Quality management and intelligent manufacturing with labels and smart tags in event-based product manufacturing

• US 7,882,438 B2
• Filed: 02/27/2006
• Issued: 02/01/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Callahan Cellular LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Binforma Group Limited Liability Company (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Markham, Charles Earl, Pokorny, Michael Roy, Reade, Walter Caswell, Hise, John Harland, Ihde, Sheryl Annette, Nygaard, Kurt Sigurd, Shaffer, Gregory Duncan, Lindsay, Jeffrey Dean, Price, Michael T., Yosten, Roger Dale, Barber, Douglas Gordon Barron
• Primary Examiner(s): Hong; Stephen S
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ludwig; Matthew J
• Application Number:
  US11/363,476
• Publication Number:
  US 20060149407A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,800 Days
• Field of Search: 715/239, 715/273, 715/717, 715/736, 700/17, 700/109, 700/116, 700/106, 700/13
• US Class Current: 715/736
• CPC Class Codes: B23Q 35/12 involving electrical means programme recording for copying purposes in a separate apparatus G05, G11
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 13/0285 using neural networks and fuzzy logic
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/4183 characterised by data acquisition, e.g. workpiece identification
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/41875 characterised by quality surveillance of production
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/31044 Assembly of modular products, variant configurability
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/31061 Selection of assembly process parameters
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/31095 Read write intelligent chip on workpiece, pallet, tool for data exchange
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/33199 Transponder
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/048 Fuzzy inferencing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/00 Information and communication technology [ICT] specially adapted for implementation of business processes of specific business sectors, e.g. utilities or tourism healthcare informatics G16H
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/02 Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS]
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability

Abstract

Providing quality management and intelligent manufacturing with labels and smart tags in event-based product manufacturing. Some of the disclosed embodiments include a system, method, and computer-readable media for storing, during a process, data associated with a material. Also disclosed are a method of collecting, storing, and reporting machine productivity, waste, and delay information on an event basis in a manufacturing system, a method of capturing and storing material history, a method of automating tracking of positions of components used in a process and correlating portions of a component with production problems, an improved inventory management system, and a method of tracking and recording actions of specific operators of a process performed by a machine. The embodiments are operable in an intelligent manufacturing system including a process for converting raw materials to a product, a process control system including one or more sensors capable of generating an alarm in response to an event that results in one of waste, machine delay, or decrease product quality, a data logger associated with the process control system for obtaining event parameters associated with the event, a database on a server for recording event parameters obtained by the data logger, and a reporting system cooperatively associated with the database for reporting productivity parameters regarding the process derived at least in part from the event parameters.

Claims

1. A method for collecting, storing, and/or reporting machine productivity, waste, and/or delay information on an event basis in a manufacturing system, the method comprising:

monitoring for an occurrence of an event associated with a raw material via a process sensor;

detecting an event trigger in response to the monitoring, wherein the event trigger indicates the occurrence of the event;

obtaining raw material attribute data in response to the detecting, the raw material attribute data comprising an attribute of the raw material affected by the event;

automatically validating the raw material attribute data;

storing the raw material attribute data in a database; and

correlating the stored raw material attribute data with a quality control issue to identify corrective action.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising assuring quality of the stored data by performing error checking on the stored raw material attribute data.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

embedding a plurality of identification devices in a raw material; and

monitoring the plurality of identification devices as the raw material passes through a component in the manufacturing system, wherein obtaining the raw material attribute data comprises obtaining raw material position data indicating a position of the raw material with respect to the component.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein embedding the plurality of identification devices comprises embedding a plurality of identification devices at various locations in a raw material, and wherein the monitoring the plurality of identification devices comprises monitoring by a scanning device in a machine.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein correlating the stored raw material attribute data comprises correlating via fuzzy logic.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein correlating the stored raw material attribute data comprises correlating the stored raw material attribute data with the quality control issue to identify one or more of the following:

repairs, modification to production methods, and modifications to the component.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein monitoring the plurality of identification devices comprises monitoring the plurality of identification devices as the raw material passes through one or more of the following in the manufacturing system:

a moving device, a belt, and a wire.

8. The method of claim 3, wherein monitoring the plurality of identification devices comprises monitoring one or more.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein monitoring for the occurrence of the event comprises monitoring at least one identification device associated with a raw material from a first process, and further comprising:

determining a physical location of the raw material in response to the monitoring to use the raw material in a second process; and

associating the determined physical location of the raw material with the obtained raw material attribute data.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising generating one or more reports based on the stored data, wherein at least one report is based on the determined physical location.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein monitoring the at least one identification device comprises monitoring the at least one identification device associated with one or more of the following:

a roll, a pallet, and a box of materials.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein monitoring at least one identification device comprises monitoring at least one ultra-wide band transmitter emitting a signal, and further wherein determining the physical location of the raw material comprises triangulating the physical location of the raw material based on the emitted signal.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein monitoring at least one identification device comprises monitoring at least one smart tag emitting a radio frequency signal and wherein the method further comprises receiving, the emitted radio frequency signal with a scanning device.

20. The method of claim 1 wherein correlating the stored raw material attribute data comprises correlating the stored raw material attribute data with at least one of a waste loss, a delay loss, or a quality loss to identify corrective action.

14. A system, comprising:

a memory area for storing a data structure in an event-based manufacturing system, wherein the data structure comprises one or more fields configured to store data describing at least one characteristics associated with a raw material and an event associated with the raw material; and

a processor configured to execute computer-executable instructions for

monitoring for an occurrence of the event via a process sensor;

detecting an event trigger in response to the monitoring, wherein the event trigger indicates the occurrence of the event;

obtaining raw material attribute data in response to the detecting, the raw material attribute data describing the at least one characteristics associated with the raw material and the event;

populating the one or more fields of the data structure with the obtained raw material attribute data;

automatically validating the data stored in the one or more fields of the data structure;

storing the raw material attribute data populated in the one or more fields of the data structure;

correlating the stored raw material attribute data with a quality control issue; and

generating a report based on the recorded data.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the obtained raw material attribute data comprises one or more of the following:

a position of the raw material with respect to a machine component, a process variable from a control system, a measure of the waste, delay, or quality loss associated with the event, and operator input.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the at least one characteristics comprises one or more of the following:

product waste, machine down time, machine slow downs, product maintenance, and machine failure.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the one or more fields comprise an output table storing one or more of the following:

a machine reference field identifying the machine, a timestamp field defining the date and time of the event data, a delay code field identifying a type of delay, a delay trigger field indicating an origin of delay, a grade shift field representing a shift in production parameters, operator comments, and a duration field representing a delay length.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein the one or more fields comprise a support table interpreting the characteristics, the support table comprising one or more of the following:

a delay code field identifying a type of delay, a description field describing the delay code, a programmable logic controller field associated with the delay code, a section field identifying a machine section relating to the event data, a machine type field identifying a type of machine, an alarm source field indicating alarm origin.

19. A tangible computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions comprising:

instructions for monitoring for an occurrence of an event associated with a raw material via a process sensor;

instructions for detecting an event trigger in response to the monitoring, wherein the event trigger indicates the occurrence of the event;

instructions for obtaining raw material attribute data in response to the detecting, the raw material attribute data comprising an attribute of the raw material affected by the event;

instructions for automatically validating the raw material attribute data;

instructions for storing the raw material attribute data in a database; and

instructions for correlating the stored raw material attribute data with a quality control issue to identify corrective action.