines;
means for storing and retrieving qualitative descriptions related to each respective process step, including;
a classification indicating the step is either anoperation, transportation, inventory storage, orinspection step; and
material inputs and product outputs of each operation step;
means for storing and retrieving quantitative information related to each process step including operation time, capacity, and transportation time;
means for storing and retrieving the relationship between the process steps; and
means for storing and retrieving the relationship between each process line, and between each suppler and customer for that line.
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Abstract
A network computer system and method for analyzing a system of continuous process lines. Groupware is used to implement the analysis stage of continuous flow manufacturing (CFM) methodology using a network of portable computers. Preferably in one meeting, in response to prompts of a facilitator, participants input all the required qualitative and quantitative data about each process line in the system being analyzed. The input data is anonymously displayed to all the participants, the data is corrected and verified by group consensus achieved informally or by automatic tabulation of anonymous voting as needed. The verified data is organized into a GroupWare database (flat files and/or a part of a relational database). Bridge programs automatically read the GroupWare database and reorganize the data to create a program input database. Then preferably in the same meeting a flow chart program (e.g. a computer aided design CAD system) is used to generate flow charts for each process line from the program input database and a report program (e.g. the report module of a database management system) is used to generate data sheets for the process steps from the program input database. The flow charts and data sheets are corrected and revised until verified by group consensus. Thus, the analysis of a system of continuous processes can be performed in one or at least in a small number of group meetings over a much shorter elapsed time.
89 Citations
8 Claims
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1. Apparatus for analyzing a system of continuous processes lines, comprising:
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a facilitator workstation with a facilitator display and data input means; multiple participant workstations with participant displays and data input means and each participant workstation having means to control the functions of the workstation; means to produce textual and graphical output; team display means to communicate with the facilitator workstation and having a sufficiently large screen for viewing an image with several thousand characters of text from a plurality of participant workstations; network means for communication between the facilitator workstation, the means to produce textual and graphical output, and a plurality of the participant workstations; automatic means to control communication between the facilitator workstation, the means to produce textual and graphical output, and a plurality of the participant workstations and to control the functions of the facilitator workstation; team decision support means to automatically collect data from a plurality of participant workstations and display the received data to a plurality of participants, and to provide for revising the data to resolve any inconsistencies in the received data; database means for storing and retrieving data; means for categorizing and organizing the data collected by the team decision support means and transmitting the organized data to the database means; bridge means, including; means for moving data from the database means, for further organizing the data and for transferring the further organized data to the means to produce textual and graphical output, and including; means for creating data sheets from the database including means to report qualitative and quantitative data for a plurality of the process steps; means for producing a graphical flow diagram of the process from the database, including a representation of multiple process steps and the relationships between process steps; the database means for storing and retrieving information, including; means for storing and retrieving multiple process steps of multiple process lines; means for storing and retrieving qualitative descriptions related to each respective process step, including; a classification indicating the step is either an operation, transportation, inventory storage, or inspection step; and
material inputs and product outputs of each operation step;means for storing and retrieving quantitative information related to each process step including operation time, capacity, and transportation time; means for storing and retrieving the relationship between the process steps; and means for storing and retrieving the relationship between each process line, and between each suppler and customer for that line. - View Dependent Claims (2)
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3. A method of analyzing a continuous flow process in a team meeting, comprising the steps of:
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prompting participants in a team meeting to input data into multiple participant workstations regarding each step in the process; inputting the data into the participant workstations; automatically collecting input data from the participant workstations in the meeting at the facilitator workstation through a computer network; automatically displaying the input data on a large screen to a plurality of the participants; prompting participants to verify the accuracy of the input data and reach consensus about inconsistencies in the input data in the meeting; organizing the data and building a computer database in the meeting; automatically generating a process flow diagram from the database in the meeting, showing process steps and relationship between process steps; automatically generating data forms for respective process steps from the database in the meeting, showing the quantitative data for each process step; the step of prompting participants in a team meeting includes the step of requesting qualitative descriptions of each respective process step. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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Specification