Production/manufacturing planning system

• US 6,546,300 B1
• Filed: 12/06/1999
• Issued: 04/08/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 12/08/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Hohkibara, Shinichi, Fukuda, Etsuo
• Primary Examiner(s): Picard, Leo
• Assistant Examiner(s): RODRIGUEZ, PAUL L
• Application Number:
  US09/455,380
• Time in Patent Office: 1,219 Days
• Field of Search: 700/95-97, 700/99-104, 705/8
• US Class Current: 700/100
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/02 Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS]

Abstract

A production/manufacturing planning system is provided with a production planning planner 10 and a manufacturing planning scheduler 12. The production planning planner 10 makes the production planning for the whole factory, and the manufacturing planing sheduler 12 makes the manufacturing planning schedule for each of manufacturing lines on the basis of the production planning for the whole factory. Thus, it is possible to more precisely make the production planning and manufacturing planning than that in conventional systems.

Claims

1. A production/manufacturing planning system comprising:

a production planner configured to output a planning result after performing production planning for a whole factory having a plurality of manufacturing lines that are configured to produce a plurality of kinds of products;

a manufacturing scheduler configured to provide, at least in part based on said planning result outputted from said production planner, a manufacturing planning schedule relative to each of the manufacturing lines for each kind or product being produced by each of the manufacturing lines, said manufacturing scheduler being provided in each of said manufacturing lines;

a line capability grasping simulator configured to simulate product delivery quantities as quantities of products produced by each of said manufacturing lines and to provide simulated result data for predicting future product delivery quantities;

a process control system configured to control the progress of a plurality of processes being preformed in each of said manufacturing lines and to provide, for each manufacturing line, historical information data including past record data for each of said products produced by each of said manufacturing lines, said process control system being provided in each of said manufacturing lines, and

a scheduled past record control system configured to determine whether it is likely that there will be a probable future failure of any of the manufacturing lines to process and deliver planned quantities of products with respect to said manufacturing planning schedule and to give an alarm when the scheduled past record control system determines it is likely that the probable future failure will actually occur and to provide a change of a parameter being used to perform production planning for the whole factory to said production planner when the alarm is given so as to prevent said probable future failure from actually occurring, the scheduled past record control system determination being at least in part based on said historical information data of said process control system and said simulated result data of said line capability grasping simulator.

2. The production/manufacturing planning system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said planning result, said manufacturing planning schedule, said historical information data, and said simulated result data are stored in a data server computer provided for each of said manufacturing lines.

3. The production/manufacturing planning system as set forth in claim 2, wherein said process control system is configured to count said data server computer to store therein a processing start time and a processing finish time as part of said historical information data.

4. The production/manufacturing planning system as set forth in claim 3, wherein said process control system is configured to count the number of delivered products as part of said historical information data and to store the counted number of delivered products in said data server computer.

5. The production/manufacturing planning system as set forth in claim 4, wherein said production planner is configured to acquire process capability information indicative of a manufacturing capacity of each of said manufacturing lines from said line capability grasping simulator and to perform production planning for the whole factory on the basis of said process capability information.

6. A production/manufacturing planning system comprising:

a production planner configured to output a planning result after performing production planning for a whole factory having a plurality of manufacturing lines that are configured to produce a plurality of kinds of products, said production planning being at least in part based on process capability information indicative of a manufacturing capacity of each of said manufacturing lines;

a manufacturing scheduler configured to provide, at least in part based on said planning result outputted from said production planner, a manufacturing planning schedule relative to each of the manufacturing lines for each kind or product being produced by each of the manufacturing lines, said manufacturing scheduler being provided in each of said manufacturing lines;

a line capability grasping simulator configured to simulate product delivery quantities as quantities of products produced by each of said manufacturing lines and to provide simulated result data for predicting future delivery quantities and said process capability information indicative of said manufacturing capacity of each of said manufacturing lines;

a process control system configured to control the progress of a plurality of processes being preformed in each of said manufacturing lines and to provide, for each manufacturing line, historical information data including past record data for each of said products produced by each of said manufacturing lines, said process control system being provided in each of said manufacturing lines, and

a scheduled past record control system configured to determine whether it is likely that there will be a probable future failure of any of the manufacturing lines to process and deliver planned quantities of products with respect to said manufacturing planning schedule and to give an alarm when the scheduled past record control system determines it is likely that the probable future failure will actually occur and to provide a change of a parameter being used to perform production planning for the whole factory to said production planner when the alarm is given so as to prevent said probable future failure from actually occurring, the scheduled past record control system determination being at least in part based on said historical information data of said process control system and said simulated result data of said line capability grasping simulator.

7. The production/manufacturing planning system as set forth in claim 6, wherein said planning result, said manufacturing planning schedule, said historical information data, and said simulated result data are stored in a data server computer provided for each of said manufacturing lines.

8. The production/manufacturing planning system as set forth in claim 7, wherein said process control system is configured to cause said data server computer to store therein a processing start time and a processing finish time as part of said historical information data.

9. The production/manufacturing planning system as set forth in claim 8, wherein said process control system is configured to count the number of delivered products as part of said historical information data and to store the counted number of delivered products in said data server computer.

10. The production/manufacturing planning system as set forth in claim 9, wherein said production planner is configured to acquire said capability information from said line capability grasping simulator.